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“It’s a shared and calm language that we seem to have, and it doesn’t take a lot of words to express yourself,” Mia Findlay, 33, told 9Honey.
Eating Disorders Recovery Coach discusses anorexia and the silence that often envelops psychological illness with Australia’s highest death rate.
Findlay, who has experienced a number of eating disorders throughout his life, ranging from binge eating disorder to bulimia and finally anorexia, says the stereotypes we attach to illnesses make them more difficult. to fight.
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“I didn’t fit the stereotype of anorexia. I didn’t seem to be anorexic,” Beyond the body explains the founder.
“It’s so alienating because you feel like an impostor or pretend.”
Findlay says a “perfect storm” of factors sparked her battle, reflecting on when she was bullied in high school over her body.
Cornered by a group of boys at the beach at the age of 15, Findlay remembers being “criticized” and harassed for her appearance.
“I felt a burning hatred for myself,” she said, thinking about that moment.
“My internalized message was that it was my responsibility to avoid shame, and in order to do that I had to be in a smaller body because that was the way to do it.”
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Findlay started an eating disorder treatment program three and a half years ago, after he started sharing YouTube videos that candidly discussed his struggles with eating disorders.
During the years that she led her service, Findlay observed that the range of manifestations of eating disorders remains misunderstood, despite such high rates in the population.
“Access to treatment in this country is one of the worst in the world. It’s terrible, ”she said.
“There are no long term plans for people in recovery, and we are just not equipped to help people negotiate what can be a lifelong battle.”
This week Australia opened its first residential facility to treat eating disorders on the Sunshine Coast.
The 13-bed private hospital called Wandi Nerida, owned and operated by the Butterfly Foundation, offers 24-hour mental health support and treatment. One-third of the 35 hospital staff have suffered from a disorder. of food.
Since its announcement, it has received over 600 potential admissions applications. This demand is not surprising in the context of the pandemic, during which calls to the Butterfly Foundation’s helpline have increased by 57% across Australia.
Findlay acknowledges the country’s approach to treating mental illness has “improved dramatically”, receiving an additional $ 27.9 million in government funding this year, noting that the residential inpatient facility will mark a breakthrough positive in the treatment of mental illness.
“The new facility will be continued proof that continuous and responsive treatment is working,” she explains.
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“You have all these systems that keep people from understanding how complex and serious these mental illnesses are, and it’s a mental illness because we have unnecessary belief systems and stereotypes that only teenage girls are. affluent whites suffer from it, which is simply not the case. “
In her coaching program, Findlay focuses on more than achieving a “healthy weight” with her clients, exploring the influences that can lead to an eating disorder.
In partnership with the Butterfly Foundation’s #ChangethePicture campaign for 2021, it highlights our perception of beauty and how we discuss image from a young age as a key cause of eating disorders.
“We are urged to demonize bigger bodies and, in the same breath, put smaller bodies on a pedestal,” Findlay says.
“We have the fitness, food, beauty, fashion and media industry to get us to send the message that our bodies are wrong, and we are taught from an early age that little is good and big is bad. “
Helen Bird, education coordinator for the Butterfly Foundation, told 9Honey that the #ChangethePicture campaign is focused on “prevention,” noting that eating disorder education services in schools have increased by 300 % during the pandemic.
“We have seen a massive increase in the demand for prevention resources. Body image has always been a problem, but the intensity of the messages really has an impact on the image of young people, ”she explains.
“We are trying to change things because we know that young people who struggle are much more likely to do so later in life.”
Hoping to build a “brighter generation,” the campaign seeks to unravel the image of the “perfect” body by neutralizing the way we discuss physical appearance from a young age.
“We’re changing the narrative we give ourselves when we were younger,” Bird says, drawing on the impact that body dissatisfaction can have on perpetuating eating disorder behaviors.
“If we can avoid labeling foods as good or bad, commenting on how people look all the time, and putting that energy into their personal qualities or attributes, it gives the message to young people that their value is not. related to their appearance. ” she says.
“They are so much more than their body. The more we talk about them, the more important we make them.”
Findlay echoes Bird’s sentiment, advising people to think about how they address loved ones when it comes to body image.
“If we asked people who know us what the top three things they like about us are, our appearance wouldn’t be on the list. It would be something about our character,” she says.
“But that’s not the first thing we say to ourselves. We enhance the appearance is what we value most.”
The eating disorders trainer says it’s high time to change the message around self-esteem to “respect someone as a person, rather than the vessel they are in.”
“There is everything wrong with the message given to you by your peers, parents, the media,” she adds.
“We are what we are meant to be, but the problem isn’t the body we’re in, it’s the way we talk about them.”
For more information on how to #ChangeThePicture, click here.
Anyone needing help with eating disorders or body image issues should contact: Butterfly National Helpline at 1800 33 4673 (1800 ED HOPE) or [email protected]; Eating Disorders Victoria Helpline at 1300 550 23
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