From the press release:
The National Eating Disorders Association (NEDA) is launching its 25th annual National Eating Disorders Awareness Week (NEDAwareness Week) in an ongoing mission to bring public attention to the critical need to raise awareness and funding to battle eating disorders in the U.S.
During NEDAwareness Week, thousands of people come together in communities across the country, hosting events to raise awareness about body image and bring national attention to the severity of eating disorders, which are mental illnesses (not lifestyle choices) with devastating, often life-threatening, consequences. While there is hope and recovery is possible – particularly with early intervention – many people suffer from the long-term effects of these illnesses.
Themed Everybody Knows Somebody in 2012, some of the many events planned for the week include presen-tations and health fairs in schools and on college campuses; screenings of informational films; fashion shows featuring men and women of all body types; art shows; The Great Jeans Giveaway; and NEDA Walk fundraisers.
To help promote NEDAwareness week this year, NYC’s Empire State Building will be lit in NEDA’s signature green and blue logo colors the night of Tuesday, Feb. 28 to put a spotlight on the fight against eating disorders.
What’s Happening in the Asheville Area …
Screening and Q&A – Killing Us Softly 4 (Student Event Only)
Monday, Feb. 27, 7 p.m.
University of North Carolina-Asheville (UNCA), Highsmith Student Union, One University Heights
In this new, highly anticipated update of her pioneering Killing Us Softly series – the first in more than a decade – Jean Kilbourne takes a fresh look at how advertising traffics in distorted and destructive ideals of femininity and marshals a range of new print and TV advertisements to lay bare a stunning pattern of damaging gender stereotypes which reinforce unrealistic, unhealthy perceptions of beauty, perfection and sexuality. Q&A panel discussion follows with therapists April Pryor, LPC, and Heather Wingert, LCSW, LCAS.Panel Discussion – Voices of Hope: A Conversation About Eating Disorders (Open to the Community)
Tuesday, Feb. 28, 2– 3:30 p.m.
A-B Tech Campus, Simpson Lecture Room (Simpson Bldg. #115)
This informative, interactive panel discussion with local experts and community members will answer questions about anorexia, bulimia and emotional eating. Guests may park in lot B-19.Dinner and Presentation – Everybody Knows Somebody: What to do When “Coping in My Own Way” Includes Disordered Eating
Thursday, March 1, 5:30– 8 p.m.
Mountain Area Health Education Center, 121 Hendersonville Road, Asheville
The Mountain Area Health Education Center (MAHEC) is hosting this presentation about understanding the fusion of how the “ABC’S” (Affect, Behavior, Cognition and Spirituality) drive disordered eating and how it helps to support and sustain recovery. Mary Bellofatto, MA, LMHC, NCC, CEDS, will share ways to connect, change and transform lives to move beyond disordered eating. Pre-registration for this free event is required as dinner will be served. For more information or to register please go to HYPERLINK “http://www.mahec.net/calendar” www.mahec.net/calendar, keyword “heal.”Workshop – Body Talk: Psychodrama Interventions and Disordered Eating Recovery (Open to the Community)
Friday, March 2, 9 a.m. – 4:45 p.m.
Mountain Area Health Education Center, 121 Hendersonville Road, Asheville
This MAHEC-sponsored workshop will explore the basic concepts of psychodrama, the science-based experiential therapy used to assist clients in reconnecting with themselves and others founded by J.L. Moreno in the 1940s. Participants will learn how to create a social atom, role reverse, doubling and skills of a warm-up, sharing and closure to effectively treat disordered eating. Please pre-register for this free event at HYPERLINK “http://www.mahec.net” www.mahec.netHappy Body Open House
Saturday, March 3, 1– 5 p.m.
1378 Hendersonville Road, Suite E-2 Same Shopping Center as Harris Teeter)
The Happy Body studio is dedicated to supporting people of all ages, abilities and needs in finding their own happy, healthy and pain-free bodies through movement, awareness and ease. For more information call 828-277-5741 or e-mail HYPERLINK “mailto:info@ashevillehappybody.com” info@ashevillehappybody.comFor more information on all events, contact April Pryor, director of the Center for Disordered Eating, at 828-337-4685 or thecenternc@gmail.com
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