"It's a horrible, horrible disorder and if I can help prevent eating disorders I will. It was complete hell for me. It took away eight good years of my life. It's a dark, self-loathing hole to be in. If I can prevent at least one person from going into that hole then that's fine. I've done my job," says Amy Pezzente.
Having firsthand experience with an eating disorder during high school and university, Pezzente, now 29, has dedicated herself to supporting others in their recovery journey. For the last four years she has been working to disseminate information to help those currently struggling get help, as well as prevent eating disorders altogether.
Pezzente, a Burnaby resident, wears a number of professional hats. She works as an eating disorder peer support worker at the Kelty Mental Health Resource Centre at B.C. Children's Hospital (keltyeatingdisorders.ca) and co-ordinates online support groups with the North Vancouver-based Looking Glass Foundation for Eating Disorders (lookingglassbc. com). Pezzente also works with the Jessie's Legacy Eating Disorders Prevention Program at Family Services of the North Shore. In addition, Pezzente serves as the co-ordinator of the year-round Provincial Eating Disorders Awareness Campaign (PEDAW), focused on raising awareness related to prevention, early intervention and treatment of eating disorders as well as media literacy, resiliency, building healthy body image and self-esteem. PEDAW is led by Jessie's Legacy and is offered in collaboration with a number of organizations, including Kelty Mental Health and the Looking Glass.
This month, PEDAW is launching for 2014, timed with National Eating Disorder Awareness Week, Feb. 2-8, and there are a number of ways B.C. residents are encouraged to get involved. "Our aim is prevention and awareness and to make people realize that you can be healthy, beautiful and happy at any size," says Pezzente. "It's to encourage positive body image across B.C. and hopefully to end all eating disorders."
Guest blogs on the topic will be posted by people from across North America (a combination of media personalities, activists and members of the general public) throughout the month at loveourbodiesloveourselves. blogspot.ca.
Photos will be shared via social media from the campaign's Wristband Challenge, which tasked B.C. residents with submitting photos incorporating the purple PEDAW bracelet that reads "Love Our Bodies, Love Ourselves." The goal was, "To show the world that B.C. is strong and that we're confident and proud. We are not only challenging ourselves but we are challenging the world to love their bodies and love themselves," says Pezzente. Those interested in obtaining a free wristband can drop by Family Services' Lower Lonsdale office, or email pedaw@familyservices.bc.ca.
On Friday, Feb. 7, community members are encouraged to wear purple for PEDAW and share photos of themselves through the campaign's Twitter (@loveourbodies) and Facebook page (facebook.com/loveourbodiesloveourselves) In a show of support, BC Place and Science World will be lit up in purple that day.
Family Services of the North Shore has held the contract for provincial work in eating disorders prevention education, resources and support since January 2010, continuing the work of the Jessie's Hope Society, renaming it Jessie's Legacy. The society was named after a young North Shore woman, Jessie Alexander, who took her life due to complications related to an eating disorder.
A major concern of Jessie's Legacy is to shift the public's focus away from weight, says Shelley Hine, a child and family therapist at Family Services, coordinator of Jessie's Legacy, and co-ordinator of the Safer Places for Children and Youth program.
"We want the focus to be on health at any size," she says. "When we talk weight and shape bias, that's really the focus. We've medicalized weight in a big way and it's taken the focus off of health and it's taken the focus off of the fact that people have different body shapes, different body sizes, in a big part it's genetics. Because of a lot of media stigma, we've gone from the notion of health to the notion that there is only one body size and that's a very thin, fit body, especially for women.
"We try to combat that stigma. We try to raise awareness that people come in all sorts of weights and shapes, and genetics plays a big part in that," she says.
Jessie's Legacy maintains an online presence, offering a host of resources and fact sheets available to people throughout the province, says Mimi Hudson, director of community and provincial programs for Family Services.
Another Jessie's Legacy program is Family Fundamentals, which introduces parents to the concept of working to prevent eating disorders during their children's early years. "Things start very early," says Hudson. "People talk about weight and it's how parents talk about their weight and shape and how that might influence their children, and (talk about) other people's weight and shape."
General parenting issues are addressed, as well as the importance of being active.
A session of the sixweek program is currently underway in North Vancouver with the next to be offered later this year, in either the spring or fall.
Jessie's Legacy also trains representatives of interested early childhood development-focused organizations so they are able to offer the program themselves in their own centres. The next two-day training session will be offered in May.
Speakers Bureau is a popular Jessie's Legacy program and is a presentation (both elementary and high school versions are available) that gets taken out to schools and to groups on the North Shore and Lower Mainland. It's available as a PowerPoint presentation for interested schools located elsewhere in the province.
Following the presentation, students are encouraged to submit entries to a related annual Jessie's Legacy multimedia contest.
Jessie's Legacy also leads the North Shore Education Committee for the Prevention of Disordered Eating, a monthly gathering of stakeholders, including representatives of the local school districts, Vancouver Coastal Health, Action Schools B.C. and North Vancouver Recreation Commission. And, Jessie's Legacy representatives field calls and emails from those experiencing an eating disorder, or who know someone who is, providing counselling support or referral services. Contact Shelley Hine at hine@familyservices.bc.ca or 604-988-5281.
jessieslegacy.com
