Sydney Fitzgibbons

Sydney (she/her) is an Arizona native who now lives in Bend, Oregon. Prior to that, she lived in Denver where she worked as a paramedic after completing treatment at ERC. While now working towards a degree in counseling, her current passions include volunteering as a paramedic and a CASA (court appointed special advocate) for abused and neglected kiddos in foster care. Her ultimate goal? Working with first responders with job-related PTSD, people seeking recovery from eating disorders, and people struggling with trauma in general. Sydney writes, speaks, and shares about recovery from eating disorders (anorexia, bulimia, and ED combined with type 1 diabetes), as well as recovery from depression, trauma, addiction, anxiety, and PTSD (specifically in first responders) because she wants others to find the freedom, hope, love, laughter, and life that exists outside of the binds of an eating disorder and other mental health battles. On top of that, she has a passion for educating healthcare professionals in various areas on how to recognize the early signs of eating disorders. Syd claims her strongest defenses against her eating disorders and other struggles to be consistent therapy, connection, selfless service, humor in all seasons of life, gardening, listening to music, adventures in nature—namely fly fishing, hiking, photography, snowboarding, snowmobiling, waterfall hunting, mushroom foraging, etc., as well as doing anything with her Rottweiler, Atlas! She describes the biggest gifts of recovery as authentic connection, adventure, genuine laughter, and a rooted belief that “Life is happening for me, not to me”. Her message to those struggling is simple: “Life gets better. Make sure you’re there to see it.”