15 Years of Project HEAL from Co-Founder Kristina Saffran
On May 7th, 2023, Project HEAL will celebrate our 15th birthday, and on May 8th, I will celebrate my 31st birthday. I’m feeling particularly grateful this year as I reflect on my own recovery, which has brought me the greatest gift of all: the ability to welcome my first child this summer.
I was diagnosed with anorexia at 10 and struggled throughout my adolescence, spending my entire freshman year of high school in and out of hospitals. Doctors told my family that I was a “chronic case,” and that recovery from an eating disorder wasn’t possible. The idea of living a fulfilling life, free of an eating disorder, and of bringing another human into this world, was unimaginable. Eating disorders are the second deadliest mental illness, and it’s not an exaggeration to say that I came close to death.
I was fortunate for so many reasons. I fit the stereotype of what an eating disorder looks like, so I got help far more quickly than most. I had parents who had the education and resources to devour the research and get me access to the leading evidence-based treatment for adolescents: family based treatment. And my family had the means to pay for the upwards of $200k in treatment costs not covered by insurance. I was lucky, and I got better. But it’s unconscionable that I’m the exception rather than the rule.
I started Project HEAL at 15 because it’s unacceptable that 80% of the 30 million Americans with eating disorders can’t access treatment.
It’s unacceptable that eating disorders continue to be the second deadliest mental illness - with one person dying every 52 minutes - when we have treatments that work. It’s unacceptable that I’ve lost so many friends to this illness and know so many parents who’ve buried their children.
I’m so proud of the work that Project HEAL has done over the last 15 years to transform the eating disorder field and the lives that we have saved. In the last year alone, we’ve provided direct services including case management and insurance navigation to 1249 individuals, connected 756 individuals with treatment, signed on 212 in kind treatment partners and delivered over $3.5M in cash value of services. We’ve also published the first comprehensive Barriers to Treatment Access study to quantify the myriad barriers that folks from different backgrounds face, and are beginning to drive policy changes based on this data.
As many of you know, 3 years ago I started Equip to work upstream with insurance companies and to provide access to comprehensive, evidence-based eating disorder treatment. I’m so proud of the work we’ve done - with 115M Americans currently able to utilize their in-network benefits to access quality eating disorder treatment. And I’m well aware that systems change takes time, and while we work on ensuring coverage for all 336+ million Americans, millions of folks are still falling through the cracks everyday.
In honor of my birthday and Project HEAL’s birthday, I hope you will consider donating to help us ensure that many more individuals have access to life-saving care that will enable them to recover and thrive. I’m personally matching up to $15k in donations, and every dollar goes towards saving a life.
