The Becky L. Jackson Recovery Center
What Clients Say
Client Comments
Comments from Professionals
Client HopeNotes
I believe I have read almost every book published to date on addiction and specifically overeating. While these books were interesting, they did not tell me specifically what steps to take to handle overeating. When I read Becky Jackson's book, Dieting: A Dry Drunk, I knew exactly what to do. It was simple and it works.
Margaret Wright, C.P.A.
Wright and Gels
Certified Public Accountants, Inc.7/13/99
Dear Becky,
I happened across your page and address while searching for something else and could not pass up the opportunity to say thank you. Iım not sure if you remember, but my mother came to you about seven years ago regarding my anorexia and bulimia. We still talk about how thankful we are that you supported us both during a difficult time.
I am extremely grateful because the experience I had there was the pivotal point in my life. I donıt like to think like this or say this (because if it was Godıs will then it would have happened some other way) but if it hadnıt been for you, i think Iıd be dead or very mentally and physically ill.
I have abstained since September of 1992, through college and graduating, through living in Europe for a year, through dating for the first time and successive break-ups, through very minor ups and downs of weight (and my perceived fluctuations), and everything else.
Thank you from the very bottom of my heart. Writing this is bringing tears to my eyes because I think about the way I was then and how I am now, and I canıt say that I would have it any other way. I really am a miracle and I just wanted you to know how deeply you touched my life just by sharing new ideas and pointing me in the right direction.
Thank you.
Sincerely,
Jill T.
P.S. As I reread what I wrote, I want you to know that Iıd be Ok if you passed this on (anonymously, of course!) to someone else just starting the journey. If it were me, I would have wanted to hear that, yes, abstinence "works" and Iıve basically been at a very appropriate, healthy and attractive (!) weight for 6 years - basically at 5'11" Iıve weighed between 160 - 185 and settling in the high 160ıs. Then again, if someone had told me then that I could live with that weight consistently and learn to like it and not weigh more than around once every one or two months, I would have said "no way!" ... but itıs true... :)
I loved your book--it is the best thing that has happened to me. I am now free to live life, and enjoy life again! I don't spend the time, energy and emotions on the WHOLE thing of dieting, eating, grazing, purging, exercising. Your book gave me concrete tools and guidelines, and is saving my life. Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!
-- Name Withheld10/25/99
Dear Becky,
Your book is stunning in its revelation, clarity and simplicity. Reading it has been the second highest point in my lifenext to giving birth to my first childactually, I feel like Iıve just given birth to myself.
I could not stop dieting in all my years of OA, and always feeling the horror of that! And now I know what abstinence really is.
Plus, the body image thing and the way we protect ourselves manipulate and control through our disease was clearly understood by me for the first time as describe in your book. I was overjoyed when Chris told me that she was thinking of starting groups here based on the book. Ihope to meet you someday when Chris visits you in San Diego.
All my love,
Deborah
P.S. I am sending the second book to my 31 year old daughter, who lives in San Francisco and who also has spent years in OA, dieting and throwing up.
For Becky,
I'm no poet, but this came to me one day after I listened to one of your tapes (for the 5th time!) I wanted to thank you again for the materials you are producing. They have been a tremendous help to many of us here in Montana.
With love and gratitude!
Bobbi D.
Donıt listen to the voices
that talk inside your head,
The ones who say "eat this," "try that"
they never can be fed...
Look instead inside your heart
for that tiny spark of light,
You know to be your Higher Power
who is with you day and night.If you spend your energy
on happiness and healings,
Those thoughts and voices in your head
can no longer send you reeling.You can fill your life instead
with messages of hope.
Youıll find friends and tools along the way
that will help you cope.Before too long sweet songs and sunshine
will play inside your head,
And those voices from the past
will be long gone and dead.I want to share how supportive, enlightening and exciting the Physical Recovery class has been for me. It has helped me bring forward the spiritual principles of respect and loving self-discipline to my physical recovery.
Old beliefs affecting my behavior towards my physical self are being replaced with new understandings. Some behaviors have changed, others have not, but now come from a different source--spiritual principles.
These changes have been supported by a wealth of information, shared experiences, and professionals expert in their fields relating to physical recovery, fitness and/or health.
An image came to me this weekend. I found myself comparing my behavior towards my physical self to that of my automobile. Would I ever decide to run the tires low on air, use watered down fuels, and then drive it at top speed? Would I ever decide to shorten the hood, hammer the fenders into a different shape, hoping it would turn into a sleek, luxury sports car? Or, do I instead wash and wax it regularly, weekly maintain the fuel and fluids, checking the tires for the right amount of air, and drive it at the speed it was designed for? And am I then thankful for it's beautiful shine, it's dependable smooth ride, for being and performing as it was designed to, and all of the wonderful years of service it provides me with?
My physical self is truly a sacred gift, provided to support and serve me through this one life. It deserves my honor, love and respect.
-- Jeryll Klassen
Meeting Becky Jackson was like finding a needle in a haystack. As a budding eating disorder professional, it was very hard to find a bottom line and fully understand the treatment of this devastating illness.
Becky had the answers, a system of recovery that works and the ability to help me and many others understand and arrest eating disorders.
Beckyıs approach is a unique multifaceted one including education, cognitive behavioral interventions, a life abstinence no diet plan, and spiritual and support skills. She brings over 20 years of personal and professional experience.
Becky has a special gift of hearing and confronting peopleıs disease thoughts and behaviors in a most loving and effective manner. She and her staff have helped hundreds of compulsive, under and over eaters change their lives and themselves in way few others have done.
I had the privilege of observing one of her Living Abstinent Groups as a professional for a year and of experiencing this recovery first hand. It has been an honor and a pleasure to be associated with her center and I believe she has a message that the world needs to hear.
Sincerely,
Ginger L. Lipman, M.F.C.C.To Whom This May Concern:
I am a Psychological Assistant at the Alvarado Sports Medicine Center as well as a Social Service Representative at the Vista Hill Behavioral Health Center and Psychiatric Hospital in San Diego, California. I have worked with patients who have an eating disorder on an in-patient as well as out-patient basis. I have also co-treated and studied with Becky Jackson for the past three years.Becky Jackson's been an excellent resource both personally and professionally. Her practical approach, focusing on how to arrest an Eating Disorder, has provided a clear, concise, and structured framework which I have utilized with clients, patients, friends and family.
I appreciate the wide range of information and services which Becky originally produced. Her workshops, groups, individual sessions, tapes, as well as her book have allowed her system of behavioral change and recovery to be both affordable and available to a large market of people.
My work with Becky has assisted me with integrating a personal and professional therapeutic and recovery model.
Sincerely,
Donna Eckstein, Ph.D.
Psychological Assistant
INTERNAL SANITY
"We must treat this disease with respect. It is cunning, it is baffling, it is powerful, and it will tell you lies on a regular basis." When I heard this quotation, 14 months ago, I had no idea the magnitude of truth it would reveal to me about my diseases of compulsive overeating and alcoholism. Today, with almost a year of abstinence and sobriety, my eyes are continually being opened by this quotation's reality.
It wasn't until I became committed each day to abstinence (eating only 3 meals a day, with no eating in between) and sobriety (not drinking alcohol), that I began hearing the internal chatter that distorted my emotions, and my beliefs---distorted who I was as a person.
This became so clear to me one morning as I was applying my make-up. I remember waking up so excited for the day to unfold, and then suddenly my mind was flooded with the familiarity of depression. I have been a victim of depression since Jr. High. I am now 41. I was stunned by the abrupt change. I forced myself to focus inwardly and began listening to my self-talk. An inner chatter was taking place inside my mind that was very self-hating, self-degrading, and self-abusive. Worst of all, the voice was mine. I was saying words to myself I would not dare speak to another human being.
Since that day, I have challenged myself to listen to my unspoken thoughts, as if a second person were talking to me. When I want to eat a high-end of moderate meal, I examine my inner dialogue. When I want to flee from certain environments, I force myself to listen to my inner chatter. When my emotions are over reactive, I step back, pause and listen. My Higher Power helps me challenge the inner dialogue I used to silently chat with, listen to and believe, yet never questioned. Now in recovery, I feel the safety and freedom to make a rational decision.
If I choose not to examine my thoughts, I notice I begin to entertain the idea of raiding the refrigerator or having an alcoholic beverage. I do not dare walk upon this quicksand of false fulfillment.
I can sense the inward growth that is taking place. I am slowly reaching out to others for encouragement. I am beginning to trust in my Higher Power. I am now aware of the self-abusive talk that robs me of self-love. When I realize the words are ones I would not say to another human being, I challenge the dialogue by checking in with my Higher Power and ask "Is this reality?"
I am beginning to see myself as valuable, that I am a child of my Higher Power. I have a strong desire to fight for what is important to me--facing lifeıs issues is important to me--facing life without compulsive overeating and alcohol, no matter what.
-- Paula(Paula is now 11+ years abstinent and sober!)
OLD IDEAS, NEW IDEAS: OLD VOICES, NEW VOICES
Shortly after beginning my abstinence and my path in recovery I was struck with a deep fear about my internal make up. When listening to people who were abstaining and working the Steps, I often heard reference to "my heart said," or "I knew inside," referring to an inner knowledge of what was right and what was wrong for them. I didn't have a clue of what they were talking about. I knew that I didn't have this talent, this virtue. However, I prayed that I could still recover from my eating disorder even if I didn't have a heart.
The spiritual belief that I was living by was: when god made me, he made a mistake, he left something out--I had no heart, no compassion, NO INTEGRITY. The prospect of living my life with this as a reality was horrifying. I had to stuff that feeling and deny that it ever existed.
I put the fear of this deficiency aside and turned my attention to my eating disorder. It was obvious when I began my recovery, that the most important thing to do was to stop my compulsive overeating. Using the tools of the program I was able to arrest my compulsive overeating, and to a large degree, I stopped my dysfunctional behaviors around food. Though, having surrendered my compulsive overeating, I became aware of the obsessive thoughts about food becoming louder and stronger.
Through continued work in my meetings and groups I was able to identify these obsessive thoughts as constant voices spoken to me by my disease. A disease that is persistent and powerful, patient and deceptive. I learned, however, that I had a choice. A choice to listen to or to ignore the messages I had been listening to for as long as I can remember.
With the support system I had developed since I decided to live abstinently, I have been given the strength to identify and ignore these self-hating and self-defeating voices and to replace them with words of guidance and affirmations of self-love. These new messages were typically given to me by my sponsors, mentors and trusted friends who knew my path.
The omnipotent disease that had dominated my thoughts for years had slowly and laboriously been quieted. It raises its head daily, but with the power of recognition and the choice of sane and sound alternatives, it no longer controls my eating or my life.
Unexpectedly, I noticed that, as I practiced replacing old destructive beliefs with new beliefs, there was a change in the voices within me. While talking to a friend one day I realized that there were two separate voices talking in my head. One I was familiar with, the other was quite foreign. I noticed that these voices were at conflict. The voice I had been trying to subdue was obviously the stronger and more dominant of the two, but the other voice was there, barely perceptible, but there.
As I quieted my disease voice this softer voice became more and more noticeable. And when I listened to it, I liked the things it said. It was encouraging and supportive and had INTEGRITY.
The advice and direction I had always sought from sponsors or mentors seemed to be reflected in the new voice I had discovered. In fact, when I needed direction from a trusted advisor, I often knew the answer from the voice inside me before I asked the question. I was encouraged that this might mean that the inner knowledge, the heart that I so feared didn't exist, was actually a part of me. Long hidden, but something that I was created with.
I've found that by nurturing my heart voice it has grown, nurturing it by abstaining, no matter what, and by listening to and defining what my heart believes. Challenging my disease and paying close attention to my heart has changed how I act in every aspect of my life. By being conscious of the fact that I have a choice, I can make a decision to take my disease out of the drivers seat. I've now turned the keys over to my higher power, who now speaks to me through me.
--GreggAll rights reserved. Copyright 2002
1-800-278-8050
copyright B. L. Jackson Recovery Enterprises