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Campus Activities for ED Recovery
Contributor: Leigh Bell, BA, writer for Eating Disorder Hope
As the number of university students with a diagnosed eating disorder rises, there are more on- and off-campus opportunities to support recovery and spread awareness of the illness.
Each college campus offers various services and activities related to eating disorders and healthy body image.
If you’re interested in taking part, contact the student activities center or student health center on your campus. If nothing is there, start something. It takes just one passionate person to start a powerful movement.
SPEAK: A Nationwide Collaboration
SPEAK (Students Promoting Eating Disorder Awareness and Knowledge), a nationwide collaboration of students, faculty, and community members devoted to helping improve body image and preventing eating disorders through activities and advocacy, on and off campus. The organization also offers grants for student research in the field of eating disorders.
The sorority Delta Delta Delta in 2012 launched a body-image awareness and education initiative, BodyImage 3D, to address depleting body image and flourishing eating disorders among sorority members. The initiative has “Body Image Ambassadors” on campuses nationwide and offers free on its website (bi3d.tridelta.org) offers body-image activities any college group can implement.
Eating Disorder Awareness Week
Such activities abound on college campuses during Eating Disorder Awareness Week, which this year was the end of February. Campuses from coast to coast devoted each day of this week to education, awareness, and advocacy of eating disorders. But, apparently, one week isn’t enough.
Although eating disorders have the highest mortality rate of any illness, services are insufficient for the 10-20% of female and 4-10% of male college students suffering from eating disorders.
Resources on College Campuses
Most college campuses are “lacking in resources for eating disorder awareness,” like campus screen, awareness, events, support groups, and other counseling services, according to a national study, Eating Disorders on the College Campus, from the National Eating Disorder Association and approved by the Pace University Institutional Review Board.
For example, only 43.2% of college campuses offer group therapy for students dealing with body image and/or an eating disorder; and more than 30% of students don’t have available on campus psychological professionals with an eating disorder specialty, the study found.
Creating Awareness for Prevention of Eating Disorders
Although most full-blown eating disorders begin in college-aged individuals (18-20 years old), almost three-quarters of college campuses don’t offer year-round screenings for eating disorders; and less than half offer screenings once a year/semester, according to the NEDA report.
The tables are turning on and off college campus toward greater awareness and proactive prevention of eating disorders. We still have some work to do. If your college campus lacks services for students struggling with eating disorders, you may be the right person to speak up.
Community Discussion – Share your thoughts here!
What steps have you taken to raise awareness to eating disorders on college campuses? What has worked well?
About the Author:
Leigh Bell holds a Bachelor of Arts in English with minors in Creative Writing and French from Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles.
She is a published author, journalist with 15 years of experience, and a recipient of the Rosalynn Carter Fellowship for Mental Health Journalism.
Leigh is recovered from a near-fatal, decade-long battle with anorexia and the mother of three young, rambunctious children.
Last Updated & Reviewed By: Jacquelyn Ekern, MS, LPC on August 8th, 2015
Published on EatingDisorderHope.com
