Finding Purpose through Despair
As a daughter of a preacher, Pamela Paul grew up under some strong teachings about her expected behavior and how she should live her life. But Pamela never felt that she could measure up, so at the young age of 10, she gave up. “It was too hard to follow the straight and narrow,” says Pamela. “I never felt good enough, so I quit trying.”
A decade of rebellious and self-destructive behavior followed.
By age 20, Pamela’s life was a mess and she had flunked out of college. Consumed by the ravaging effects of an eating disorder, Bulimia Nervosa, she binged and purged daily, often five times a day. Desperate for help, she sought counseling and describes her experience with treatment as “hit or miss,” maintaining that “no one really knew how to work with Bulimic patients in the early 80s. I essentially educated the therapists I saw about my disorder, but received no direction for recovering from it. I felt hopeless, alone and out of control.” She soon realized she was completely on her own for fighting the disorder, and vowed, “If I ever find a way out, I will spend the rest of my life helping others do the same.”
At the age of 27, frightened by the fact that she was four months pregnant and still sabotaging her body through self-induced vomiting, Pamela knew it was time to make some significant changes in her life. “My journey of recovery began.” For the first time, she found freedom with food and learned to be comfortable in her own body.
Although Pamela had rejected much of the early religious teachings of her youth, a spiritual connection had always flickered and she yearned to find truth. She slowly began to “let go of all the garbage in my mind” and she replaced a long-held craving for her father’s approval with a spiritual connection to her Abba. “I learned that God is a God of love and accepts me as I am.” Her self-esteem dramatically improved.
Passionate to share her experience with others, Pamela returned to college so she could prepare herself for a career in counseling. She graduated with honors, despite a second pregnancy, divorce, and single parenting. “It was tough, but I was committed,” she says.
Since then, Pamela has devoted her career to investing in the lives of others. For the past twenty years, Pamela has specialized her psychotherapy practice towards helping women and adolescent girls who suffer with anorexia, bulimia, compulsive overeating, and obesity break free. Along with her training in psychology, nutrition, and fitness training, Pamela utilized her own experiences, as well as her faith and belief in God to develop a therapy model that brought about radical transformation in the lives of others. During this time, Pamela also founded and coached a women’s running team, leading over 300 women across the finish line of a half-marathon event for improved health, community support, and confidence building.
Now Pamela offers an integrated approach of counseling, wellness coaching, and spiritual direction to address the whole person, spirit, soul, and body. She helps men, women, couples, and adolescents find solutions for life’s challenges, and healing from emotional pain which may show up as depression, anxiety, addiction, eating disorders, low self-esteem, relationship issues, anger, or difficulty in managing stress. Pamela’s sessions are tailored to the individual needs of her clients with a goal to restore balance, heal from the hurts, and live life more fully, with confidence and hope for the future.
A Florida native, Pamela lives and practices in Largo. She is the mother of two adult children, Benjamin and Kelsey, a beautiful granddaughter Harmony, age 7, and her her pets, Solomon & Shaniqua. Pamela enjoys reading, writing and being outdoors for walks, runs, biking, kayaking, and watching sunsets with friends and family. She also enjoys traveling for visits to see her three sisters who she considers her BFF’s!
Pamela can be reached at 727-584-6919, or by email at info@drpamelapaul.com. You may also connect with her at one of the social media platforms listed at the bottom of this page.
