This special workshop is provided in collaboration with Vancouver Island Voices for Eating Disorders (VIVED) Society and Sandi Smoker (MA, RCC, CSCP, DVATI). Sandi is a registered counsellor, art therapist, and spiritual care practitioner residing on the unceded traditional territories of the Hul’qumi’num and SENĆOŦEN-speaking (Coast Salish) peoples known colonially as the Southern Gulf Islands, off the West Coast of Canada.

Anyone with lived and living experience of disordered eating or eating disorders is invited to join. A VIVED peer support facilitator will be available to anyone who may need extra support during the session.

About World Eating Disorders Action Day

World Eating Disorders Action Day (WEDAD) is a grassroots movement led by a global coalition of organizations and activists who are passionate about changing the narrative around eating disorders. Every year on June 2nd, communities across the globe unite to raise awareness, inspire action, and advocate for those affected by eating disorders.

This annual movement brings together individuals, families, clinicians, researchers, and activists in more than forty countries to spotlight the complex realities of eating disorders and demand systemic change.

Eating disorders impact over 70 million people worldwide yet remain deeply misunderstood and underfunded. Many people struggling go undiagnosed due to stigma, lack of enducation, or limited access to care.

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“It’s a reminder that eating disorders are serious mental health conditions, not a personal choice, and that recovery is possible with access to support, treatment, and resources.”

— National Alliance for Eating Disorders

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Since it’s launch in 2016, WEDAD inspires critical conversations to challenge individuals and institutions to prioritize eating disorder prevention, treatment, and research year-round, not just on one day.

Meaningful change requires collaboration with the people directly affected by the policies, programs, and systems created for us. Until government officials, service providers, and policy-makers are willing to hear us, we will keep advocating. In the meantime, we will continue to support each other by offering workshops like these.

About the Workshop

This special one-hour workshop is on the topic of grief and living loss, the kind that happens when important parts of our lives change. These changes can be to our body or identity, our belief systems, institutions, or traditions, our relationship to a person or community. When these changes disrupt the sense of stability we once relied on, people can experience grief that feels unclear, isolating, or difficult for others to recognize and understand.

Topic: Mending a Narrative – Reclaiming Life Story Through Grief and Bereavement

Together, we will explore the unattended sorrows and grief associated with eating disorder losses and how art-making can support us in reclaiming our story. There is no expectation to make “good art”, this practice is intuitive and abstract. What part of your narrative feels open to mend?

Suggested Materials: Any accessible materials of your choosing. If you don’t have mixed media paper, regular office paper will do.

• Coloured pencils, pens, crayons, markers, pastels
• 2 pieces of mixed media paper
• Masking tape

Process: The workshop format will include a brief guided meditation to open, a hands-on arts-based activity, time for reflection with the option to share in small groups, and a closing poem. A VIVED peer support facilitator will be available to anyone who may need extra support during the session.

Guidelines: Please join from a quiet and private space if possible. Considerations to promote a safe environment:

• Refrain from using numbers, graphic details, or descriptions of behaviours or traumatic experiences;
• If you are feeling triggered during the session, peer support will be available;
• Maintain confidentiality outside of the group, no recording or screenshots permitted (notes will be provided);
• Honour the opportunity for equal air time;
• Use respectful and non-judgemental communication;
• There is no requirement to share or turn your camera on.

Registration: Fill out the Workshop Registration Form to reserve your spot. Send us an email if you need any help!