National Eating Disorders Week Will Feature Guest Speaker
I wanted to let everyone know about an upcoming speaker in the upper school. As part of Eating Disorders Awareness Week, we have invited Kate Daigle, MA, LPC, to campus on Monday. Having already visited a middle school assembly last month, she will be returning to speak with the older students of Colorado Academy about how to have a healthy body image. She will also discuss eating disorders, ways to support one another to eat in a healthy manner, and how to help someone who is struggling with an eating disorder. Body image issues are among the top mental health issues in schools across the country and early intervention is the key to helping a student begin a successful recovery process. Having recovered from an eating disorder herself, Kate has a great deal of empathy about what it’s like to struggle with these kinds of issues and has developed extensive professional experience in helping young people achieve a full and lasting recovery. Her counseling practice specializes in “nourishing wisdom for eating disorder recovery.”
In support of Eating Disorders Awareness Week and in anticipation of Kate Daigle’s visit, advisories have watched a few video clips and held discussions on the topic. The Upper School students focused on the following discussion questions:
1) What is it like to live in a culture that glorifies thinness and the perfect body? Who promotes these images? What do other cultures do?
2) What are some of the reasons why teens develop poor body images and eating disorders? Is an eating disorder an emotional or physical illness?
3) When has a diet gone too far? What are some of the warning signs of eating disorders?
4) Does our CA community foster a healthy body image? How? What can our CA community do better?
Students were also able to read some supporting articles and consider some recent statistics and national survey information, including the following: In August of 2010, American Viewpoint (a nationally recognized public opinion research company) conducted a telephone survey of American adults for the National Eating Disorders Association. The national survey shows an increased public awareness of eating disorders and a shift in how eating disorders are viewed. The survey polled a nationwide sample of one thousand adults in the United States. Among the findings were the following: 82% percent of respondents believe that eating disorders are a physical or mental illness and should be treated as such, with just 12% believing they are related to vanity. 85% of the respondents believe that eating disorders deserve coverage by insurance companies just like any other illness. 86% favor schools providing information about eating disorders to students and parents. 80% believe conducting more research on the causes and most effective treatments would reduce or prevent eating disorders. 70% believe encouraging the media and advertisers to use more average sized people in their advertising campaigns would reduce or prevent eating disorders. Supporting these survey results, of American elementary school girls who read magazines, 69% say that the pictures influence their concept of the ideal body shape. 47% say the pictures make them want to lose weight (Martin, 2010).
The National Eating Disorders website has extensive information as well at http://nedawareness.org. Please contact Liza Skipwith, our Director of Counseling Services, with any further questions or comments.
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In support of Eating Disorders Awareness Week and in anticipation of Kate Daigle’s visit, advisories have watched a few video clips and held discussions on the topic. The Upper School students focused on the following discussion questions:
1) What is it like to live in a culture that glorifies thinness and the perfect body? Who promotes these images? What do other cultures do?
2) What are some of the reasons why teens develop poor body images and eating disorders? Is an eating disorder an emotional or physical illness?
3) When has a diet gone too far? What are some of the warning signs of eating disorders?
4) Does our CA community foster a healthy body image? How? What can our CA community do better?
Students were also able to read some supporting articles and consider some recent statistics and national survey information, including the following: In August of 2010, American Viewpoint (a nationally recognized public opinion research company) conducted a telephone survey of American adults for the National Eating Disorders Association. The national survey shows an increased public awareness of eating disorders and a shift in how eating disorders are viewed. The survey polled a nationwide sample of one thousand adults in the United States. Among the findings were the following: 82% percent of respondents believe that eating disorders are a physical or mental illness and should be treated as such, with just 12% believing they are related to vanity. 85% of the respondents believe that eating disorders deserve coverage by insurance companies just like any other illness. 86% favor schools providing information about eating disorders to students and parents. 80% believe conducting more research on the causes and most effective treatments would reduce or prevent eating disorders. 70% believe encouraging the media and advertisers to use more average sized people in their advertising campaigns would reduce or prevent eating disorders. Supporting these survey results, of American elementary school girls who read magazines, 69% say that the pictures influence their concept of the ideal body shape. 47% say the pictures make them want to lose weight (Martin, 2010).
The National Eating Disorders website has extensive information as well at http://nedawareness.org. Please contact Liza Skipwith, our Director of Counseling Services, with any further questions or comments.
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