Hope Virgo is an MQ Ambassador, author and mental health campaigner. In this blog, written for MQ, Hope explains why she started the #DumpTheScales campaign.
What do you think of when you think about eating disorders?
I wonder if it is that image of a white emaciated teenage girl that immediately springs to mind or whether you think slightly outside of the box of other images of teens, or someone not eating…
Eating disorders are one of the most stigmatised illnesses today, they are often misunderstood on a variety of different levels. People still think they are a choice, a diet gone wrong or something a person simply grows out of. But eating disorders are serious complex mental illnesses which need specialist treatment to help those individuals recover, and to help those around them.
So many people think that eating disorders are about food, exercise, about looking a certain way but they are so much more than that and as a society we need to stop putting eating disorders into a box as this not only stops people getting support, but also stops people getting to a place of total recovery.
For me, the eating disorder for so long helped to numb a lot of emotion all those things I didn’t want to feel; there were arguments and I would go to those behaviours, I felt sad and I would allow the eating disorder to dictate my behavioural response. It was the stigma around eating disorders and the frustration at the lack of understanding that fuelled my passion to want to make a change (sounds wishy washy eh!) but seeing the burning injustices that so many are facing is wrong on so many levels.
The #DumpTheScales campaign started with one mission to end the injustices for people affected by eating disorders and to make sure that every single person could get the right treatment and support. Before the COVID19 pandemic we had huge numbers of people affected by eating disorders, but new data has continued to shine a light on the impact on the system right now. It is clear that the pandemic has had a huge impact on the mental health of our nation and it’s hit eating disorder sufferers particularly hard, but we cannot ignore that there was a hidden epidemic of eating disorders prior to this. It is this health crisis that was happening before the pandemic that has now reached total catastrophe with the numbers of people needing support increasing, and an overrun, broken system falling to its knees. People are being turned away from treatment, there are no beds available, a depleting workforce and there is no sign of this ending.
#DumpTheScales is all about making sure that people know that eating disorders come in all shapes and sizes and about making sure that the right funding is there.
On Friday 24 September, I released a report which took #DumpTheScales to the next level, this is part of the wider work of the Hearts Minds and Genes coalition, a group I set up a few months ago mid COVID19.
The recent report was co-authored with EY, Dr Agnes Ayton and Professor Gerome Breen to calculate the cost of eating disorders on the UK.
This report is just another stark reminder of what is going on across the UK right now where every single day people are being left in limbo without any support. We are calling on the Government to develop a national strategy to tackle eating disorders so that everyone affected gets access to a mutli-disciplinary team to help them survive what we know is the most lethal of all mental health conditions.
Among the recommendations is a call for a UK-wide eating disorder strategy with a clear timeline for implementation, a screening programme, increased research, awareness raising and training for healthcare professionals.
There is so much still to do when it comes to tackling eating disorders across the UK, and we are at a pivotal moment to keep this momentum going.
There are things that you can do to join this fight to end the injustices so many face:
- Sign the #DumpTheScales petition and share it all over your social media
- Write to your Local MP sharing your concerns about the state of eating disorders across the UK
- Call out the myths around eating disorders!
If you, or someone you know, is affected by an eating disorder then please reach out for advice and support from one of the following organisations:
