Dear Michelle,
Thank you so much for your incredible dedication in the past few months. You’ve been invaluable in helping me understanding the process of overcoming food and body obsession and I will carry all these incredible tools and insights with me forever. If I could share any words with those who are considering engaging in a similar process, this is what I would like to say:
You won’t regret it! If you’re anything like me, you’re here because things seem desperate, and yet, there is a voice inside you that is saying that another way is possible. You don’t have to live the rest of your life feeling anxious and unhappy around food and your body. You’re ready to make changes and to begin to focus on things that really matter to you.
This process, like any other journey worth taking, will have ups and down, challenges and rewards. It also may seem to take forever to make progress, especially when compared with the “quick fix” of either a binge or crash diet…You will find, however, that in working with this gifted and dedicated team, momentum builds quickly and sooner than you think, you will be seeing things in a completely new and exciting light.
Don’t despair, you’re in good hands! Trust in this process. It is sound, makes sense and will work if your commitment to yourself and to change is strong.
Keep your commitment strong by staying rooted in your compassion. Self-criticism has gotten you this far, now it’s time to switch gears and to start nurturing the part of yourself that is kind and gentle. When you make mistakes, be gentle. When you have success, celebrate. When you ask questions, be kind. When you set goals, be generous. It is amazing to feel yourself softening into self-compassion and soon, you won’t want to live anywhere else.
Congratulations! You’ve taken the first tiny but very important step in greatly improving the course of the rest of your life! I know that my work through this Centre has done exactly that for me and I couldn’t be happier about it!
– S
Michelle,
There are no words to adequately express my gratitude for everything you have helped me overcome this past year. I am going forward with total confidence that I will be able to deal with anything that comes up for me using all the tools you’ve given me.
So thank you, thank you, thank you from the bottom of my heart. I finally know what it means to feel peaceful!
– Laura
Hi Michelle,
This is Dana, I hope you remember me!
I just wanted to say a quick thank you to everything you and The CEDRIC Center did for me last year. I have been doing very, very well!! I have been completely free of my emotional eating for over a year now. Wow that is exciting!
I am still working at the same place I was when we were talking but I am now managing it so that is great! I have been with my new great boyfriend Sean for over a year. He is very supportive of me.
Anyways I just wanted to say thank you and let you know that all of my counselling I received has truly changed my life. I look back on those few months I spent in Victoria as very hard but a time I was able to get to know myself, and I will cherish it forever. I hope you are doing well Michelle.
– Dana
Dear Michelle,
Thank you for being one of the most important people in my life. You helped me to change my life completely. I can’t believe where I am and how I feel.
I know also that there are only more great changes and growth to come! I will always look to you as my second mom. I cry tears of joy, empathy and forgiveness now rather than tears of sadness, guilt, and anger. Thank you for everything!!
Love,
– KB
Dearest Michelle,
I don’t even know where to start. First of all, you saved my life. I don’t know how or cannot explain how all of a sudden a person can just one day search online about options out there that could help someone like me and for some reason CEDRIC Centre just pops out and makes me feel like, “Yup. This is the ‘one’ for me and this is the program that’s going to help me.” You are honestly an angel, god has sent down from heaven. The words thank you are not enough.
Michelle, because of you I can truly live. You are an amazing human being. From the first day I met you to now I have completely become a new person who has new thoughts, new tools, and just an overall new way of living life. It’s like you gave me a fresh start and a brand new life. Thank you for everything!!
I know that you think that this program, this method, these tools, may not be for everyone, but after ALL the years of different types of therapies, after all the different programs and ‘approaches,’ and counsellors and EVERYTHING else I’ve done, I can truly say that this program is the one program that’s going to make a difference.
There are people out there who just may not be ready when they first start but when that person is at a point in their lives where it is time for them to change, this is what is going to work! I don’t care who it is. The CEDRIC Centre is what is going to change and better a person.
What you do and how you do it can honestly change the world. I’ve been struggling with my point in life and the purpose of me being here and I think that this was it. Me going through what I did, finding you and learning and experiencing what I did in the last 2 months. If I could do what you have done for me for one human soul, I have fulfilled my purpose in life.
Lots of love, appreciation, and respect.
– Amy
To anyone who needs help and is reading this!
Prior, to discovering Michelle Morand at the Cedric Center I spent most of my childhood and life as a young adult with stress, anxiety and sadness.
My parents separated at the age of 2 years old and my mother and I moved across the country. I did not realize during my upbringing but this separation led to the beginning of major insecurities and loss in my life.
As I grew into my teens my problems layered upon each other making it difficult to identify why I was feeling the way I was. I became very insecure about my looks and my weight. When I was 15 I started modelling thinking that would help my confidence but the pressure and attention towards my appearance and weight made it worse.
I had always looked at myself as if I was 30lbs heavier than I actually was. I went to college and managed to “maintain” my negative feelings by doing a lot of partying until it completely spun out of control and I began binging and purging.
At first the idea and act of it disgusted me, it seemed so vulgar. But as it became a more frequent act it just became a “normal” part of my life. I was addicted to it and eventually I came to terms with the fact that I was bulimic. This carried on for over four years. It started off as a now and again thing and ended up being a 2-3 time a day habit. Not only did it become emotionally robbing it was also financially robbing.
I moved back to Victoria, where I grew up, in 2006 to try and sort myself out but it was not until August of 2007 that I actually stepped inside Michelle’s office. Michelle turned my whole life around. We met 1-2 times a week for a couple of months. I also did mindfulness sessions and body work with Karen another counsellor at the centre. I was amazed as to how effective and reassuring I found my process.
It seemed as though that psychologically, just being in the presence of a supportive environment contributed to the eradication of my disorder. Michelle educated me and also offered emotional support that I had trouble finding at other places I had gone too.
I felt safe at the Cedric Centre and because of that my sense of vulnerability depleted. Today I know I have overcome the biggest obstacle in my life.
Change takes time. But it is the biggest feeling of accomplishment that I have ever felt. And I know I will continue to progress for the rest of my life.
Thank you very much Michelle and Myself.
– Anon
Dear Michelle,
I will never be able to put into words the effect you have had on me. Thank you, truly. I find that if I ever find myself thinking inauthentically, it only takes remembering your presence to ground myself again in my authenticity. Thank you and I love you!!
– K
It was a happy, happy day when the Universe directed me to you and the CEDRIC Centre. I came for Fat Camp and ended up on a Spiritual Journey! The beginning of the rest of my life!
While I’m not much different on the outside yet, thanks to your guidance, wisdom, wealth of knowledge and support, my inner self is a whole lot more spacious, tidy and roomy…plenty of room for the shiny new set of tools you’ve given me. Those tools remind me of my new hiking boots.
I arrived in Victoria wearing a worn out pair of Rockport hikers. I loved those trusty old boots. They carried me around the world for five years, through all manner of weather, enduring deplorable abuse, but they were falling apart, no longer serving or supporting me, just like my tattered old limiting core beliefs.
Both boots and core beliefs have been replaced with shiny, new, sturdy models, the core beliefs bolstered with tools. It took some work to find and fit both replacements, the boots and the core beliefs. They’re both going to take a bit of ‘breaking in’ as I’m still learning how and when to operate those tools. But I am totally certain both will carry me a long, long way. I’m excited about the journey, even while I stumble and totter, sometimes fallings, sometimes striding along comfortably.
Thanks, Michelle, for sharing your expertise, your compassion, your patience…sometimes we don’t get what we ask for, sometimes we get way, way more. I’m looking forward to your wise counsel for the rest of my healing journey.
– Janet
Dear Dawn and The CEDRIC Centre team,
Things are going very well. I’m working and really busy, too busy! My list of friends is growing and I just can’t seem to stop connecting with people. I go out without stressing about how much I weigh and it’s very freeing.
Mentally, I’m in great shape. No bad body thoughts and no binging, although I do like to eat, but I’m much better at stopping and I’m choosing good food. I keep that mental image of the chart (coping strategies flow chart) of going to the left (bad body thoughts) or to the right (other choices and possibility thinking).
I haven’t gained any more weight, and I am going down the scale. I’m concentrating on quality of life and quality of food. The counselling did me a tremendous amount of good. Thank you!
– Carolynne Evans
Dear Michelle,
I want to express my gratitude for you and for who you are. As I watch and enjoy and marvel as Heather settles into herself comfortably, and then rises beyond, surpassing who she appeared to be.
I am amazed at what is now appearing in her and at what has been hidden beyond my perception.
I hear her acknowledge your “role” in this arrival.
Thank you 10 thousand times.
– Carlann (Loving Mom of a CEDRIC Client)
Dear Michelle,
Just an update. Things are going well with K. She is showing more self-confidence and competence, more self-respect, and acting with more self-care. Communicates readily and makes an effort to be honest and forthright. Really aware when she is stressing about her fears about the teaching and generally tries to communicate it.
We have had virtually no conflict and it is a joy to have her here. She is really fun and funny.
Am really pleased with all her progress. Thanks to you for all she is accomplishing.
– L.L. (Loving Mom of a CEDRIC Client)
Hello Michelle,
Just wanted to mention again how great Jocelyn is sounding on the phone. I forgot to mention earlier how stoked she was about the weekend group therapies. J also mentions often that she adores you and really connects well with you. Wonderful to hear.
Have a great day,
– S. W. (Loving Mom of a CEDRIC Client)
Dear Michelle,
I just wanted you to know that my daughter clearly feels very comfortable in speaking with you and she believes in your trust.
I believe she wants to move on and get better. She has come a long way already…and I believe with your support she will overcome this feeling of being not good enough, pretty enough, smart enough…and truly be happy with who she is and know that she is beautiful.
Thank you
– L.B. (Loving Mom of a CEDRIC Client)