Let's F.E.A.S.T.

This article on The Columbia Center for Eating Disorders ' Blog: The Feed is quite fantastic. Share, Tell, Post, Tweet......I am aiming to get it into next school newsletter. Good information affects outcomes.   Bad information can result in identification and intervention delays and poor treatment.  This is really good information.  Pass it on.

By Fiona Bromelow As Laura Collins has written in her blog “F.E.A.S.T. is the ONLY international eating disorders parent organization. Parent support and advocacy is what we do, and it is all we do”.  I would add that we do it wherever in the world families are. The Around the Dinner Table Forum , the F.E.A.S.T. website and facebook page , and all the other resources made available by F.E.A.S.T are there for parents, 24/7 wherever they are in the world. So why have a separate task force in the UK? The F.E.A.S.T. UK task force was the brain-child of Charlotte Bevan “Mother, wife, farmer, C of C and M Productions ” friend and all round super-star. Charlotte died of cancer in January and since then we have been a bereaved community, looking back to all the great things that Charlotte achieved, and the enthusiasm and directness with which she did them. Can we really keep up any of the momentum Charlotte achieved? The answer, at least in my case, is probably not, but ...

The motto for our local police force is: To Serve and Protect.  I like it, I like it a lot. When we were in the trenches and I had to dish up serving upon serving to replace food that was hidden/dumped/thrown it was my silent mantra.  I would think "...to serve and protect" as I girded my loins and plated the food. Months in when we had gotten to compliance I would think "...to serve and protect" as I sat opposite at dinner still watching like a hawk.  I would think "...to serve and protect" when I was exhausted and the last thing I wanted to do was cook yet another high calorie, small foot print dinner.  I would think "....to serve and protect" when I was sick and tired of the whole mess and wanted to crawl under the covers rather than get in the car and go back to the supermarket to pick up more heavy whipping cream. Now, some 3 years in, thinking "...to serve and protect" makes me smile.  I did that.  I served and I protected ....

Quite fantastic ABC News piece on Eating Disorders.  The piece highlights some of the barriers families face in securing proper early diagnosis and treatment.  The piece also highlights the power of parents as early warning systems. Parents are the canaries in the coal mines when it comes to early identification. Knowing our children as we do, we are typically the first to notice the early symptoms and presenting features of eating disorders.  We are especially sensitive to changes in mood, temperament and behaviour and we often pick up something is amiss prior to specific weight or food related symptoms surfacing.  Heck, we see it even when we don't know exactly what it is we are seeing and we do what we do naturally:  We smell the methane and we warn.  Canaries. This is where the early warning system breaks down.  We sound the alarm but, frustratingly, it can feel like we are screaming in the wind. Here is the thing, Primary Care Physician...

Mondays on Let's F.E.A.S.T will be devoted to Advocacy posts.  First in the series is fittingly by F.E.A.S.T. founder Laura Collins. A Mom on a Laptop People have told me they want to be an advocate and make a difference but they don’t have money or time or enough knowledge. I’m just a mom in a kitchen with a laptop. No special skills, no equipment, and the only title by my name is one I volunteered to give myself. I like to think I’ve made a difference. Individual parents have far more power to be advocates than they may think. Your voice is needed, too. By NOT speaking up your silence speaks volumes. Let me give you some examples: A thousand clicks is nothing without one thousand individuals with a mouse. Your one “like” or “comment” or “retweet” may only be a single digit but without each one you’ve got nothing. You may think it doesn’t make any difference but it does. If you just click on one thing a day you will shift the conversation a bit. Wri...

I have been slow in getting this second post out...my apologies.  Truth be told, I needed a bit a of time to recoup after three very, very full days of intense ED talk and theory at ICED and an epic 'cars, trains and automobiles' journey home. For those who are unfamiliar,   ICED   is a yearly conference billed as 'a gathering place for professionals and advocates engaged in research, treatment and prevention of eating disorders'. Attendees are predominately professionals but there are definitely caregivers present and I would encourage any parents interested to attend a conference if they are able.   We can often feel like we are living in two worlds:  the real world and the surreal one at the bottom of the rabbit hole. At ICED those two worlds are one and it is a heady experience to be in an environment (outside of your home) where eating disorders are, unapologetically, the only focus. It was also wonderful to be in the company of a collection of brilliant...