So, anyway, Abi wrote me a meal plan, all full-fat yogurt and cheese. I was hull down, enduring the harangue, when she suddenly started insisting on seeing me only four days later, to make sure I’d started to put on weight. This was a bitch. Lip service wasn’t enough, anymore. Now she was actually demanding action! It felt like a sort of punishment for bad behaviour – a detention.
Then she said, “The NHS is spending a lot of money trying to make you better. Remember that. But we think it’s money worth spending, both on you as an individual and on principle, and we’re experienced professionals who know what we’re doing. Trust us. Believe that we’re right. Allow us to help you get better.”
I think that was the gist of it… I hope I haven’t just made that up, because it struck me as a comforting way of looking at things. You help people to live up to their principles by needing their help. You enact your value by justifying their belief in the value of all people, by allowing them to prove their value. Value comes from simply being a member of a community. As the relationship counsellor at Ascot House was always saying, you are worthwhile just by being present.
Middle-aged Male Anorexic 