A woman from Milden, SK, becomes one of ten individuals in Canada to complete an advanced certification, specializing in eating disorders. Lauralyn Blackburn, program director at BridgePoint Center for Eating Disorders, recently earned the Certified Eating Disorder Specialist designation.

Blackburn has been in the mental health industry for the past 20 years, with 12 of them focusing directly on eating disorders, a topic she believes needs to be brought into the forefront.

“There are so many contributing factors when it comes to eating disorders, it is an all-encompassing disease and one that isn’t talked about a lot and is the culmination of thoughts, behaviours, actions, environmental stressors that go far beyond food and nutrition,” said Blackburn.

She stated she wanted to get the advanced certification not only to continue to stay up-to-date on a topic that is multi-faceted and ever evolving, but to also give confidence to those seeking help at BridgePoint.

“There are so many facets to eating disorders, there is obviously the physical side of things and the deterioration of the body if disordered eating continues, however, there is also a large mental and emotional component to the disease as well. Everything needs to be addressed and healed in order for the person to start to change, it’s not just simply a food problem,” shared Blackburn.

She explained that eating disorders thrive on secrecy, meaning that many who suffer from the disease are likely good at keeping it a secret. However, Blackburn said, when it is no longer kept a secret, when conversations are had, the power of the disorder diminishes and recovery is possible.

When some think of eating disorders, they may get a mental image of a frail woman in their mind, however, Blackburn said that stereotypical image sometimes couldn’t be farther from the truth.

“Women and men both suffer from the disease and body size is not a marker of whether someone is suffering from an eating disorder,” said Blackburn.

Withdrawing and isolation are main components of the disease and therefore may be one of the first signs.

The topic of eating disorders is vast with signs, symptoms and causes varying from person to person, however, Blackburn proclaimed the conversations need to start happening sooner rather than later.

She recommends to remove the language of good or bad, positive and negative when talking about topics such as food, clothing size, beauty and even emotions, stating “emotions are just emotions, some are more comfortable than others”.

With one-million Canadians suffering from eating disorders, Blackburn said she hopes more people will come forward and share their struggles and stories of recovery to inspire those who may be facing much of the same adversity.