MentorCONNECT - Leadership & Advisory Team
This forum is a collaborative labor of love, which owes its continuing existence and expansion to the creativity and dedication of the following seven volunteers, many of whom are themselves eating disorders survivors. From first being mentored, these seven volunteers are now "paying it forward" by sharing the gift of mentoring with others through serving as mentors and co-facilitating the MentorCONNECT site.
We are pleased to share that we enjoyed our first team retreat in Dallas, TX recently - half of our team was able to make it in person, and the other half worked with us via conferencing software (isn't technology grand!) and we had a wonderful time!
Meet your Leadership & Advisory Team below:
Shannon Cutts - Founder/Director
Email: mc@key-to-life.com
Shannon is a survivor of a fifteen-year battle with anorexia, bulimia, depression and anxiety. Following her own recovery, Shannon founded MentorCONNECT to offer others the gift of hope she received from her own mentors. Shannon is the author of Beating Ana: How to Outsmart Your Eating Disorder and Take Your Life Back, the first book written specifically to address the efficacy of adding a mentor to the integrated treatment support team. She is also the CD producer of You Are Not Alone, Vol. 2: The Book of Companionship for Women With Eating Disorders. Shannon is a popular college circuit speaker and frequent writer, speaker and blogger on the subject of mentoring and eating disorders recovery for Gurze Books, the Huffington Post, the Feel Better Network, and others.
Lynn Gerhard - Executive Oversight-Mentor Model, Strategic Planning, Editorial Board of Good News, MC Cooperation With Professionals Committee
Email: lynn@key-to-life.com
Lynn says that "experience and the Creator’s gifts are my qualifications to work with others. The maintenance and growth of my own life of recovery lends urgency to the need to work with others. What I share best are my own experience, strength and hope gained in eleven years of continuous sobriety and twenty years of working my way out of the prison of codependency and borderline personality disorder. I use the same Twelve Step process that I worked myself when I am working with others, and I serve my home group, and am active in district- and area-level service in the fellowship of recovery that I call home."
Andrea Roe - Mentor-to-Mentor Program Co-Coordinator, Communications Manager, Fundraising
Email: andrea@key-to-life.com
Andrea is a native Austrian and lives together with her husband, Brandon, in beautiful British Columbia, Canada. She struggled with depression and body image issues for ten years, and with eating disorders, both anorexia and bulimia, for six years. Now that she is recovered, it is her passion to share her story and help and support others in their recovery. Andrea is the author of You Are Not Alone – The Book of Companionship for Women Struggling with Eating Disorders and publishes a monthly recovery email newsletter called the You Are Not Alone Support Letter. For more information about Andrea, her work and to sign up for the Support Letter, please visit www.youarenotalonebook.com.
Jeanette H., Ph.D. - New Member Welcome & Orientation Coordinator, MC Community Forums Supervisor, Clinical Research Supervisor, Editorial Board of Good News
Email: jeanette@key-to-life.com
Jeanette is living life without an eating disorder after over 15 years of struggling. Throughout the course of her journey she struggled with anorexia, bulimia, depression and post traumatic stress disorder. However, today she travels around talking to children, adolescents and adults sharing her experience. Not only does she let people know that it is possible to move beyond disordered eating but that it is possible to move beyond your past. Jeanette counsels and mentors those with eating disorders as well as victims of abuse. Her message to all those that struggle is one of hope and acceptance and encourages people to work towards their dreams because anything is possible.
Cheryl Kerrigan - Mentor-to-Mentor Program Co-Coordinator, MC Support Groups/Forums Co-Moderator, Mentor Matching Coordinator, Sponsor & Donor Relations
Email: cheryl@key-to-life.com
Cheryl is an author, speaker and more importantly an eating disorder survivor. She is in recovery from a 22-year battle with anorexia. She has written a book about her journey which is due for publication in 2010. She is a contributing author in an upcoming eating disorder recovery book that will benefit the Academy for Eating Disorders and has recently been interviewed for an eating disorder recovery newsletter. She is also the author of a weekly recovery blog, www.getridofed.blogspot.com. Cheryl shares her story of recovery by speaking at various colleges, high schools and treatment centers. Through her story, Cheryl "brings recovery to life." www.cherylkerrigan.net
Thom Rutledge - MC Teleconference Series Co-Coordinator, Executive Oversight-Mentor Model, MentorCONNECT Advisory Team, Graphic Design
Email: thom@key-to-life.com
Thom is a psychotherapist, speaker and trainer who specializes in treating eating disorders, addictions, and debilitating perfectionism. He is the author of Embracing Fear: How to Turn What Scares Us into Our Greatest Gift, and is best know in eating disorder recovery circles for his innovative application of his INTRApersonal TherapyTM model to eating disorders, as described in Jenni Schaefer’s best selling book, Life Without Ed. www.nutshellwisdom.com
Marisol Perez, Ph.D. - MC Scientific Research & Advisory Team
Marisol is a clinical psychologist and researcher that specializes in eating disorders, obesity, and generalized eating problems. She has published numerous articles and book chapters on eating disorders, depression and anxiety. She has dedicated her career to the treatment, prevention, and support of individuals suffering from eating disorders and their families. She also regularly provides opportunities for those recovered from eating disorders to join her research team and guide future research.