August 2024 Newsletter

IN THIS ISSUE...

Message from the Chair

A Shared Vision: The future of eating disorder support in Aotearoa NZ

Research Corner:

• Update from the EDANZ co-development project
• Striving to support the supporters

Eating Disorder Awareness in News and Media:

• How the pandemic affected eating disorders throughout Aotearoa
• Avoidant/Restrictive Food Intake Disorder: What you need to know about the 'silent eating disorder' ARFID

The start of August means we are over halfway through winter and the days are getting longer. We are now also into Olympic season. This is exciting for many, but can challenge our relationships with exercise and body image. So, we wish to remind all in our community that your worth is greater than your physical performance.

EDANZ would like to thank those generous donors who responded to our call last month for ‘fairy godmothers’ to help send EDANZ representatives to the ANZAED Conference later this month. You are STARS! If anyone else would like to step up to help us reach the $825 target to fully fund a registration fee, it’s not too late:
click here to donate

We have an awful lot to share with you this month! To start, we are bringing you an exciting opportunity to be involved in shaping a new non-profit for affected individuals living with eating disorders. We are also excited to share with you some initial insights gleaned from our ongoing co-development project. Finally, we spotlight a couple of news stories from the last month raising awareness of eating disorders in Aotearoa New Zealand. So, with all of this in mind, let’s dive in!

Ngā manaakitanga
Megan

Help shape the future of eating disorder support in Aotearoa NZ!

Join our community wānanga to shape a non-profit supporting people with eating disorders in Aotearoa!

Register here!  Spaces are limited

We invite anyone who has

• lived/living experience of an eating disorder
• lived/living experience supporting someone with an eating disorder

As well as

• clinicians
• researchers

to join us in shaping a lived-experience-led non-profit organisation offering advocacy, education, and peer support for people experiencing eating disorders.

The workshop will include both information and collaborative activities.

Be part of this journey. Your voice matters!

Update from the EDANZ co-development project

We are making great progress with the EDANZ co-development project, and we wanted to share some of the insights with you. The purpose of this project is to identify priorities for future research into the experience of caring for/supporting a loved one with an eating disorder.

The project is still ongoing, but we were thrilled to receive 132 responses to our survey! This represents a mix of people with lived experience as a carer/supporter, affected individuals, clinicians and researchers.

89% of respondents said that carer/supporter involvement is very important for the wellbeing of a person with an eating disorder.

Here are some words from our survey respondents:

“I just wish it was easier to access clinical help and that more people and professionals understood eating disorders” – Carer/supporter

“This is the hardest thing that as a parent we have ever done. Keep being the wonderful organisation that EDANZ is.” – Carer/supporter

“The impact that my eating disorder had on my parents and siblings was massive and I wish there had been more understanding of the support they required.” – Affected individual

From our survey results, some possible future research themes are already beginning to emerge. These include education and support for carers/supporters, support for the affected individual, relationships, and the treatment experience. These insights will guide the conversation at our co-development hui taking place in August and September.

Thank you to everyone who has been part of this process so far. If you have any questions about this work, please contact Meg: meg@ed.org.nz
 

We acknowledge Joanne Stephenson of Ashburton for her generous bequest to EDANZ for research.

Striving to Support the Supporters

We also wanted to highlight a great new study from our friends across the ditch showing the importance of Peer Support for families and carers/supporters of those living with an eating disorder. 

We have included links here to a summary by Eating Disorders Families Australia and the original research paper. 

“The benefits of attending support groups aimed at families and carers was clear in the study. It found 83% of participants felt less isolated in caring for their loved one as a result, while 81% felt more supported and 76% felt more confident.”

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/erv.3090

https://edfa.org.au/media-releases/new-research-families-and-carers-desperate-for-support/

How the pandemic affected eating disorders throughout Aotearoa

This brave story from a wahine Māori in the NZ Herald, not only highlights the need for cultural safety in eating disorder treatment, but that everyone’s journey is different.

“Menkes also notes the “impossible to miss” data that shows wāhine Māori experienced the biggest increase in eating disorders during the pandemic. “While some of our clinical services are doing great work, many still aren’t what you’d call culturally safe,” he says. “I think having that degree of cultural sensitivity and responsiveness is important across the board, but it’s particularly important with regard to eating disorders, where people often feel awkward or embarrassed about providing a full history of what’s going on.”

Read Article

Avoidant/Restrictive Food Intake Disorder: What you need to know about the 'silent eating disorder' ARFID

ARFID is the newest addition to the clinically recognised eating disorders in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), and remains severely under-recognised. This insightful piece outlines some of the warning signs and some tips for supporting someone with ARFID.

“What I've found is that if you can look at a person's relationship with food, you can look at their relationship with everything," she said. "It's so fundamental to well-being to have a good relationship with food." ARFID isn't something kids just grow out of, so it is important to approach it with as much sympathy and compassion as possible, he added.”

Read Article

Upcoming support group meetings

EDANZ believes parents/carers have unique abilities to support one another and we hold regular meetings to which you are warmly invited. Currently, we're joining together around the country once a month thanks to videoconferencing technology. 

If you would like to participate in a virtual support group, please RSVP to info@ed.org.nz and we'll send you the link.

Meetings in 2024 will be held on the first Wednesday of each month at 8pm-9pm.

Upcoming meetings:

• Wednesday, 7 August at 8pm
  
• Wednesday, 4 September at 8pm