Trauma and anxiety are often interconnected with eating disorders. Understanding this connection is key to healing. Here’s what you need to know.

Some eating disorder experts say that it take an average of 7 years to fully recover, but when patients are early in the healing process, hearing a long recovery timeline can feel very overwhelming.

Nia Patterson first heard the “7 years” estimate in group therapy at a treatment center back in 2017. Over the last 7 years, they’ve gone through many phases of healing. Today, they’re living a life that looks a lot different than what they expected.

Weight stigma is not a new issue in our world—and yet it can be incredibly painful, hurtful, and long-lasting, due to its systemic impact. Here’s what you need to know about healing from weight stigma.

Mia Morris was only nine years old when she was diagnosed with anorexia nervosa. After cycling through treatment and partial recovery several times, she finally met Nurse Svetlana.

This blog explores how diet culture and the weight loss industry exploit messages of self-acceptance, like those in the song “This Is Me” from The Greatest Showman, to promote harmful products such as GLP-1 medications. It examines the pervasive influence of diet culture, its connection to the rise of eating disorders, and the staggering financial motivations behind these industries, which prioritize profit over public wellbeing. By sharing personal experiences and data on the mental health crisis, the blog underscores the urgent need to challenge these narratives and build a future where self-worth is not dictated by body size.

Diet culture tells us that there’s nothing more important than striving for perfection—find out why this quickly and easily leads to disordered eating.

In many cases, an eating disorder emerges as a way for teens to cope with overwhelming emotions or situations they feel powerless to change. The eating disorder becomes a survival skill and asking teens to reduce behaviors, especially if they’re not in the drivers seat of their own treatment plan, can exacerbate feelings of helplessness or rebellion.

Over the past 11 years, Edie Stark has worked alongside clients and their parents as they navigated the complex road towards eating disorder recovery. Time and time again, she’s found teen autonomy to play a vital role in sustained healing.

In our CEO’s latest blog, Akiera Gilbert reflect on the challenges many face in accessing eating disorder care and the incredible impact we've been able to make together this year. From expanding our services to reaching those who need us most, to developing partnerships for which we are eternally grateful, we’re building a community where healing and support are always available.

Access to movement/exercise in eating disorder treatment spaces and in the outpatient world can be controversial to discuss. But Dr. Michelle Laging, an eating disorder-informed physical therapist, found incorporating gentle movement into an inpatient eating disorder rehabilitation program to be incredibly beneficial to her clients’ mental and physical health.

BMI-based diagnosis criteria is incredibly harmful for people with eating disorders. When Emilija Krysén received the diagnosis of Atypical Anorexia, instead of regular Anorexia Nervosa, she felt like a fraud — like her eating disorder didn’t count.

Many people fit into a “gray area” when it comes to eating disorder behaviors. Perhaps they experience purging, but not bingeing. Or they show signs of bulimia, except their symptoms don’t occur consistently. Or maybe they present with symptoms of multiple eating disorders, or shift between diagnoses.

Meagan Kirby-McDowell grew up right outside the nation’s capital, with some of the best hospitals and physicians in the country. But, as the child of a service member, she still faced barriers to eating disorder care.

Project HEAL and SEA WAVES Bridge Gaps in Access to Eating Disorder Care in the Military Community

Healing our relationship with food and our body is not a straight path—it can be filled with waiting lists, insurance hurdles, and discouraging moments. But finding the right care, the right provider, the right fit is possible, and it's worth holding on for. Healing is possible.

Accessing care for eating disorders involves navigating barriers that stand in the way of individuals seeking help, receiving appropriate treatment, or fully engaging in their recovery process. Breaking down these barriers begins with deconstructing stigmas, spreading awareness and education, and increasing treatment access.  

This HEAL Week, we wish to spotlight the barriers to care and have critical conversations that often go unshared. Everybody deserves recovery, and no one should have to fight for their treatment.  

When her food rules and fears threatened her ability to continue dancing, Kayleigh Carlos accepted that she needed help. Now, her recovery journey has given her purpose and meaning: mentoring other young dancers.

Barriers to care for trans individuals seeking help for disordered eating run deep—ranging from a lack of affirming providers and gender-inclusive treatment spaces to stigma and misinformed assumptions about who struggles with eating disorders. Everyone deserves access to compassionate, inclusive care, but too often, these hurdles leave trans folks navigating healing alone.

In recognition of Weight Stigma Awareness Week, Project HEAL Clinical Assessment Program Manager Stephanie Alberts shares her perspective on why our society is failing to prevent, diagnosis and treat eating disorders- and why weight stigma is to blame

As Weight Stigma Awareness Week approaches (and always!), it's important to acknowledge the limitations of the body positivity movement. In this blog, Lindley Ashline dives into the difference between body positivity and body liberation, and tips for growing into a body liberationist.