I was sitting in a large circle in a room reserved for groups in Mifgashim Retorno’s outpatient center. The occasion was Avigayil’s graduation party. The invited guests were the women in Avigayil’s particular program her social worker addiction counselor and anyone else she felt had played a significant role in her recovery. I was honored to have been invited; my part had been to convince Avigayil to try the program and occasionally to support her when she called me.
As is customary at these events Avigayil spoke about her journey. She grew up in a secular family the only girl the middle child. The fussy one the untalented one the flighty one. The outsider. She became religious in her early twenties then got married and made aliyah in her early thirties putting both emotional and physical distance between herself and her family.
She’d never been thin but when she started having kids her weight ballooned and she’d spent years trying different diets and even joining dieting support groups but she always gained back what she’d lost and then some. She met with some success with Overeaters Anonymous but after several relapses decided to try Mifgashim.
“It was not ” she said “an instant success. I didn’t mind showing up for the meetings and therapy. But I had a very hard time sharing myself and my issues with the other women. I mean why would they listen to me? I was so… uninteresting.
