Eating Disorders Awareness Week is taking place this week, 1st-7th March 2021.

What thoughts and feelings come to mind when you think about food and eating?

We all need food; without it we won’t last long; but the act of eating is about far more than providing our bodies with the nutrition we need to stay healthy. Life’s milestones are celebrated with food; we all enjoy cakes for birthdays and weddings! Think about those dinner dates with friends or partners; as humans we love to share food when we get together. Lots of us have missed this simple pleasure over the last year.

But for many people food and eating is complicated and stressful. Around 1.6 million people in the UK struggle with an eating disorder.

We tend to think of it as more of a problem that affects women, but 11% of that 1.6 million are male. It can affect us at any age although it is more common in young people between the ages of 14-25.

For those of us who struggle with an eating disorder it can be very isolating and frightening. It’s often a secret illness that sufferers go to great attempts to hide until there are obvious physical signs. Even then, the sufferer can struggle to acknowledge there is a problem.

So, what can we do if we have someone close to us who we think might have an eating disorder? It can feel stressful, frustrating and bewildering. We can feel very helpless.

The good news is that there is help and support out there for sufferers and their loved ones.

Beat is a leading eating disorder charity that provides education, support and help. They have a telephone helpline open 7 days a week. You can find their website at: www.beateatingdisorders.org.uk and the helpline number is 0808 801 0677.

If you have an eating disorder, talking through what is happening for you with a counsellor can give you a safe and confidential space to help you work out a way forward and start on the path to recovery.

If you are supporting someone with an eating disorder, counselling can give you a space to talk and gain strength.

Sufferer or supporter; you are not alone.

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Our building is currently closed for face-to-face counselling until further notice. But we are still offering sessions over the phone or through Zoom to the people of Harrogate and the surrounding area. Most of our clients live within a radius of up to 20 miles. However, if you live outside this area (but still in the UK) and do not have access to a local counselling service, you can still contact us through the online form as we do have capacity to see a limited number of adults from outside the area. If you would like to refer yourself for counselling, please use the link at the bottom of our Therapy page.

This year’s theme for Children’s Mental Health week (1st-7th Feb) is ‘Express Yourself’.

Place2Be launched Children’s Mental Health Week in 2015 to shine a spotlight on the importance of children and young people’s mental health. To help us think further about 2021’s theme, ‘Express Yourself’, we spoke to one our children’s counsellors to find out more about how children can learn to express their thoughts and feelings, particularly through art.

Lots of us will have heard the term ‘Art Therapy’, but what actually is it? And how can it help?

Art therapy works at an unconscious level, tapping into feelings and emotions that are otherwise difficult to put into words. An emotion that is felt in the body can evoke a colour or a shape which can be given form on the page. Using these colours and shapes, an image is formed, and, together with the art therapist, this can be examined, (interrogated if you like), and in the process, the thoughts and feelings can then be put into words. Anyone who has overwhelming feelings that they are finding difficult to understand or get under control may find that art therapy provides a way in to exploring those feelings and ultimately making sense of them.

Can you give us an example of an activity that can help children express their feelings?

The first thing that comes to mind is using colours to help a child to express their mood. The great advantage of using colours for this is that there doesn’t actually have to be an explanation of what the colour means- each colour can have a unique meaning for each person ! A child could say I feel yellow today, which could mean they feel sunny, safe, jealous or something else! Only they can say what it means for them.

The colour could be just the start of a conversation. “Oh, I see you have used yellow ….(substitute for the appropriate colour”). I wonder what yellow might mean? …..What things do you know that are yellow? …..Do you like yellow? …..What comes to mind when you think about yellow?….”

Any of these discussion starter sentences can be used to draw out more information or simply to enter into a curious mindset to engage with your child e.g. ‘I wonder what colour/shape you might use next? Simply choosing and using colours with a child can be a shared activity that brings you closer together. It is possible to work together on a level playing-field in which there doesn’t have to be an expert. And then you have something which you have created together at the end of it too!

In what other ways can creative activities be beneficial for a child’s mental health?

When a child has an overactive mind or suffers from anxiety, which might intrude on enjoyment or stops the child from being playful, the use of a simple colouring sheet can help to focus the mind, and become an absorbing activity, taking away other feelings of responsibility. This can in turn help intrusive thoughts to recede and reduce decision making to that of what colour or shape to be used next. It can be very freeing, calming and relaxing, suspending anxiety for a few precious minutes.

You can find more Children’s Mental Health resources here:

• www.annafreud.org/schools-and-colleges/resources/advice-for-parents-and-carers-talking-mental-health-with-young-people-at-primary-school/
• www.childrensmentalhealthweek.org.uk/

 

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Interview with Shirley Hooper BEd(Hons), MA(Art Therapy)
HCPC Registered Art Therapist