Student group seeks to combat eating disorders

At 12 years old, Liana Rosenman was diagnosed with an eating disorder.

The disorder presented a major challenge in her life, and it occurred at a time that also marked a turning point for many other girls in the world struggling with their respective body images.

The National Eating Disorders Association, a U.S. nonprofit dedicated to helping those affected by eating disorders, published a 2011 study on the prevalence and correlations of eating disorders in adolescents. Researchers studied individuals between 8 and 25 years old with anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa or other eating disorders. 

According to the study, the crude mortality rates — or number of annual deaths per 1,000 people — amounted to 4 percent for anorexia nervosa, 3.9 percent for bulimia nervosa and 5.2 percent for other eating disorders. They also found a high suicide rate among people who suffer from bulimia nervosa.

Last fall, Pitt students Ellen Majersky and Kaitlyn Waugaman opened a chapter of the national organization Project HEAL, which stands for Help to Eat, Accept and Live. The co-presidents formed the Pitt chapter to spread both awareness about eating disorders and a message of hope and healing. The group utilizes presentations, flyers and other methods to spread its message and donates raised funds directly to the national foundation.

Rosenman and Kristina Saffran founded Project HEAL in the spring of 2008. They created the nonprofit organization to raise money for victims of eating disorders who cannot afford treatment and to diminish the societal obsession with body image that fuels many eating disorders.

Rosenman and Saffran met while undergoing treatment for eating disorders. Once they completed their treatments, they wanted to help other people with similar issues.

“It grew out of everything that Kristina [Saffran] and I wanted when going through treatment,” Rosenman said. “We saw many issues and heard of people who wanted treatment, but were turned away.”

Rosenman founded the project because many people struggling with eating disorders cannot undergo treatment for monetary reasons, and the failure to obtain treatment worsens their disorders.

“I thought it was amazing that they [Rosenman and Saffran] met in a treatment center and realized a lot of people need their help,” Majersky said. “I just know it’s a very prevalent problem on college campuses.”

According to Waugaman, the Pitt group hosted Zumba and yoga classes and also featured a documentary. Additionally, members post flyers that display uplifting quotes and images of butterflies around campus.

According to Majersky, the Student Organization Resource Center provides funds for Project HEAL to host events. The group then donates all of the money it raises to the national Project HEAL organization, which saves and allocates the money for treatment scholarships. People with eating disorders can then apply for scholarships to help pay for treatments, based on their financial needs.

The national project raises money by hosting benefit brunches and fashion shows and speaking at schools and hospital programs. It most recently hosted a cocktail party in New York City to celebrate the organization’s fifth anniversary, at which it raised approximately $60,000.

“We never had anyone to look up to during treatment,” Rosenman mentioned. “Everything we wanted, we’re now providing.”

Barbara Smolek, the administrative manager for Columbia Center for Eating Disorders, a Project HEAL partner, said that she thinks the “mission, efforts and results [of Project HEAL] are terrific.” She and the Columbia Center are “proud to partner and support their work.”

Project HEAL aims to increase awareness of the potential severity of eating disorders.

According to Melanie Zumm, a support group coordinator at the National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders, significant concern about weight or body image is a “red flag of an eating disorder.” The association is a nonprofit organization based in Illinois that is dedicated to the prevention and alleviation of eating disorders.

“Eating disorders are often rooted in difficult or painful emotions,” Zumm said. “This might be something that is hard for [sufferers] to talk about. Let them know you support them and care about them.”

According to Zumm, other signals of eating disorders include the avoidance of eating, excuses for not eating, excessive exercise, withdrawal from social situations and frequent trips to the bathroom. Sufferers may also hide food or eat in secret.

The most common eating disorders are anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, binge eating disorder and avoidant and restrictive food intake disorder. Treatment for these disorders can range anywhere from professional assistance to treatment centers, hospitals and residential programs.

Usually, the national Project HEAL waits until it has enough money saved up in scholarship funds before choosing applicants. In the past five years, the organization has provided scholarships to seven individuals for treatment.

“One of our applicants is now traveling the world,” Rosenman said. “It amazes me to think that if Project HEAL didn’t exist, what would’ve happened to her?”

Project HEAL mostly raises money for inpatient and residential treatment, and according to Waugaman, residential treatment can amount to $20,000.

This month, the Pitt chapter hosted a Fat Talk Free Week, a national, seven-day, public-awareness effort to highlight body image issues and change people’s focus from size to health.

The group sold bracelets and offered $5 Zumba and yoga classes. Group members raised $140 in one week. In its first year, Pitt Project HEAL raised $10 through bake sales and a “thin” documentary event.

“I’ve heard from members of how some students on campus love reading our positive-image things, and it really affects them in their day,” Waugaman said.

Pitt’s chapter often refers eating disorder sufferers to the Counseling Center, because its members believe proper treatment is key to overcoming the disorders.

“I’ve had some friends that did go away to treatment for a while and then I saw that they got better, considering the relapse rate is really high,” Majersky said.

Majersky and Waugaman mentioned other factors that might signify an eating disorder, including preoccupation with weight and body image, counting calories excessively and cutting certain foods out of one’s diet.

“It almost becomes an obsession,” Waugaman said.