If you notice the picture above, you will see one of the creative results of a recent peer-run group. If you look closely, you can see that there are four sections, which, when all fit together, form the shape of the 'Recovery' symbol.
It was a hot day, we went outside with a bathroom scale and a large hammer. One by one, each person took their turn by throwing, hammering, and stomping on the scale. The intention was to destroy it, piece by piece, and to parallel the act of destroying the scale with tearing down the power that the scale has had over so many people who are suffering from an eating disorder (and many people overall, in our society today).
It was interesting to hear how therapeutic this way for many of these people, as a way to get some of their pent up anger released.
Once all of the pieces of the scale were gathered up, we went to another location, split the group as a whole into four sections, each one taking one of the sections to personalize. The idea was to 'picture' how a scale cannot fit into recovery, by gluing pieces of the broken scale around the recovery symbol, while also writing inspirational quotes or phrases inside the symbol itself. Once the pieces were fit together again, some additional things were written inside the symbol that 'fit' into recovery.
The four pieces will be mounted so that the project in it's entirety can be hung inside the River Centre Clinic in a prominent location.
The consensus of those who participated was that physically breaking apart the scale was a very powerful experience, and that being free to express anger toward the eating disorder in a very tangible way was therapeutic. One person mentioned that seeing the 'numbers' as a piece of paper, that could be simply torn apart, helped her to realize how she does not want a piece of paper to determine her worth.
All in all, everyone agreed that this activity held a lot of meaning for them, and they expressed pride in the finished product.
I plan to do this project on a regular basis as the 'community' at the River Centre Clinic constantly changes.
We have a lot of useless scales to smash!
Without apology....♥
