Kalispell counselor works to dispel stigma around eating disorders

When clients with eating disorders come to counselor Mary McRae, they know the advice she gives is from first-hand experience. 

A survivor of a severe eating disorder in her 20s, she said the people who helped most in her recovery were others who had been through something similar — who could recognize behavioral patterns and provide accountability.

“It just helped a lot to have somebody like that, and to see that you could recover and carry on with a normal life,” McRae said on the eve of Eating Disorder Awareness Week, which runs Feb. 26 to March 3.