Eating Disorders Awareness Week is coming on 21st – 26th of February and as part of this Adapt Eating Distress Association is launching a campaign, “Never Give up the Sun Will Shine Again”, to raise awareness of the growing problem of Eating Disorders within Northern Ireland.
With 1 in 4 people suffering with a mental health problem and 5- 10% of people suffering with an eating disorder such as bulimia or anorexia, which has the highest mortality rate of any mental illness, it is becoming more important to talk about these issues. Numbers are reaching an all time high and children as young as 8 being diagnosed with an eating disorder.
To tackle this Adapt, a Lurgan based eating disorders charity, are teaming up with fellow ED charities the Eating Disorder Association in Belfast and Family Eating Disorder Support in Newry to promote the services currently provided in Northern Ireland. For many years NI had no specialist services however with this campaign we hope to raise awareness to show those struggling with an Eating Disorder that there are specialist services now available in NI as well as support services through three major ED charities. For this EDAW we are inviting YOU to get involved and show your support for those suffering from ED’s, their family and friends. With a large number of people dealing with ED’s today it’s likely that you will know someone dealing with problems related to eating, body image and self esteem. We want to break down the stigma and take freely about eating disorders, the real effects of ED’s and bust a few myths about ED’s.
As part of this Eating Disorders Awareness Week we will be running workshops across February and beyond for young people, parents and anyone working with young people. We are offering an informal Q&A session in which Adapt aim to answer your questions about Everything You Wanted to Know about Eating Disorders but Were Too Afraid to Ask to help raise awareness about the issues surrounding Eating Disorders and to help distinguish the myths and stigma attached to Eating Disorders. To book a workshop please contact Una Foye on 02838347535 or email info@adapteatingdistress.com. Want to support us? We don’t want your money, all we are asking is for you to pledge your support by contacting us, follow us on twitter (@adapt_EDA), like us on Facebook (search for Adapt Eating Distress Association), email us on info@adapteatingdistress.com or call 02838347535 and tell us you are supporting our campaign. We will add you to our banner of support that will be posted our website and we can post out info, badges and leaflets for you. We will be making my way around NI to get photos of people supporting our cause; feel free to contact us to join this or simply download a poster from any of our websites or social networking sites and email us a picture of our logo in a famous location or with a group.
To get involved call Una on 02838347535 or email info@adapteatingdistress.com, or come along to our office 37 High Street.