As part of our Children In Need health work, we have been working with our young adults to develop the awareness about eating disorders. The week commencing February 23rd was ‘Eating Disorder awareness week’. B-eat is the UK’s leading charity that supports anyone who is experiencing an eating disorder. The charity aims to change the way everyone perceives eating disorders, improve the way services and treatment are provided and to help anyone who thinks they cannot beat their eating disorder.
The charity plans to do this by recognising and challenging the stigma and stereotypes that people who have eating disorders face. B-eat also plans to campaign for better services and treatment. Not only does the general public needs to be inform but the people with eating disorders do too! B-eat often support you through the process of treatment and recovery. They believe that no one should have to deal with eating disorders alone.
We decided that this was a great initiative and got involved with the ‘Sock-it to eating disorder initiative’ sock it came about in a peculiar way; a grieving mother wiping away her tears regarding the loss of her daughter through anorexia by using a clean sock. A charity was then born under the name ‘sock-it’, the focus particularly on raising awareness regarding eating disorders and the severity of the condition it entails. They intend to promote awareness by teaming up with B-eat. Celebrities including, Stephen Fry, Victoria Wood and Jake Humphrey will be posing on social media wearing ‘silly socks’ to advertise the awareness week.
In light of this, Rotherham United Community Sports Trust decided to do the same, at Blackburn Youth Club and The Place Youth Club in Eastwood, we decided to make a ‘sock bunting’ and design our own socks that said something good about ourselves. For example Kaine one of the boys who attends regularly on a Monday night at Blackburn youth club wrote “I am confident” on his socks. It is all about changing our opinions on body image, we focused on the positive factors about our bodies and personalities rather than the negatives. We also spoke about recognising the symptoms of eating disorders and how we could help people with eating disorders and where we would signpost them to if they needed help.
Everyone got involved which was brilliant to see, even the youth workers got involved, and we raised awareness using social media platforms such as twitter and Facebook.
For more information on the Health sessions we deliver, please contact:
Lauren Kerry
Health and Wellbeing Officer
Telephone: 01709 827767
Email:lkerry@rotheramunited.net
Facbook: RUCST
Twitter: @RU_CST
Visit www.rucst.co.uk for more information on Rotherham United CST