National Eating Disorders, NEDAwareness Week

National Eating Disorders, NEDAwareness Week

Hi All,

I'd like to introduce myself. I'm Susie Roman, Director of Programs at

the National Eating Disorders Association, and I'm excited to be

joining this group (thank you, Nancy!). Since pro-anorexia/bulimia

sites has been a big buzz in the media lately, I thought you all might

be interested in National Eating Disorders Awareness Week (happening

now!) and NEDA's new partnership with Tumblr to ban active promotion

of self-harm.

Tumblr is implementing their policy this week, during NEDAwareness

Week (Feb 26-March3), to flag and remove dangerous sites that

encourage and glorify eating disorder behaviors and images intended to

be "thinspo" (thinspiration). They will also be posting a PSA

announcement directing those searching terms related to eating

disorders and pro-ana/mia sites to the NEDA Helpline and website for

resources. This is a big development, because it is a platform with 40

million users, taking a stand and recognizing that viewing pro-ana

content can trigger or further entrench eating disorders, which are

serious mental health conditions, not lifestyle choices. We've worked

with Facebook as well, in an advisory capacity, so it is encouraging

to see some of these industry leaders setting an example in this area.

If you want to know more about this topic and the dangers of pro-ana/

mia sites, feel free to email me.

I also wanted to invite you and your members/constituents to join us

as participants in NEDAwareness Week. Anyone can register (takes 30

seconds and is free) and receive access to tons of free, online

resources such as the print-ready stats/facts sheets, Educator Packet

(activities for the classroom, discussion guides, film list, printable

bookmarks), PowerPoint Presentations, event listings, activity guides,

pre-written articles on a very broad range of topics and much more. We

have seen a very stong positive correlation between increasing

participation in NEDAwareness Week and calls to our Helpline, support

programs and website, so we know how important raising awareness and

educating all communities is. Here are the links, and once registered,

you can download the NEDAwareness Week logo key messages, etc.

NEDAwareness Week Homepage: http://www.nationaleatingdisorders.org/programs-events/nedawareness-week.php

NEDAwareness Week Registration:

http://neda.nationaleatingdisorders.org/site/Survey?ACTION_REQUIRED=URI_ACTION_USER_REQUESTS&SURVEY_ID=3060

I look forward to being a part of your discussions and learning about

all of your important work.

Cheers,

Susie Roman