NIED launches two exciting initiatives to coincide with the 4th annual World Eating Disorders Action Day, Tuesday, June 2nd, 2020
(Monday, June 1, 2020) – #ShareYourStory presents an opportunity to share personal stories of those with lived experience with Eating Disorders. The National Initiative for Eating Disorders (NIED) has created “how to” guidelines to help you share your story. We want to hear stories from anyone and everyone touched by Eating Disorders including caregivers, loved ones, individuals with Eating Disorders and healthcare professionals. Because “Eating Disorders Can’t Afford to Wait”, we hope your stories will inspire meaningful conversations and a deeper understanding of Eating Disorders – the deadliest of all mental illnesses.
On June 2nd, NIED will also launch the NIED Blog, written by Hilary Thomson, a writer and journalist who is currently in recovery after struggling with anorexia for 15 years. The blog is another action to further NIED’s mission to provide useful recovery tips, interviews with people with Eating Disorders from diverse backgrounds, knowledgeable Eating Disorder treatment professionals and advocates. Most importantly, the blog offers the opportunity to interact with readers by encouraging questions, sharing ideas and providing constructive feedback.
NIED is the voice for Canadian families, caregivers, and individuals who are affected by Eating Disorders and other co-morbid and concurrent diagnoses. NIED helps caregivers, patients, and practitioners fill gaps in care through education and by highlighting better practices in prevention, health promotion, and treatment.
Letters about OHIP funding for outpatient psychotherapy
Here is a preview of their content…
…our deep concern over a proposal being considered by the Ministry of Health and Ontario Medical Association (OMA) Appropriateness Working Group (AWG) to limit full OHIP funding for outpatient psychotherapy to 24 hours per year.
For many patients, psychotherapy is medically necessary. Treatment decisions must be left up to a person’s primary care provider and care team, particularly when providing medical care to a person diagnosed with a mental illness, whose recovery journey is not one-size-fit-all.
Reducing outpatient psychotherapy to 24 hours per year is at-best arbitrary and fails to recognize that people with serious mental illness, and particularly Eating Disorders, may have disease trajectories (we know from research) that are difficult to predict.
Here are the letters
Read letter to Hon Christine Elliot, Deputy Premier and Minister of Health and Long-Term Care
Read letter to Hon. Michael A. Tibollo, Associate Minister of mental Health and Addictions
Read letter to Dr. Joshua Tepper, Appropriateness Working Group C0-Chair, OMA
Read letter to Dr. Paul Tenenbein, Appropriateness Working Group Co-Chair, OMA
NIED’s Wendy Preskow to be the next Lived Experience Conversation Series guest speaker.
On January 30, 2020, NIED founder and president, Wendy Preskow, will give her lived experience insights on the topic:
Family Life and Living with an Eating Disorder: One Caregiver’s Journey from Awareness to Action.
Wendy will be in conversation with Dr. Linda Booij, associate professor in the Department of Psychology and Concordia University Research Chair in Eating Disorders. Dr. Booij is also co-director of the Centre for Clinical Research in Health (CCRH), who host the Lived Experience Conversation Series.
The event will be sponsored by the Health Initiative at Concordia University and held at the University’s Loyola Chapel.
Full details can be found here
National Initiative for Eating Disorders (NIED) announces Canada’s first Strategy dedicated to improving outcomes related to Eating Disorders
(November 7, 2019 – Toronto, Ontario) – NIED joins three national not-for-profits in releasing Canada’s first strategy aimed at improving outcomes for people affected by Eating Disorders (EDs) over the next 10 years.
Following the publication of a report entitled[1] Eating Disorders among Girls and Women in Canada by the House of Commons Standing Committee on the Status of Women on November 17, 2014, four national organizations dedicated to supporting care for and recovery from Eating Disorders came together in 2015 to discuss how to meaningfully improve outcomes for people living with EDs in Canada.
The Canadian Eating Disorders Strategy: 2019-2029 is the result of extensive work and listening carefully to stakeholders across Canada in 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019, through direct conversations and surveys targeted at the general public, professionals, caregivers and people with lived experience.
The Strategy contains 50 recommendations under six pillars of activity: 1) Prevention; 2) Public Education and Awareness; 3) Treatment; 4) Caregiver Support; 5) Training; and 6) Research.
Wendy Preskow, President of NIED, remarked, “When we started this journey seven years ago as a national not-for-profit, we could never imagined stakeholders from across Canada coming together to provide insights about what has worked well for them or their loved ones; what challenges they experienced in trying to access evidence-based and evidence-informed care; and what different stakeholders need to do to improve outcomes for people at-risk and people recovering from an Eating Disorder or related mental illness. We are extremely grateful for the input we have received to this Strategy, from hundreds of stakeholders over the last five years”.
Early registration open for first-ever three-day virtual conference on Body Image and Eating Disorders
(July 3, 2019 – Toronto) Non-profit organizations Body Brave and the National Initiative for Eating Disorders (NIED) have teamed up to present Body Peace 2019 – a first-of-its kind body image and eating disorders virtual conference taking place from October 4 to 6 this year. The theme for this year’s conference is Lived Experience is Evidence Too. Early bird registration for the conference is NOW open until July 30.
The Body Peace 2019 conference, hosted on the virtual platform Zoom, is designed to challenge barriers, embolden conversation, and equip people with the tools needed to create lasting change in their lives.
The conference will feature accredited training sessions for healthcare professionals including dietitians, family physicians and social workers, panel discussions, keynote speakers, live chats and much more. The three areas of primary focus are innovation, representation, and collaboration. The Innovation segment will highlight innovative clinical and non-clinical approaches, fresh ideas, and new perspectives in the realm of body image and disordered eating. The Representation module will feature the powerful and diverse voices of those with lived experience, caregivers, and clinicians. Day three will focus on Collaboration and the myriad ways we can all collaborate to break down stigma and promote empowering approaches to healing. Many topics will be discussed over the three days that range from “Eating Disorders and sexuality”, “treatment for adults”, disabilities and Eating Disorders”, “trauma and shame” and “Eating Disorder hell to recovered and well”.
Susan Minuk speaks with Wendy Preskow about the National Initiative for Eating Disorders.
Wendy Preskow: Educating about Eating Disorders.
Of all the mental illnesses, the medical world recognizes eating disorders as the most deadly. Yet in our society, eating disorders are largely misunderstood. Wendy Preskow is the voice for Canadian families, caregivers and individuals who have been affected by eating disorders. Preskow spoke to The CJN about the National Initiative For Eating Disorders (NIED), the organization that she co-founded in 2012.
What was the impetus for creating the National Initiative For Eating Disorders?
I have a sick daughter, Amy, who has been suffering for two decades from anorexia and bulimia. Imagine someone with a chronological age of 34 with incredible potential, but with a seven year old’s lack of social and emotional independence and the osteoporosis of a senior. In high school, Amy would ask herself, “Who am I?” There was never abuse or trauma. She was never an overweight child. But she always felt she was never enough.
We found there were a lack of resources and an incredible lack of awareness and understanding that an eating disorder is a mental illness. What we came to realize was how many thousands and thousands of other families there are across the country in the same or worse situations than us. I could not just sit back. I had to take action.
For the very first time in the eating disorders landscape in Canada, NIED was the catalyst to bring multiple stakeholders together in Winnipeg in September 2016. Four Canadian national organizations united to formulate a national eating disorder strategy, which will include six pillars: treatment, training, education, prevention, caregivers and research. This strategy will be launched later this year.
An estimated one million Canadians are struggling with eating disorders. Please explain what an eating disorder is.
There are different types of eating disorders and the most common disorders that people hear about are: anorexia nervosa (starving); bulimia (binging and purging); and binge eating (constant eating). From our daughter’s perspective, anorexia is all about control. Something in her life that she found she could have control over was food. Food is actually a symptom of the disease. All of these disorders are deep psychological and psychiatric illness, in which the food is a symptom of the disease. It manifests in what they do with food – whether they starve, or whether they binge. The binging and the purging is more about wanting to numb the emotions because they get a high from the purging. It’s been said that it’s the same kind of high that somebody would get using cocaine.
The National Initiative for Eating Disorders Propels ‘Can’t Afford to Wait’ Message with Generous Donation for Cutting-Edge
e-Learning Platform
(May 28, 2019 – Toronto, Ontario) – The message at this year’s fourth annual World Eating Disorders Action Day on June 2nd is, “Eating Disorders Can’t Afford to Wait,” and the National Initiative for Eating Disorders (NIED) is taking-action now.
To show their support, NIED, a not-for-profit organization has gifted a generous $15,000.00 donation to drive the development of an innovative national e-learning platform aimed at addressing the gaps in the Eating Disorders field. The donation will fund the identification and adaption of existing evidence-based research related to low-intensity, rapid early treatment of Eating Disorders into online education resources aimed at caregivers, primary care providers and individuals recovering from Eating Disorders.
Sonia Kumar-Sequin, Executive Director of Body Brave, a non-profit that offers community treatment and support for those struggling with body image, disordered eating and eating disorders states: “Using technology and innovation, we can drive systemic change in the Eating Disorder world. Virtual approaches, both in healthcare and education spaces, are changing the way our world works. Why shouldn’t we adopt these technologies to change the way Eating Disorders are approached? The time has come for pioneering action. Eating Disorders can’t afford to wait.”
My Eating Disorder is Not…
NIED offers our heartfelt thanks Madame Sophie Grégoire Trudeau for her ongoing support and encouragement, including this special video message to honour Eating Disorder Awareness Week 2019.
Nine provinces and territories hosting 35 events across Canada for Eating Disorder Awareness Week.
Toronto, Ontario –January 30, 2019 – With an estimated one million Canadians struggling with Eating Disorders, we simply can’t afford to wait in advancing awareness and treatment for Eating Disorders in Canada. Eating Disorders Awareness Week (EDAW), runs annually February 1-7. EDAW urges Canadians to raise awareness of the causes, prevalence and impact of Eating Disorders.
The staggering statistics surrounding this mental illness clearly reflect such need and urgency. One in ten people suffering with an Eating Disorder will die. One in five teenagers are dieting at any given time, increasing the risk of developing an Eating Disorder. Eating Disorders in Canadian children are estimated to be two to four times greater than the incidence of Type 2 Diabetes in such children. Eating Disorders do not discriminate – they can develop in all genders, ages, racial and ethnic identities, sexual orientations and socio-economic backgrounds.
Madame Sophie Grégoire Trudeau’s special video message to attendees of NIED’s Eating Disorders Awareness Week 2018 event on the Hill. Once again, we thank Madame Grégoire Trudeau for her heartfelt and inspiring support.
On February 6, 2018, members of the NIED team attended an event in the Speakers’ Lounge on the Hill to inform, educate and acknowledge Feb 1-7 as Eating Disorders Awareness Week in Canada. The event was hosted by NIED, Deputy Speaker Carol Hughes, MP Michael Levitt, MP Marilyn Gladu and Senator Nancy Greene-Raine. The Speaker of the House of Commons, Geoff Regan, shown here with Alex Macri and Lynne Koss from NIED, graciously opened the Speakers’ Lounge to NIED for the event.
NIED was thrilled to have the following organizations join us:
Hopewell Eating Disorder Centre Ottawa, Alyssa Stevenson Eating Disorder Trust of Manitoba, Health Canada, Mental Health Commission of Canada, Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario, The Royal Ottawa, Public Health Ottawa, University Health Network of Toronto, Public Health Agency of Canada, Canadian Mental Health Association, Canadian Association of Social Workers, Canadian Alliance for Mental Illness and Mental Health, Emily Murphy Non Profit Housing Corporation, Ontario Centre of Excellence for Child and Youth Mental Health, and the Youth Services Bureau.
Thank you all for making our 15th visit to the Hill so special, inspiring and memorable!