Throughout the United Kingdom, more than 1.6 million people have eating disorders, with the majority of the sufferers in their teens and early 20s. Educators have the daunting task of identifying those young people with disorders, such as anorexia nervosa and bulimia, and providing them with support to address the problem. Government programs and various charities and organizations provide educators with the necessary training and resources to help combat these serious—and potentially deadly—mental issues.
One charity that dedicates itself to helping people with eating disorders is beat, an organization that provides various avenues of help and resources. The charity, which was in contact with more than 140,000 people last year, offers training to educators and health care professionals, maintains a hotline, and gives advice to those who need help. TheFor Young People Web site offers information specifically geared toward students.
In addition to training and holding workshops, beat provides theDove Self-Esteem Workshop Guide for educators. The resource materials help teachers lead positive discussions about body image and encourage students "to consider their own appearance more realistically through revealing how 'perfect' images are created." An engaging video demonstrates just how much the camera does lie by showing two young people in fashion photo shoots who then have their images graphically enhanced.
Another beat program tool is the Educate Plus brochure, which recommends courses to help parents and educators identify eating disorders, understand why a child may develop one, and learn how peer pressure significantly affects those with this mental health issue.
The beat program also sends ambassadors to schools to answer students' questions and offer advice. All of these ambassadors are under the age of 26 and share their own life experiences as motivation for the students to stay on the right track.
Recently, beat launched a campaign to lobby the government to help build self-esteem in young people so that they do not succumb to the pressure of trying to fit a certain image, and to help reduce the number of people suffering from these issues in the U.K.
