Keene State College’s sector of the organization Active Minds, an organization that promotes awareness on mental illness, promoted National Eating Disorder Awareness Week beginning on Monday, Feb. 23.
“Active Minds is participating in National Eating Disorder Awareness Week by Operation Beautiful, which is where we post inspirational messages around campus and on bathroom mirrors and on poster boards,” Allison Sonia, KSC sophomore and president of Active Minds, said.
She continued, “We are acknowledging National Eating Disorder Awareness Week because it’s such a prevalent issue; it is actually the most common mental health issue on college campuses, with about forty percent of students knowing someone who has suffered with an eating disorder or who has personally experienced an eating disorder.”
“It’s very important to get the word out there and to let people know they’re not alone and to learn to respect yourself and love your own body,” Sonia said.
With 40 percent of college students being affected by this issue, raising awareness on a college campus doesn’t only seem beneficial, but needed, she explained.
“Eating disorders are very common on college campuses and I think with our age group of college students and young adults we are often pressured to look a certain way and have a certain body type, and it’s important to let people know that that is not the reality,” Sonia explained.
She continued, “In order to get the word out, we participated in the Project U event, which was all about accepting yourself for who you are and not believing all of the stereotypes of the media.”
At the event they encouraged students to break loose from the way they think society views their imperfections. “While at the event, we set up a table with post-it notes that allowed people to write their own inspirational messages,” Sonia explained.
Messages featured on these post-its included phrases like “You are beautiful,” “Smile bright” and “You got this,” as well as many other uplifting expressions.
Active Minds said the goal of it was to spread self-acceptance and love around the campus.
Sonia explained, “Through the post-it notes and bulletin boards we wanted to get the word out about Eating Disorder Awareness Week, brighten people’s day a bit and realize that they are beautiful in their own way. We had a lot of comments saying things like, ‘Hey, you totally changed my outlook for the day,’ and that was a part we really liked — to make people smile and to make people feel beautiful,” Sonia said.
Alexandra Lague, a KSC junior, was one of those students who found the post-it notes inspirational and profound.
“Seeing those notes presented on the bathroom mirror really did make me happy,” Lague said.
She continued, “Even though they were short sentences consisting of common ideas like ‘The person reading this is beautiful,’ reading them and then looking at your reflection made the quote more real than just reading it on the internet somewhere.”
She explained on top of seeing the post-it notes, she also noticed the bulletin board in the student center.
“Between that and the bulletin board that had all the facts about eating disorders on it, it really got me thinking about what people with this illness go through,” she explained.
“I think we all have our insecurities, granted some more than others, but the ways that some people deal with them are just unhealthy and it makes me so upset to think about the idea of someone going through all of that pain because of their body image,” Lague said.
Assistant Director and Coordinator of Clinical Training Mona Anderson from KSC’s counseling center also weighed in on this topic.
“Developing an eating disorder at any level is extremely distressful and compromises a person’s mental, physical and spiritual health,” she explained.
“People with eating disorders are generally thinking about food and all of the issues around it twenty-four-seven and they are taking up a lot of energy in their lives emotionally just through these behaviors,” Anderson explained.
“Eating disorders often go hand-in-hand with other emotional health issues, like depression, which is a common co-occurring issue or anxiety is another common co-occurring issue,” she said.
Anderson continued, “Psychologically there is a great deal of distress because of the constant feelings and behaviors that go along with it.”
“There is a lot of shame and embarrassment and a lot of hiding and feeling very alone, isolated even,” Anderson said.
According to Anderson, if a student believes a friend is suffering with an eating disorder, it is a good idea to inform them about the available resources and to share concerns of what you see going on with that person.
She said to make sure the friend knows they are not being accused of anything, just that you are worried about them, care about them and would really like to see them get some help.
Students are encouraged to visit the KSC Counseling Center on the third floor of the Elliot Center or call 603-358-2437 to make an appointment with someone if they or someone they know wants to speak with a counselor or learn more.
Amanda Lashua can be contacted at alashua@kscequinox.com
