I’m a trustee and huge advocate of Beat, the eating disorders charity and I’m excited about an event they’ve got coming up which will see the advertising industry put in the hot seat whilst we debate what role fashion and advertising have to play in body image and eating disorders.You can find full details of the event below.
I recently wrote a post explaining what pro-anorexia sites are and how we can decrease their impact.
If you found that interesting, you may also like to watch this video from Huffpost live which discusses the issues in some depth.
There is a whole language around eating disorders that sounds like Greek to a lot of us:
Pro-ana – website that promotes anorexia
Pro-mia – website that promotes bulimia
Thinspiration / Thinspo – images to inspire weight loss
Fitspiration / Fitspo – images to inspire exercise / body building
In this post we’re going to consider pro-ana and pro-mia sites, who uses them, why they’re dangerous and what parents and schools can do to decrease they’re impact on the young people in their care.
Pro-ana and pro-mia sites are websites that promote anorexic and bulimic lifestyles. Set up by people with eating disorders looking to validate their illness and seeking suppo
rt to continue with their eating disorder from fellow sufferers these sites vary hugely in their precise content. They are often a forum for people to exchange pictures and weight loss or purging tips and to encourage one another’s weight loss.
These sites are often a refuge for people suffering from eating disorders. It’s common for sufferers to feel quite isolated having pushed away their family and friends preferring to seek out like-minded individuals online. There are over 500 such sites and the latest studies predict that they attract more than 500,000 unique visitors a year of which the majority are teenage girls and one in five are aged between six and eleven. Read the rest of this entry »
Whilst most parents will be keen to support the school in helping their child receive appropriate support for their eating disorder, some parents will respond negatively thinking that you are trying to blame them for the problem, that you are blowing things out of proportion or that the school has no business being involved.
Below, I’ve outlined 3 of the most common negative reactions you’re likely to encounter from parents and how to respond.
It’s quite common for parents to think that you’re pointing the finger at them and that’s why you want them to be involved.
You should accept that the news may come as a horrible shock to parents and calmly explain that no blame is intended. You think they are good parents, which is why you’re seeking their support and help.
“No one is to blame for Amy’s illness, not Amy, not us and not you.”
“You are clearly very supportive parents, that’s why we called you.”
“Amy is very lucky to have supportive parents such as yourselves.”
“We’re not interested in attributing blame, we just want to help Amy get better and we’re sure you can help.” Read the rest of this entry »
This presentation runs through, in visual form, some of the major warning signs that a young person may be suffering from bulimia nervosa. It is a useful guide to look through personally but could also be used for training purposes to raise awareness with your colleagues.
Read the rest of this entry »
Never promise confidentialityOf course, we all know that if there is any possibility of a pupil doing themselves harm then we simply cannot keep their confidentiality – it could put both the pupil, and your job, in jeopardy. However, you can be sure that if a pupil does build up the courage to talk to you about their eating disorder, then one of their first pleas will be ‘Please don’t tell anyone!’
It can feel frustrating not being able to succumb to this caveat and it always feels entirely possible that you will lose the pupil’s hard-earned trust if you refuse, but being upfront and honest now will pay dividends in the long run. If you promised to keep their trust then broke that promise, the fall-out would be far greater than if you tell a few difficult home truths now.
In order to retain the pupil’s trust you need to involve them in the process of informing others – always consider who, what, why and how with the pupil before you disclose details of their difficulties to anyone else. Read the rest of this entry »
If a pupil at school is particularly unwell with their eating disorder, their healthcare practitioners may decide that inpatient care at a paediatric or eating disorders unit is the best treatment option for them. It can be difficult for schools to know what level of contact is appropriate or helpful for the pupil – we explore the main things to consider here.
The school should appoint a key person who is responsible for liaising with the unit where the child is resident – this could be the head of pastoral care or the child’s form tutor. That person should make sure they have the full contact details of the key person who is assigned to the child’s care at the unit and make themselves known. Arrange a meeting if possible, and if not then speak on the phone. The aim of the meeting is to make it clear that:
The PE department need to be involved in the recovery of any young person with an eating disorder whether they are overweight, underweight or within an acceptable weight range. Here we focus on working with young people who are recovering from anorexia as this is an area that school staff often feel unsure about.
If left unmonitored young people suffering from anorexia nervosa will often choose to exercise hard for many hours a day in order to burn calories. This level of activity is clearly unacceptable during recovery, but removing the ability to exercise or participate in sport at all can be detrimental to their long-term recovery. It is important that pupils who habitually over-exercise learn to form a more healthy relationship with exercise in the same way that they must improve their relationship with food.
There is a certain extent to which it is important to try and include a pupil recovering from an eating disorder in as many normal school activities as possible – and sport / PE is no exception. Exempting a pupil from PE quickly marks them as different which can feel stressful for them and lead to questioning and sometimes teasing from their peers. Read the rest of this entry »
None of these warning signs on its own means that a young person has anorexia but if they are exhibiting several of these signs then you are right to be concerned.
If the school becomes aware of a pupil’s eating disorder before the parents then it’s important to invite parents on board to work with you to support their child’s recovery.
Once you have overcome any objections from the pupil, you should aim to organise a meeting with the parents as quickly as possible.
This post looks at how to organise the meeting and how to ensure it runs effectively
With the help of the pupil, decide where the meeting should be held – at school, in their home or on neutral territory. You should do whatever you think will make the pupil, and their parents, feel most comfortable.
Obviously the pupil and their parents should be present, the pupil may also like to bring a friend along for support and you might decide to have a couple of different members of staff present – for instance the head of pastoral care and the pupil’s form tutor. Again, you should check with the pupil about what they’ll feel comfortable with and try not to set up a scenario which will be too intimidating for the parent.
Order my new book to help teachers identify and help students with eating disorders. It’s a practical, essential guide for everyone in school.
