A Preceptor's Approach to Cultivating Empathy

The road to recovery is centered on healing the Self. Giving yourself permission to eat will equip you with tools to heal the body and mind. This is the key principle that Marlena Tanner, my preceptor, instills within her clients on the journey to mending their relationship with food. Working at an eating disorder treatment center is one of the most challenging and rewarding fields of nutrition. I spent 4 weeks at the Central Coast Treatment Center (CCTC) where I learned about the complicated world of the treatment of eating and body image disorders. My time here was equally overwhelming and stressful, but was an experience I wouldn’t take back for anything.

It all starts with allowing clients to take themselves seriously, and accept the responsibility of knowing and loving their body. Clients are challenged with acknowledging they have an eating disorder, and learning how to finally defeat it. When a client makes the decision to seek treatment and commit to recovery, this can involve many ups and downs. As a member of the health care team, you have to learn to be mentally and emotionally strong while remaining empathetic. On the first day of my rotation, Marlena basically gave me a pep talk of what to expect. I almost felt like I was one of the clients at that point, preparing for what might be a bumpy road. This was going to be an entirely new experience for me, but I was excited to take on the challenge.

Marlena assured me that working at this type of facility is not for everyone, and would require strength on my own part. Knowing this, she would often check in with me to make sure I was handling the challenge all right. It was evident to me that she possessed a level of caring and understanding of others I had never seen before. This radiated through her counseling sessions with clients, and I felt lucky to be given the opportunity to watch her in action.

Most of my time at CCTC was spent shadowing Marlena’s counseling sessions, and even leading a couple sessions myself! During these sessions, my emotional strength was put to the test. Clients often tell their experiences and battles with having an eating disorder, which can be heart wrenching to hear. As a counselor, I discovered the importance of being a symbol of strength and support for the client, while teaching them that recovery is possible. Building strong connections with clients is an effective tool for transforming sympathy into empathy, and transitioning uneasy emotions to hope. Marlena taught me that the key to a successful counseling session was to be patient. Every client is at their own stage of recovery, and some take longer than others to make progress.

Let me tell you a little about Marlena. She was born in Switzerland and moved to the United States when she was just 9 years old. She spent her adolescent life in New York and eventually worked as a personal trainer and a Dietetic Technician, Registered (DTR). She then moved to the Central Coast to earn her degree in nutrition at Cal Poly, SLO and further pursued a Dietetic Internship in Porterville, CA. She obtained her CEDRD (Certified Eating Disorder Registered Dietitian) certification and now has over a decade of experience in the field. After discovering her love for the Central Coast of California, she later returned to live with her husband on an avocado farm. Marlena spends three long days a week working at CCTC so that she can have more time to spend with her 4 year old son Finn, her world. One of her favorite activities is sculpting clay cats that derive from her son’s imagination. In her spare time she enjoys writing, being outside in Mother Nature, and creating art.

While counseling clients has always been challenging for me, this comes naturally to Marlena. She emphasizes that every client is at a different stage of recovery. There is no such thing as an average treatment, as symptoms can change and intertwine. She guides clients through identifying behaviors and emotions that stem from distorted thoughts to ultimately combat the inner critic. She believes addressing these negative thoughts is the first step when treating clients with eating disorders, and allows them to begin the journey to self-love and acceptance. In my time with Marlena I was enlightened by her principles and ideologies, ones that I will never forget.