I Had No Idea: National Eating Disorders Awareness Week

Eating disorders are not something to be ignored.  In order to shed light on them and help those that might be afraid or embarrassed to ask for help in a one-on-one manner, we have planned a couple of things to raise awareness of eating disorders.

Amy has been working with the school social worker to sponsor a Uni Period talk about eating disorders, and a registered dietician will be in attendance to lead the talk/discussion.  This year's NEDA focus is I Had No Idea. 

 Signage on our library doors for our Uni Period talk on eating disorders that Amy created.

I also did my best to create a display with information and fiction texts on eating disorders.  One student said that she is concerned with fiction texts that focus on eating disorders, because she fears that they give students who are in the throes of one ideas.  This is a valid point, and after this I was hesitant to put any fiction texts up.  However, after thinking about it for a bit, I felt that these fiction texts could help those recovering to know that authors are aware of eating disorders, and that if needed, they can find themselves reflected in some texts.

I sourced some titles from a Goodreads list on YA Eating Disorders, but this list was filled with books that would do more harm than good (giving "ideas," as the one student who raised concerns stated).  I tried to find some fiction titles in our collection and other collections from around the university that would give a more realistic picture of what eating disorders entail.  The signage posted here was downloaded and printed from the NEDA website.  

Eating disorders are easy to ignore, can be easy to hide, and easy to push to the side in order to worry about other diseases.  They are still life threatening and affect many more than one may realize.  This week, we hope to offer guidance, help, and hope to one, two, or many who may be grappling with an eating disorder.