Note: This article mentions details about eating disorders. If you or someone you know needs support, reach out to the National Eating Disorder Information Centre at 1-866-633-4220 or HealthLink BC at 811.
A North Vancouver woman has launched a non-profit organization to help parents learn the early signs of eating disorders in their children.
Reframe Voices will focus on educating parents, guardians and teachers, aiming to help them detect signs of eating disorders and bring early intervention for kids aged seven to 17.
“Eating disorders don’t start overnight – and they’re not just a health issue, they’re a systemic issue. I saw a gap no one was filling: schools are limited, hospitals are overwhelmed and parents are left without the tools they need. We’re here to help families spot what’s been hiding in plain sight,” said Penny Greening, founder of Reframe Voices.
Greening speaks from experience, battling with disordered eating for most of her life.
She began binge eating at her grandmother’s as a child to cope with mixed emotions of what she was feeling at home.
But eight-year-old Greening didn’t think anything of it until she overheard a family member comment negatively about the size of her rear end. Even though the words weren’t said to Greening directly, just hearing them stung.
A year later her parents got divorced and she struggled with her father not being at home. By the time she reached Grade 8, she began battling with atypical anorexia – an eating disorder that shows symptoms of anorexia except for being underweight.
The Canadian Mental Health Association describes eating disorders as “a group of mental illnesses that affect the way you feel about food and the way you feel about your body and yourself.” There are three main eating disorders: anorexia, bulimia and binge eating.
She continued to live with the disorder throughout her life. Now the founder hopes to use her experience to educate parents and help youth in hopes of preventing eating disorders, but also bridging a gap by offering resources that might not be easily available.
"The ultimate goal is to wake some parents up to the fact that this is an important thing to talk about, and the person who wants to present it to them is somebody who really gets it," Greening said.
Before launching the non-profit in June, Greening noticed every parent she spoke to knew someone or had personally gone through an eating disorder themselves, something that concerned her.
A poll from Mental Health Research Canada found nearly one third of Canadians report having thoughts and behaviours that are consistent with having or being at a high risk of developing an eating disorder. The poll also found those under 35 and members of the 2SLGBTQ+ communities were more likely to be at risk.
But there are some signs parents can look for in children, Greening said, including being really focused on their image, like checking their body in the mirror; being overly concerned about eating healthy; spending a lot of time working out; obsessing over calorie count; and restrictive eating, like looking into supplements or even performance enhancing drugs.
"If parents can spot the signs early and know what to do, they can save their child a lifetime of chronic illness, they might even save a life," Greening said.
The founder is gearing up to hold workshops across the North Shore in September when school is back in, focusing on topics like how kids hide eating struggles, language at home and its hidden impact, when emotions show up through the body and how to help a child when they are struggling.
“I’m trying to create this education platform for awareness and prevention or early intervention,” she said. “Somebody has to do it, and I really believe it’s me.”
Abby Luciano is the Indigenous and civic affairs reporter for the North Shore News. This reporting beat is made possible by the Local Journalism Initiative.
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