Students, Educators and Coaches

www.eatingresearch.com is a website created by the eating disorders research team at the Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London and the eating disorders service run by South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust. The site contains information about anorexia, bulimia and other eating disorders, support for families and carers, results of research and details of current research projects, and downloadable resources and access to training for GPs, student counsellors and other health professionals.

Mealtimes can be extremely tense and emotional, both for youth suffering from eating disorders and for their families. This DVD (based on the experience of patients and their caregivers at the Eating Disorders Program at BC Children's Hospital) is a "how-to" on providing meal support before, during, and immediately after meals and snacks. Useful for families who are welcoming their children home after intensive or day treatment, or who simply want to support a child who is struggling.

Health on the Net (HON) Foundation is a non-profit organization based in Geneva, whose mandate is to set codes of conduct to ensure that websites are providing reliable health-based information. Abiding websites may display the HONcode seal.

Here are some of the HON code guidelines:

1) Authoritative: indicates the qualifications of the author

Medical advice should be provided by trained and qualified professionals

A good starting point with many useful links. This website exists to promote mental health and wellness education and advocacy. www.mentalhelp.net

Central dissemination site for information about eating disorders, books, videos, educational
resources, therapists and programs. 
www.nedic.ca 

Also hosts an adolescent friendly website RealMe that touches on body image and self-esteem
issues. 
www.realme.ca

What is the female athlete triad?

The female athlete triad is a disorder that has three parts. It affects

(1) your eating habits,
(2) your menstrual periods and
(3) the strength of your bones.

French website. Association Québécoise d’aide aux personnes souffrant d’anorexie nerveuse et de boulimie.

www.anebquebec.com

A U.S. based organization that offers hotline counselling, a national network of free support
groups, referrals to health care professionals, and education and prevention programs to
promote self-acceptance and healthy lifestyles. 

www.anad.org

Anonymous
I would like all of you to imagine yourselves in a very dark hole. There is no light to be seen. You are so weak from starvation that getting out of bed is a huge effort, your blood pressure is dangerously low, your hair is falling out, a depression has set in that robs you of sound judgment and reasoning. You have removed yourself from all family and friends. You are no longer capable of making decisions for yourself because your eating disorder has totally and completely taken control of your life. It has no mercy.

Notes on a Butterfly
Anonymous

The butterfly, a beautiful creature produced by metamorphosis, is a symbol that is closely associated with eating disorders and one that has long been meaningful to me personally, though I’ve never explored on paper, until now, the reasons for this. There is a butterfly in my window, a butterfly of gold and crystals; it is a gift from many years ago, a gift that, on a sunny day, reflects rainbows of light in every corner of my living room. I felt at some level that there was a destiny greater than an existence of anxiety, hunger and guilt. That somehow there was more for me even if I couldn’t, like a caterpillar, see further than my next meal. Reflecting upon the butterfly and its life cycle is something that I’ve found thought provoking and illuminating and would like to share with you now.