In This Family

This episode of In This Family: When author and artist Tracey Yokas lost her mother, which happened only a few years after her dad died, Tracey was devastated, as was Tracey’s eighth grade daughter, Faith. But things quickly got more complicated as Faith’s grief evolved into a severe eating disorder and acts of self-harm. Soon, Tracey was navigating a very difficult process of trying to help Faith get better while suffering real challenges to her own mental health and the stability of her marriage.

Faith did eventually get better, she’s grown now and doing well, and in writing about this period in her book, Bloodlines: A Memoir of Harm and Healing, Tracey found that some of Faith’s problems stemmed from issues Tracey had growing up as well. She examined the traumas of her youth, the relationship to food, the habits that her parents had likely handed down from their own families. It’s an intriguing discussion of mental health, what we can and cannot control, and the long road to healing.

In this conversation, we talk honestly about what it means to love someone through a mental health crisis while facing your own unresolved pain. We explore the difference between fixing and supporting, between control and compassion, and the courage it takes to look backward in order to move forward. If you are a parent, a caregiver, or someone untangling the threads of your own family story, I hope this discussion reminds you that healing is rarely linear—but it is possible. We don’t get to choose every hardship. We do get to choose how we respond, learn, and grow.

Launched October 1, In This Family, a new podcast hosted by Dr. Michelle K. Murray, President/CEO of Nexus Family Healing and licensed marriage and family therapist, explores the impact of mental health within families through honest, candid conversations. The podcast features public and private figures sharing raw, relatable stories about mental health challenges and triumphs. The series highlights how mental health affects the entire family—and how resilience and courage can lead to healing.

Additional resources I hope will help, if you need them.

As an eating disorder and trauma therapist, Ashley McHan sees patients with an array of issues with food. VICE speaks to her about our unhealthy relationship to food, how it contributes to disordered eating and the underlying causes, similarities and differences of various eating disorders.