We welcome you to join us, as an attendee, for a Zoom Town Hall event on Thursday, September 29th, 2022 from 6:30-8:00 PM PST.
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81029107824
Meeting ID: 810 2910 7824
This event is intended to provide an opportunity to discuss the services available on Vancouver Island, the services that are needed, and how we (persons with lived/living experience, their loved ones, and professionals) can collaborate to create a better network of support for adults with eating disorders on Vancouver Island. During this panel we will also explore how community services connect with tertiary services for those struggling with eating disorders in B.C., which may be applicable to other regions around the province.
Our goal is to present a panel of those with lived/living experience (PWLLE) of an eating disorder, relevant clinicians and service providers, local political representatives (MLAs and relevant Ministers), stakeholders from Island Health, private practice, the South Island Eating Disorder Program, and other relevant organizations. We welcome your presence at the event to ask questions, provide feedback, and learn from the conversation.
Earlier this year we sent out invitations seeking participants to sit on the panel or attend the event. These invitations went out to all South Island MLAs, the Premier of BC, the Minister of Health, the Minister of Mental Health and Addictions, the Minister of Child and Family Development, relevant Island Health representatives, some individuals in private practice, as well as relevant representatives from the South Island Eating Disorder Clinic.
Alongside these potential panel presenters, we will have six persons with lived/living experience, representing a variety of diverse experiences and needs. Some of the voices we have sought out include: older adults, advocates for harm reduction, family members, individuals from the Central Island, and other diverse voices.
We will send out further details regarding the panel’s final constitution of presenters in the coming weeks.
This event will be moderated by a member of Vancouver Island Voices for Eating Disorders (VIVED). Facilitators from VIVED will be in attendance to support those with lived/living experience. Rules of conduct are included below, and apply to panel members, moderators, facilitators, and attendees.
Process:
90 minute event, with three distinct parts.
A representative from VIVED will be moderating the event.
Two facilitators with lived/living experience will be available as needed for attendees and panel members with lived/living experience needing support.
Part 1 - What is Available?
Clinical panel members will be given roughly 5-10 minutes to speak to what services are available for adults on Vancouver Island at present. Much of this portion of the presentation will depend on whether service providers are able to attend. In their absence, a member of VIVED will refer to the available services we are aware of in our region (as well as tertiary care.)
Part 2 - What is Needed and How Can We Work Together?
Each panel member will be given 40-45 minutes to discuss what is needed and how we can work together.
Possible topics/questions for professional panel members:
What are your understandings of recovery, recovery-focused, etc. and what do you believe your organization’s understanding is?
What do you think is the relevance of recovery to the creation, provision, and evaluation of services? In other words, how much do and how much should explicit and implicit definitions of recovery affect eating disorder care?
What do you see as being the problems (what’s not working) in the eating disorder care system in BC? What do you think is working and how can we enhance what is working well and/or make it more broadly accessible and inclusive.
What do you envision as viable and meaningful/effective ways forward? How would we get there? Who is responsible for what?
To what degree are PWLLE included in designing, evaluating, and providing feedback on your service(s)?
How do you see the issue of improving services for those struggling with eating disorders alongside other relevant issues in B.C. today (e.g. the primary care practitioner shortage, the healthcare crisis, mental health reform, and crisis intervention reform)?
What is your understanding of the role of harm reduction in eating disorder care?
Possible topics for persons with lived and living experience:
What aspects of your experience connecting to services has been positive or helped you the most in your journey? What, in your perspective, needs to change?
What do you see as the biggest needs for adults struggling with eating disorders in your community?
What has, or would have, made the biggest difference in your healing process?
Have other mental health conditions impacted your access to services or complicated your journey? If so, in what ways have co-morbid diagnoses made things more challenging and what, in your perspective, needs to change?
What are your biggest struggles in engaging with systems of care?
Part 3 - Question Period
Following panel presentations, 30-35 minutes will be given for questions and feedback from attendees.
Summary
A few minutes will be spent at the end of the event to provide a summary and discuss next steps.
Follow-up
Notes will be taken during the presentation and can be shared with those who have interest directly; otherwise they will be made available through our website. VIVED members will pick out action items from the discussion as we move into next steps; following up where needed with other attendees and panel members.
Rules of Engagement:
Polite and appropriate communication and tone (this includes verbal and nonverbal) from all.
Use the “raise hand” option on Zoom if you have a question of feedback to provide. You can also put a question in the chat. We will have several VIVED volunteers monitoring the chat throughout the event.
Allow others to speak without interruption.
Please take care of yourself when asking or answering a question. You are welcome to decline answering a question, giving yourself a moment to collect yourself before speaking, etc.
No recording of the session.
Confidentiality for attendees - both clinicians, politicians, and those who may be individuals with lived/living experience of an eating disorder or loved ones with someone in their life experiencing an eating disorder.
If you encounter a trigger during or after the event, you can send a private message to one of our facilitators. You are also welcome to come and go or turn off your incoming video to make the space safer for yourself.
We recognize that participation in this event may feel uncomfortable. Our hope is to provide an opportunity to connect and communicate. We appreciate the courage of those who are willing to attend and participate. We are conscious that for those with lived/living experience of an eating disorder who are in attendance, there may be triggers to navigate (both visually and/or due to the nature of gathering folks from various backgrounds together to discuss eating disorder treatment.)
We want to honour the inherent capacity of each individual (whatever their background) to navigate challenging feelings and difficult conversations - it is through these opportunities that we can work together to create positive change. We trust that panel members and attendees are capable of navigating challenging conversations and want to support as much open dialogue as we can. We recognize that doing so is complicated and that individual persons in positions of power, or who provide services for those struggling with eating disorders, are not to blame for complex systemic issues and limited funding. We all have a part to play in advocating for change and continuing to do what we can to help support individuals and loved ones experiencing an eating disorder, as well as those providing support to these individuals. We hope this event can be part of our work together.
We want to do what we can to support people in feeling comfortable to attend and participate: if you have questions or concerns, you can reach out to us at any time.