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The Project:
The Project:
For this project my goal is to raise awareness around eating disorders, and as well support those in recovery and raise money for a local cause.
About me
About me
My name is Caroline Beaudet and I'm a junior at Holliston High School, and mental health, eating disorders in particular, is something that's really important to me. Mental health has been a big part of my life for a long time, and it was really important to me to do a project addressing it. In school, I participate in activities like art club and swim team.
The Issue and Community Need
The Issue and Community Need
Eating disorders often go unspoken about and are often seen as a "taboo" topic. There is a lot of misinformation about them out in the media, and many don't know or understand these disorders and how they work. Many also don't know how deadly these disorders are, and that anorexia has the highest mortality rate of any mental disorder.
Many people have eating disorders, and most of the time, you wouldn't even know who has one. Most of the time, it is assumed that to have an eating disorder, you have to look a certain way. This is completely false, people can be any body type, age, race, or gender and still have an eating disorder.
Community Partner
Community Partner
I have partnered with MEDA, the Multi-Service Eating Disorder Association based in Newton. They have been my partner for the art show I put on, and their executive director Monika Ostroff even came out to the show and spoke to the people that came. Monika shared MEDA resources with me that I now plan on sharing with the support staff at Holliston. I believe that this will help further eating disorder education in our school system.
The Project
The Project
I had a strong initial plan for my project, but I wouldn't say things necessarily went to plan. At first, I was planning to present to the freshmen advisories about eating disorders to help educate students at the high school. As well, I was planning on having students write notes to kids staying in inpatient at the Walden Behavioral Care Facility in Boston. This ended up changing, and instead I presented to the guidance office and support staff at the high school. I was then offered an internship for my senior year to continue the work in my project. Things didn't exactly go to plan, but I'm very happy that I will get to continue my work. The art show I put on however, did go to plan, and we did get a decent turnout for it. The executive director of MEDA was able to come out and shared many MEDA resources with me, which I plan on showing to the support staff here at school.
The Show
The Show
I had the show on December 13, 2019, and it went great! MEDA was an incredible resource to have, and they were a big part of what made the show possible. We had a great turnout, and had a lot of donations! I would like to thank everyone that was able to make it out for helping make the show so great!
Learning
Learning
I have changed the education aspect of my project, as I ran into a few obstacles. However, I am planning to educate the support staff on how to handle eating disorders in the coming weeks. I am also looking into incorporating eating disorder awareness into the Wellness curriculum, but I do not have that set in stone yet. As well, I will be handing out information at the art show to hopefully educate even more people.
Contact information
Contact information
If you have any questions, or would like to contribute in any way, feel free to email me at carolinebeaudet15@gmail.com
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