Coalition Welcomes
Eating Disorder Referral and
Information Center
May 4, 2005 -
The most comprehensive and easiest to search database of eating
disorder treatment professionals in the world is now a member of the Eating
Disorders Coalition. The Eating Disorder Referral and Information Center (EDRIC)
receives 2,300 visitors daily on their EDReferral.com Web site. Coalition
membership will enhance the EDC's ability to reach more treatment
professionals and will enable EDReferral.com to offer detailed information
on policy and activism. Visit EDRIC at
www.edreferral.com.
EDC Launches National College Campus Tour
January 2005 - This spring, survivors of life-threatening eating
disorders and breast implant surgeries are telling their stories to young
women nationwide. The Extreme Measures Speaking Tour is an
educational project of the Eating Disorders Coalition for Research, Policy &
Action and the National Council of Women's Organizations (NCWO). The tour is
currently scheduled for 12 colleges and universities in California, Texas,
New York, New Jersey, and Washington, D.C.
The tour has generated intense media interest in the risks associated
with extreme dieting and implant surgery. The EDC and NCWO wanted to focus
on colleges with large undergraduate populations of young women. For more
information about the tour, visit
www.noextrememeasures.org.
Below left to right: Breast implant survivor Kacey Long, eating disorder
survivors Rachel Beckman, Svenja Menschig.
  
EDC Forms Partnership with Suicide
Prevention Action Network
March
11, 2005 -
The Suicide Prevention Action Network, a
Washington, D.C.-based advocacy organization, is now working with the EDC to
promote eating disorder awareness among SPAN members nationwide. The two
groups are working on sharing risk reduction messages and combining efforts
on Lobby Day activities in Congress and around Washington.
The EDC actively supported the Garrett
Lee Smith Memorial Act, a youth suicide prevention effort, which passed
Congress and was signed into law at the end of the 108th Congress.
SPAN Executive Director Jerry Reed is aware that people with eating disorders are at high risk of suicide. Several
EDC advocates are parents and family members who have lost someone to an eating disorder-related suicide.
As a coalition partner, SPAN will
coordinate activities with the EDC but will not pay an annual EDC membership
fee. Coalition partners are health-related national groups outside the
eating disorder field. Other coalition partners include the American
Public Health Association, the National Council of Women's Organizations,
the National Institute of Mental Health, and the Mental Health Liaison Group.
For information about the Suicide Prevention Action Network, visit
www.spanusa.org.
March 8, 2005 - The EDC Board of Directors unanimously approved the
membership application of A Chance to Heal, a new Philadelphia-based
nonprofit organization. The vote by the EDC board of directors raises the
coalition total to 26 member organizations.
A Chance to Heal was established in 2004 as donor-advised fund with The
National Philanthropic Trust to raise funds to support treatment, promote
understanding, and advocate on behalf of those afflicted with eating
disorders. The foundation operates the Pennsylvania-New Jersey-Delaware
region, and hopes to promote its model nationally. For more information
about A chance to Heal, visit their Web site at
www.achancetoheal.org.
SAMHSA Announces Grants to States, Encourages Consumer Involvement
Marc Lerro of the EDC (l.) and SAMHSA Administrator Charles Curie at
the Department of Health and Human Services.
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March 4 2005 - Eating disorder advocates in each state have a new reason
to work with the governor's office: the Mental Health Transformation State
Incentive Grant Program. The program, coordinated by the Substance Abuse and
Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), offers federal grant funding
to states for the purpose of improving mental health services. The grant
program is designed to involve a variety of departments and agencies in each
state, including a coordinating role with the governor's office.
"One of the important features of the program is that it requires
consumer involvement," says Marc Lerro of the EDC. "Eating disorder groups
and individuals could be involved in the process as each state prepares its
grant application. State chapters of the National Mental Health Association
and the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill will be a part of the process
in many states, and so should we."
For more information about the Mental Health Transformation State
Incentive Grant Program, visit SAMHSA online at
http://www.samhsa.gov/Matrix/MHST_TA.aspx
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