Watching Melina blossom has been one of the most inspiring transformations I’ve ever witnessed. When she first began her Thrive journey, she was weighed down by more than 10 mental health diagnoses, years of fear, and a life ruled by emetophobia, food rituals, and isolation. At her most challenging time she weighed a mere 59lbs… But from early on in the program, her light started to come back. She leaned in, did the work, and reclaimed her power piece by piece. Now, she’s not just surviving…she’s truly living. She eats freely, travels, dreams, laughs, and radiates joy and strength. Melina, I am so incredibly proud of you. You’re living proof that healing is possible and that no matter how dark it’s been, life can become something beautiful again. You did this! And the best part is I know you’re just getting started! 💛 Here is Melina’s Website if you want to check out her amazing pieces.

Melina’s Testimonial:

“I’ve had emetophobia since I was 6 years old and I’d suffered with it for 16 years until I found the Thrive programme and Coach Lauren. The first time I did the programme, I’d gone through it on my own, without a coach, and was doing good and steadily taking back control of my life until I got COVID 3 months after finishing reading the manual. I had completely let myself backslide and go back to my old, harmful ways and rituals that left me feeling powerless, out of control, and overall miserable. I was barely surviving each day, both mentally and physically, let alone thriving.

My life continued like this for 2 more years until my therapist dumped me and I was forced to find new treatment. This was one of the lowest and scariest points in my life. I didn’t’ know what to do or what was going to happen to me. I felt so helpless. But then I remembered the Thrive Programme and how it had helped me start to take back my life in tremendous ways and in such a short amount of time, and I figured it would be worth giving it another shot.

This time though, I thought it’d be a good idea to go through the programme with a coach, that way I’d have someone to help keep me accountable and help me explain anything I didn’t understand or needed more clarification on. Little did I know at the time that this was one of the best decisions I as going to make in my life. I was matched with Coach Lauren and once I read the first email from her, I knew she was a great fit for me and that we were going to make an excellent team.

From the very beginning, Coach Lauren was very sweet and positive, already praising me for taking this huge, brave step, and she was confident that she was going to get me thriving, even though I was skeptical.

She also had interests similar to mine and had even gone out of her way to read some of my published writing that I had mentioned to her. Right away, Coach Lauren had made me feel cared for and seen, and for the first time in 2 years, I felt confident that I was going to overcome my emetophobia and take my life back and start enjoying living again. And I was more than right.

Coach Lauren quickly became my friend with whom I felt safe to confide in and be vulnerable with. I could tell her my silly rituals and other ways emetophobia ruled my life, and she would meet me with kindness, understanding, and empathy. She accepted me the way I was from day one and with her help, I was able to beat my emetophobia and take back control of my life. I can now proudly say that I’m the happiest and most relaxed I’ve ever been in my whole life and I’m truly thriving, and a huge reason why is because of Coach Lauren.

Coach Lauren is so much more than just an excellent coach. She a wonderful, kind and supportive friend and an overall incredible person who is there for you no matter what. She’s been my own personal cheerleader through out my emetophobia recovery journey and I can confidently say that I wouldn’t have made the progress I’ve made, as quickly as I’ve made it, without her constant support and motivation.

She genuinely care and checks in on me to see how I’m doing and how she can best support me. She believed in me when I didn’t and always lifted me up and helped me feel confident in myself and my progress. I can’t recommend her enough. Choosing Lauren as your coach will be one of the greatest decisions you’ll make for yourself!

She made the process of overcoming my emetophobia easy and way less daunting than I thought it was going to be, especially in comparison to me doing it by myself.

The first step is always the hardest, but with Lauren as your coach you’ll find that it isn’t that scary and that overcoming your emetophobia is actually an enjoyable and uplifting process! So please don’t wait! Take back your life with Coach Lauren and start enjoying living again!”

Leave a comment below in support of her beautiful journey or leave your own relevant thoughts!

Melina’s Remarkable Transformation

By Coach Lauren

As a Thrive Programme coach, I have the profound privilege of walking alongside people as they reclaim their lives. Each story is unique, but every single one reminds me of the strength, courage, and potential that lives within us when we are given the right resources, a powerful attitude, and the belief that we can change.

Melina’s story is one I will carry with me forever. Her transformation is a beautiful and powerful example of what happens when someone no longer just survives—but begins to thrive.

Life Before Thrive: A Daily Battle for Survival

When Melina began coaching, her world was tightly bound by fear, rituals, and exhaustion. She described her life before The Thrive Programme in one heartbreaking word: debilitating.

She was constantly on edge, scanning for danger, dreading each day before it began, a feeling all emetophobia sufferers can relate to. It wasn’t just emotional or mental: her entire life was structured around fear. From age five, Melina lived with emetophobia, a deeply distressing fear of vomiting, that eventually evolved into more than ten mental health diagnoses, including ARFID, OCD, germaphobia, agoraphobia, anxiety, depression, ADHD, body dysmorphia, and possibly autism.

Despite years of therapy, CBT, EMDR, medication trials, and an intensive outpatient program—>she still felt stuck. The outpatient center she attended, left her feeling silenced, misunderstood, and traumatized. She was judged by numbers on a scale, given impossible weight-gain ultimatums, and denied support for her mental and emotional wellbeing. Her voice wasn’t heard. Her fears were dismissed. She felt even more afraid.

Controlled by Rituals, Not by Choice

Melina’s daily life was governed by painstaking routines that left little room for freedom, joy, or connection. In her mind, she was simply surviving as best she could with what she had.

• Her food was strictly limited to three measured items per day
• Every bite had to be spaced with precise timing—often taking hours to finish a single protein bar
• Food couldn’t be touched by anyone else, and eating after 2–3 p.m. was off-limits
• She spent hours obsessively logging what she ate, checking expiration dates, scrubbing her hands raw, and reviewing her “safe” intake

Even her saliva had rules.
Her bathroom routine could last an hour.
Her fear of contamination left her isolated from restaurants, social gatherings, hugs—even her own mother preparing food.

She lived in a world where safety meant rigidity, where control replaced peace, and where surviving took everything she had. This was no way to live.

Then Everything Changed

When Melina found The Thrive Programme, something shifted.

She began coaching with me not knowing what to expect…but she leaned in with hope. And within just a few weeks, the light began to return. She told me she felt happier, more confident, and more powerful than she had in years—>by week four.

For the first time, she wasn’t being “treated.” She was being taught how to lead herself. She was no longer managing symptoms, she was learning to dismantle the beliefs that kept those symptoms in place. I remember telling her I was not going to weigh her in each week or anything like that because I was confident she would want to start eating when she felt ready. And…she did!

She learned how to build unshakable self-esteem.
She learned how to take back emotional control.
She learned how to step into her power…not someday, but now.

One of the moments that touched me most deeply and I’ll admit, brought me to tears, was when Melina told me she had hugged her mom without fear for the first time in years. For so long, even the most basic human connection felt too risky for her. Touch was something she avoided, not because she didn’t crave it, but because emetophobia and germ-related anxieties made closeness feel dangerous. The idea of a simple hug was wrapped in layers of fear, rituals, and intrusive thoughts. But now, that wall has come down. When she shared that she was finally able to embrace her mom freely, without hesitation or spiraling anxiety, it was more than just a hug…it was a symbol of everything she had taken back. That moment captured the essence of what true healing looks like: not just doing more, but feeling free to be present, connected, and human again.

“I’m enjoying living now
I actually love myself now and feel good about myself and proud of myself.” she told me.

“I wake up excited every day just to see what I’m capable of.”

Thriving in Real Life

Melina’s progress wasn’t abstract BUT it showed up in her real life, every single day-it was measurable, tangible evidence of change! Here are her BIG wins!

• She deleted her food log, ending a years-long obsession
• She began eating freely—whatever, whenever, and however much she wanted
• She tried fear foods, dined at restaurants, and even ate food near a dead fly (a milestone she never imagined possible)
• She traveled across state lines and ate during events—without anxiety
• She hugged her family without fear
• She drank wine
• She tossed out routines and trusted her instincts
• She let herself dream again

Today, Melina is writing a novel, planning a move, dreaming about Japan and Disney World, and building a future that once felt completely out of reach.

But the moment that moved me the most was when she said:

“I feel normal for the first time in my life.”

To Anyone Who Sees Themselves in Her Story

If you are reading this and feel that deep exhaustion of simply getting through the day… if you’ve been dismissed, misdiagnosed, or told that you’ll always be broken…please let Melina’s story remind you that you are not alone, and you are not stuck.

You are not your diagnosis.
You are not your fear.
You are not broken.

You are powerful, capable, and ready to Thrive.

Melina still uses her journal every morning and processes her positives. She continues to follow my content on Instagram as well as other coaches I’ve suggested. But most importantly, she continues to lead herself—>something she once believed wasn’t possible.

Her journey is living proof that healing doesn’t have to take years. It doesn’t have to be scary. It doesn’t have to be a life sentence. With the right attitude, the right tools, and the right support, you can take back your life.

And I would be honored to walk alongside you too! Please reach out today-don’t wait! –Coach Lauren

P.S. Melina finished her first book she mentioned in her podcast so I’m delighted to share the link here.