Eating Disorders Awareness Week 2022 - "Everyone Has A Role To Play"

February 1-7 is National Eating Disorders Awareness Week (EDAW) in Canada. This year's campaign, "Everyone has a role to play," aims to recognize that we all have a role to play in eating disorder prevention and recovery.

Depending on who we are in a person's life, the specifics of our role as a supporter might differ. Still, whether we are a friend, family member, professional, or otherwise - learning about and supporting someone through their struggles can be pivotal in their recovery.

What are some of the ways we can support people in their recovery?

1. By LEARNING about eating disorders

2. By LEANING into discomfort

3. By LISTENING closely

4. By paying careful attention to LANGUAGE

5. By letting the person LEAD where possible

Let’s explore each of these a bit further…

Learning About Eating Disorders:

There are a variety of professional resources and materials to explore further learning about eating disorders (see the resource and educational materials pages on our website). However, voices of lived experience are one of the most valuable forms of knowledge, and no list of resources is complete without them.

Leaning Into Discomfort:

To support those living with eating disorders, we need to lean into uncomfortable conversations: whether it is with ourselves, our loved ones, our patients, our practices, our healthcare systems, or our cultures. There is no healing without exploring the hard topics, doing the deeper, reflective work, dismantling oppressive systems, and unpacking our own biases.

Listening Closely:

There is no greater gift we can give to those on their healing journey than that of listening closely. This may take practice, but truly hearing voices of lived experience, recognizing the struggles that individuals face (without simply reducing them to those struggles), and honouring that people are the experts of their own lives, is vital to healing.

Paying Careful Attention To Language:

Language can be both empowering and disabling. Often times, it is the connotations around certain words and phrases that can be stigmatizing, hurtful, and disruptive to therapeutic connection. The language we use with ourselves and our own relationships to nourishment and our bodies can have a huge impact on those in our lives who are working on recovery from an eating disorder. Be mindful and attentive to what language you use and how it feels for each person.

Letting The Individual Lead Where Possible:

Eating disorders are serious mental illnesses and balancing autonomy with safety can be challenging for loved ones and professionals to navigate. Sometimes there is seemingly not a lot of room for choice; however, offering even small choices where possible and doing our utmost to work collaboratively with a person is critical.

-S. Ritchey