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Eating Disorders:​
Writing, Speaking, and Mentoring

Over the last decade, advancements in genetics and neuroscience have changed the way we think about eating disorders. Eating disorders aren’t choices or mental illnesses. They’re “metabo-psychiatric conditions”: complex interactions of genes, environment, physiology, and temperament. They happen when someone of any shape, size, weight, or identity falls into "energy deficit," unleashing a whole cascade of measurable physiological responses. This scientific awareness is crucial for removing shame and stigma and changing treatment. It makes space for new, fascinating questions:
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What is the relationship between genes and choice, illness and identity?
What does illness teach us about the relationship between mind and body?
What tools and vocabularies (science, medicine, spirituality, narrative) are necessary for whole-person healing?
How does the experience of illness alter the way we understand ourselves, others, and the world?

Emily’s work combines cutting-edge research with her experience of recovering from anorexia and her years of mentoring others. Through writing, podcasts, and public speaking, she shares how science changes the lived reality of recovery and invites new ways thinking about the self. 

Articles

Emily is currently at work on a book project, Living the Body. A collection of nonfiction essays, the book explores how evolutionary biology, spirituality, theology, and medicine converge at the site of lived experience-- the experience of the human body in illness and suffering. Through stories drawn from her own recovery from anorexia and her work as a biologist/chaplain, Emily meditates on the nature of connection, belonging, resilience, and selfhood. 

Podcasts/Media:

Interview for CNN: "What someone with an eating disorder wishes you knew" (March 2023)

ED Matters Podcast
Episode 232: "Emily Boring, Target Weights and Full Recovery, Part I"
 
ED Matters Podcast
Episode 232: "Emily Boring, Target Weights and Full Recovery, Part II"

Presentations:
Excerpts from the "FEAST of Knowledge Conference" (March 2022)

​Spiritual Care for Eating Disorders:
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Mentoring 

Note: As of Fall 2023, Emily is unable to accept new on-one-one mentoring clients. She is available for educational events, presentations, and professional trainings. 

Emily draws on research and lived experience to mentor others through the recovery process. She offers one-time consultations or regular (weekly/bi-weekly) sessions via Zoom. 

To work with Emily, individuals in recovery should be:
  • Medically stable
  • Seeing a professional team - therapist, dietitian, MD, etc.
  • Reasonably motivated toward recovery (not in active relapse)
  • Over 12 years of age ​

Though Emily works primarily with individuals in recovery, she is open to family sessions and conversations with parents/clinicians. 

To learn more and/or join the waitlist, please use this form. 

Speaking Inquiries


​Emily accepts invitations for public speaking, education, and interviews on the topic of eating disorders.