Rising Stars: Meet Grace Filiss

Today we’d like to introduce you to Grace Filiss.

Hi Grace, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
In 2010, I was finishing my Bachelor’s degree and I knew that I wanted to work in mental health so I was looking to get my foot into that world. The day before I graduated, I saw a job posting for an office manager at an eating disorder treatment center and I thought, “Why not try it? I know nothing about eating disorders and what a great place to start.” Little did I know that this job would propel me into my career. I started as the office manager and quickly moved up to the director of operations. In five years, I learned so much about the eating disorder treatment field, business operations and the behavioral health world, and I became so passionate about working with people struggling with eating disorders. For the next seven years, I worked in a community relations role for another eating disorder treatment facility and grew incredibly connected to the local and national eating disorder communities. Over the years, my passion for this work has continued to grow and I also began to notice the gaps in support for people struggling with eating disorders. It didn’t appear that people struggling had anywhere to turn when they were faced with these gaps and still in need of support. I have heard of therapeutic consultants for people struggling with general mental health and substance abuse, but I hadn’t heard much about therapeutic consulting for people struggling with eating disorders and there is a huge need so in January, I decided to open my own therapeutic consulting business to help fill the gaps and advocate for access to treatment for underrepresented groups (LGBTQIA+, BIPOC, etc) who are struggling with eating disorders.

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Overall I would say it’s been a pretty smooth road. What I will say is a challenge is trying to help people “unlearn” what they think they know about diets, eating disorders, body image, etc. I feel like I am combating diet culture on the daily. Diet culture is a rigid set of expectations centered around valuing appearance, attractiveness and thinness over all else, including physical health and emotional well-being. It puts morality on food (“good” vs “bad”, “healthy” vs “unhealthy), focuses on restricting calories and thrives off of negative body image. It is an uphill battle, and I will keep taking it on.

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I am an inclusive treatment advocate for people struggling with eating disorders. There are lots of terms for the work that I am doing…therapeutic consultant, treatment placement consultant, concierge case management, patient advocate, treatment guide, care manager…and the list keeps going. There are less than a handful behavioral health consultants who specifically work with eating disorders – I know two aside from myself in the country. I am there to support and advocate for people through all of the non-clinical gaps in eating disorder treatment. I have had parents reach out to me saying that they feel like they need to quit their jobs in order to help their child get into treatment and that’s not right, so that’s where I come in. I have been working in the field of eating disorders since 2010 at different treatment facilities, so I know the ins and outs of eating disorder treatment. I fully understand the gaps that are present and I want to do what I can to fill those gaps so that recovery is more possible. I help someone struggling with an eating disorder find support (whether they just need a therapist or they need to go to a treatment facility) that aligns with their values.

In terms of your work and the industry, what are some of the changes you are expecting to see over the next five to ten years?
I believe we will start to see a wider variety of treatment options. At this point, most of the treatment that is offered for eating disorders looks the same, not taking into consideration race, ethnicity, religion, accessibility, etc. There is a demand for treatment that is centered around underrepresented groups in our society. The stereotype of eating disorders is an adolescent to young adult, upper to middle class, white female. However eating disorders do NOT discriminate. One type of treatment does not fit all. I also think we will only see an increase in eating disorders as the stigma (hopefully) starts breaking because I do believe they are underreported, especially in male identifying people.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.EDrecoveryconsulting.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/edrecoveryconsulting/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/EDrecoveryconsulting/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/EDrecoveryGF