College Hope: Treatment Resources for College and University Campuses
College Hope Content
Get creative ideas to build a successful Eating Disorder Awareness and Prevention Program on your campus!
- College Hope is a national collegiate effort to promote Eating Disorder Awareness and Recovery on college campuses. In an effort to share ideas between schools and provide easily accessible resources for eating disorder treatment and info, we are gathering resources and counseling center info from different schools to publish here for students seeking help.
- Please share your school's eating disorder resource information with us at Contact Us
- We will publish all School resources on this page as a service to the college community. (subject to approval before publishing).
Resources
Eating Disorder Hope College Blog and Club
The College Eating Disorder Hope Club and Blog is specifically for college students and staff interested in eating disorders such as anorexia, bulimia and binge eating disorder. This is a pro recovery blog that offers discussion of recovery tools, resources, eating disorder treatment options and events for college students seeking recovery.
Follow the College Hope Blog: Stay informed and motivated to recover!
MyPyramid.gov
Eating Disorder Hope has partnered with MyPyramid.gov, United States Department of Agriculture, to bring health enhancing tools to college students suffering from disordered eating.
"The purpose of 'Partnering with MyPyramid' is to equip consumers with the information that they need to make smart decisions about eating more healthfully and being more physically active," said Dr. Rajen Anand, Executive Director of the Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion, an agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture and sponsor of Partnering with MyPyramid. "Eating Disorder Hope is proud to play a role in bringing that vision to reality, "said Jacquelyn Ekern, MS, LPC, founder of Eating Disorder Hope.
College Response
Mental Health Screening & Education Programs for Colleges
The CollegeResponse program, developed by Screening for Mental Health(SMH), promotes the prevention, early detection and treatment of prevalent, often under-diagnosed and treatable mental health disorders and alcohol problems.
For more than a decade, the program has offered affordable and practical risk management tools and information that educate, assess, and connect students with appropriate resources. Your campus health and counseling center has limited capacity. So how do you focus your resources on the students most at risk?
CollegeResponse Gives Your Students:
- The opportunity to self-screen for depression, bipolar disorder, PTSD, generalized anxiety disorder, eating disorders, and alcohol use disorders
- Access to unlimited, anonymous online screenings and/or confidential screenings at in-person events
- Help-seeking tools
- Immediate results and referrals to your on-campus counseling and health center following completion of screening questionnaire
More Details on College Response
Reflections: Body Image Program
Reflections: Body Image Program is brought to you by Dr. Carolyn Becker, Delta Delta Delta Fraternity and The Center for Living, Learning & Leading
What is Reflections: Body Image Program?
The purpose of Reflections is to help communities of college students (e.g., sororities, residence hall groups) establish and maintain a positive body image. As the first peer led evidence based eating disorders prevention program originally designed for and with sororities, Reflections endeavors to help participants resist the ultrathin, unrealistic ideal standard of female beauty prevalent in today's society. Using highly interactive, peer-led, small groups, Reflections is a two-session, intervention program designed by experts and implemented through trained peer leaders on college campuses throughout North America. The program does not focus on eating disorders; rather, it emphasizes creating and reaffirming positive and healthy personal body image through a variety of structured discussions, activities, and exercises. To that end, community participants learn to embrace the healthy-ideal and reduce their own body dissatisfaction by decreasing "fat talk" in their daily life, engaging in Community Body Activism and embracing all of the wonderful non-appearance related aspects of themselves and their fellow community members.
What differentiates Reflections from other body image programs?
Reflections incorporates three key success factors:
- The volume of research and independent testing underlying the approach used in Reflections (i.e., cognitive dissonance-based prevention) far exceeds that of any other approach).
- The unique peer-led structure is the first of its kind in evidence-based eating disorders prevention/body image improvement programs.
- The program leverages the unique structure of sororities and/or other communities as an ideal vehicle for dissemination and facilitation.
Reflections: Body Image Program Resources
The F.R.E.E.D. Speaking Tour 2010-2011!
On The F.R.E.E.D. Speaking Tour, Kathleen MacDonald shares her empowering story of overcoming a 16 year long battle with disordered eating, bulimia, anorexia, exercise bulimia, and body dislike. Her presentation offers an intimate look into the journey of recovering from these issues without glamorizing the horrendous efforts that she and so many others undertake in an attempt to achieve the "perfect body".
Kathleen speaks practically, to dispel the oftentimes enigmatic perceptions of "eating disorders" and addresses the societal complacency of dieting and body dislike that ravages the lives of so many women and men on college campuses nationwide. She delivers a message of hope that it IS possible to truly love your body, as well as a message of urgency for a call to action to address eating and body image disorders at all levels of severity. Countless people have shared that as a result of hearing Kathleen's story they have uncovered courage to seek help and healing from their own battles of body image and disordered eating issues. Kathleen's presentations also address: media influence on bodies and self-esteem, signs and symptoms of eating and body image issues, exercise abuse, ways to help a friend or loved one who might be suffering, how to get help, eating disorder activism, and more.
To book F.R.E.E.D. at your school, or to learn more about the presentations: please call: 202.203.0999
or email: kathleen@freedfoundation.org
What are people saying about Kathleen's presentations?
"...I had the honor and pleasure of speaking with Kathleen at a Congressional Briefing in April, 2008. I wish that every patient I have ever treated, every family member, and every clinician who works with eating disorders could hear her speak. Her disarming honesty unveils the lengths to which the anxiety associated with anorexia nervosa can drive someone to deceive themselves and the ones they love. Her honesty, compassion, and humor demystify eating disorders. She helps us understand and be less fearful of a disorder that we know can take lives. When she spoke at the briefing, I cried, not because of the sadness of her story, but out of joy that she was alive to help others discover the path to life that she had found..." –Cynthia M. Bulik, PhD, FAED, Jordan Distinguished Professor of Eating Disorders, Director, University of North Carolina Eating Disorders Program, Past-President, Academy for Eating Disorders, Vice-President, Eating Disorders Coalition
"...Kathleen does a wonderful, deeply personal and revealing presentation –using a most appropriate, non-glamorizing approach. She really reaches people and she is such an example of recovery and of the healing role of activism- absolutely inspirational. While her message reaches anyone, she is so clear about how her eating disorder affected her college experience; it is especially poignant for students to hear. The clear message is that people can get better and find themselves, despite the power of the illness in their lives. I consider her a trusted friend as well as a remarkable resource for our field. I would encourage your students/administration to try their hardest to get Kathleen to your campus..." –Margo Maine, Ph.D. FAED; Author of: Effective Clinical Treatment of Eating Disorders: The Heart of the Matter; The Body Myth: Adult Women and the Pressure to Be Perfect; Father Hunger: Fathers, Daughters, and the Pursuit of Thinness; Body Wars: Making Peace with Women's Bodies
"...from my point of view, and I think what is truly most helpful and was so powerful, was when you explained the games, the self deception etc. Being completely recovered is a whole different ball game and I felt your discussion of what that really means, and the process you had to go through to get there is the important take away message..." –Amy Dennis, Ph.D., Board of Directors, National Eating Disorders Association
The F.R.E.E.D. Foundation is a non-profit organization dedicated to eliminating eating disorders.
The F.R.E.E.D. Foundation Mission Is:
- To provide individuals the financial support needed for the treatment of eating disorders.
- To provide public awareness and educational resources about the serious detriment of eating disorders.
- To advocate for the acknowledgment and acceptance of eating disorders as a serious and urgent disease.
Articles
Eating Disorders and the Obesity Epidemic: Why the Controversy?
by: Jacquelyn Ekern, MS, LPC, Founder and Executive Director of Eating Disorder Hope
Some eating disorders advocates believe that emphasis on weight charts, body mass index (BMI) and culturally-influenced expectations of body type are not effective motivators for most individuals to embrace a healthy lifestyle. A general emphasis on appearance and weight control, and a preference for thinness by parents and peers can contribute to body dissatisfaction, dieting, low self-esteem and weight bias among today's youth (NEDA, 2010). Continue Reading
Facts About Eating Disorders
General:
- Almost 50% of people with eating disorders meet the criteria for depression.
- Only 1 in 10 men and women with eating disorders receive treatment. Only 35% of people that receive treatment for eating disorders get treatment at a specialized facility for eating disorders. 2
- Up to 24 million people of all ages and genders suffer from an eating disorder (anorexia, bulimia and binge eating disorder) in the U.S. 3
- Eating disorders have the highest mortality rate of any mental illness. 4
Students:
- 91% of women surveyed on a college campus had attempted to control their weight through dieting. 22% dieted "often" or "always." 5
- 86% report onset of eating disorder by age 20; 43% report onset between ages of 16 and 20. 6
- Anorexia is the third most common chronic illness among adolescents. 7
- 95% of those who have eating disorders are between the ages of 12 and 25. 8
- 25% of college-aged women engage in bingeing and purging as a weight-management technique. 3
- The mortality rate associated with anorexia nervosa is 12 times higher than the death rate associated with all causes of death for females 15-24 years old.4
Men
- An estimated 10-15% of people with anorexia or bulimia are male. 9
- Men are less likely to seek treatment for eating disorders because of the perception that they are "woman's diseases." 10
- Among gay men, nearly 14% appeared to suffer from bulimia and over 20% appeared to be anorexic. 11
Media, Perception, Dieting
- 95% of all dieters will regain their lost weight within 5 years. 3
- 35% of "normal dieters" progress to pathological dieting. Of those, 20-25% progress to partial or full-syndrome eating disorders. 5
- The body type portrayed in advertising as the ideal is possessed naturally by only 5% of American females. 3
- 47% of girls in 5th-12th grade reported wanting to lose weight because of magazine pictures. 12
- 69% of girls in 5th-12th grade reported that magazine pictures influenced their idea of a perfect body shape. 13
- 42% of 1st-3rd grade girls want to be thinner (Collins, 1991).
- 81% of 10 year olds are afraid of being fat (Mellin et al., 1991).
- Collins, M.E. (1991). Body figure perceptions and preferences among pre-adolescent children. International Journal of Eating Disorders, 199-208.
- Mellin, L., McNutt, S., Hu, Y., Schreiber, G.B., Crawford, P., & Obarzanek, E. (1991). A longitudinal study of the dietary practices of black and white girls 9 and 10 years old at enrollment: The NHLBI growth and health study. Journal of Adolescent Health, 27-37.
For Women
- Women are much more likely than men to develop an eating disorder. Only an estimated five to 15 percent of people with anorexia or bulimia are male. 14
- An estimated 0.5 to 3.7 percent of women suffer from anorexia nervosa in their lifetime. 14
- Research suggests that about 1 percent of female adolescents have anorexia.15 * An estimated 1.1 to 4.2 percent of women have bulimia nervosa in their lifetime. 14
- An estimated 2 to 5 percent of Americans experience binge-eating disorder in a 6-month period. 14
- About 50 percent of people who have had anorexia develop bulimia or bulimic patterns.
Sources:
- Mortality in Anorexia Nervosa. American Journal of Psychiatry, 1995; 152 (7): 1073-4.
- Characteristics and Treatment of Patients with Chronic Eating Disorders, by Dr. Greta Noordenbox, International Journal of Eating Disorders, Volume 10: 15-29, 2002.
- The Renfrew Center Foundation for Eating Disorders, "Eating Disorders 101 Guide: A Summary of Issues, Statistics and Resources," 2003.
- American Journal of Psychiatry, Vol. 152 (7), July 1995, p. 1073-1074, Sullivan, Patrick F.
- Shisslak, C.M., Crago, M., & Estes, L.S. (1995). The Spectrum of Eating Disturbances. International Journal of Eating Disorders, 18 (3): 209-219.
- National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders 10-year study, 2000.
- Public Health Service's Office in Women's Health, Eating Disorders Information Sheet, 2000.
- Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), The Center for Mental Health Services (CMHS), offices of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
- Carlat, D.J., Camargo. Review of Bulimia Nervosa in Males. American Journal of Psychiatry, 154, 1997.
- American Psychological Association, 2001.
- International Journal of Eating Disorders 2002; 31: 300-308.
- Prevention of Eating Problems with Elementary Children, Michael Levine, USA Today, July 1998.
- Ibid.
- The National Institute of Mental Health: "Eating Disorders: Facts About Eating Disorders and the Search for Solutions." Pub No. 01-4901. Accessed Feb. 2002.
- Anorexia Nervosa and Related Eating Disorders, Inc. website. Accessed Feb. 2002.
