Some of you may have read this post I wrote a while back, about the website, Beutiful, devoted to battling fashion-mediated body ideals and empowering individuals to make their own decisions about what is beautiful.
Now, site founder Patricia Colli is among the sponsors of an awareness campaign and week’s worth of special BED online events that will take place from May 27-31. The event, explains Colli, which includes live tweetchats, new website articles and other social media happenings, celebrates the inclusion of BED in the fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5).
On May 29 a live tweetchat will take place from 12 to 1 pm EST using the hashtag #BEDCHAT. Look for articles, newsletters, blog posts and tweets focusing on education, preventing weight bias and stigma, promoting positive body image and legislative activism, as well as information on where to find support. Hashtags will be #BEDWEEK, #DSM5, #BEDAWARENESS, #EATINGDISORDER and #ED, or check updates on the BED Weekevent Facebook page. For a link to the full week-long program click here.
Also involved in BED Week are Amy Pershing - LMSW, ACSW; executive director, Pershing Turner Center LLC, Annapolis, MD; clinical director, The Center for Eating Disorders, Ann Arbor, MI; Chevese Turner, founder, president and CEO of BEDA (Binge Eating Disorders Association); Lizabeth Wesely-Casella, founder, BingeBehavior.com, and Kari Adams, tv host, mother, blogger and ED survivor.
I’ll be following along, and am looking forward to learning more about BED through these online happenings and postings.