Let’s “Color Outside the Lines” for Pride!
In honor of National Pride Month (June), Project HEAL is expanding the eating disorder conversation to include more LGBTQ+ voices. The week of June 27, we will be hosting different high-impact conversations each day on Instagram Live, amplifying a variety of LGBTQ+ stories aimed at raising awareness and creating a safe space for both learning and healing.
Our theme this year is “Coloring Outside the Lines,” a testament to our community’s commitment to sharing narratives that illuminate experiences of those who are often forgotten by the eating disorder field. Our gracious speakers will offer up LGBTQ+ perspectives that have always existed but have been infrequently elevated - and often ignored - historically.
Research is clear that LGBTQ+ people experience unique stressors and challenges that lead to a greater risk of developing an eating disorder. And yet, LGBTQ+ people often describe experiences of stigma and discrimination in their pursuit of eating disorder treatment.
We believe that raising awareness and creating safe spaces to talk about the intersections between eating disorders and LGBTQ+ experiences is essential to breaking down systemic barriers to healing.
At the end of this blog, we will be sharing messages from our sponsors about their commitments to the LGBTQ+ community. Thank you to our sponsors: Eating Recovery Center, The Emily Program, Reasons Eating Disorder Center, The Renfrew Center, and Veritas Collaborative.
Join us for events all week!
Monday, June 27th: Loving Outside the Lines
7pm ET: Vanessa Rochelle Lewis - Fostering Positive Queer Relationships within Ourselves & with Others
Tuesday, June 28th: Speaking Outside the Lines
5pm ET: Ragen Chastain - Talking Back to Fatphobia
Interviewed by Colleen Werner
7pm ET: Rachel Wiley - A Poetry Performance on Recovery & Fat Positivity
Wednesday, June 29th: Living Outside the Lines
6pm ET: Da'Shaun Harrison - The Invisible Black Fat - Medical Fatphobia & Disordered Eating
Thursday, June 30th: Healing Outside the Lines
4pm ET: Aydian Dowling - Heartbreak to Healing: Recovery in a Trans-Masculine Body
Interviewed by M Reim Ifrach
7pm ET: Dalia Kinsey - Decolonizing Wellness: Healing in the LGBTQIA+ and BIPOC Community - Zoom Webinar
Interviewed by Ben O’Keefe
Friday, July 1st: Dressing Outside the Lines
12pm ET: Eric Dorsa - Healing through Drag & Dressing Outside the Lines
4pm ET: Stoney Michelli Love - Creating Safe Spaces in Fashion for All Bodies
Saturday, July 2nd: Nourishing Outside the Lines
12pm ET: Hannah Coakley - Being in and With Your Body: Nourishment in Practice for Queer Folks
Thank You to Our Sponsors
At Eating Recovery Center and Pathlight Mood & Anxiety Center, our teams are deeply committed to creating safe, supportive, and affirming centers for our LGBTQ+ patients. We operate under the belief that every patient is unique, with individual needs and experiences. Therefore, we ensure all of our clinicians and staff are both compassionately and professionally trained to honor and support our patients wherever they are on their journey with sexuality, identity, and mental health.
Reasons is dedicated to inclusion and belonging in our treatment environment and the workplace for our LGBTQIA+ clients and staff. We value, celebrate, and affirm that our staff and clients are people with intersectional identities. We commit to amplify the voices of those with lived experiences, work to remove barriers and fight for equality. We will educate ourselves so we may be responsive to the needs of our clients and strengthen our allyship. We stand in solidarity and believe all people have the right to receive treatment and recover from eating disorders in an environment of safe and affirming care.
Veritas Collaborative’s mission is to drive the standard of care in eating disorders treatment so that all individuals with eating disorders and their families have access to best-practice care. We provide all levels of care to children, adolescents, and adults in a gender-diverse and inclusive environment. At Veritas, we treat the whole person, not just the eating disorder. With inclusive programming, affirming protocols, and culturally competent and responsive staff, we are committed to ensuring that all LGBTQIA+ individuals with eating disorders feel welcome, comfortable, and safe in our care.
The Emily Program’s mission is to provide exceptional, individualized care leading to recovery from eating disorders. With programs that span the full continuum of care, we are a safe place of healing for people of all ages and genders affected by eating disorders of all types. Our personalized treatment approach is tailored to each individual’s needs. To ensure that LGBTQIA+ individuals with eating disorders receive the care and affirmation they need, our services are culturally competent, inclusive, and responsive to the LGBTQIA+ community’s diverse identities and experiences.
The Renfrew Center is dedicated to diversity, equity, and inclusion and has a task force charged with steering these efforts. This task force is championed by many members of Renfrew's executive team and has empowered a subgroup devoted to actively validating, supporting, and celebrating our LGBTQ+ patients and staff members. We have taken numerous steps to foster an affirming environment and improve our accessibility to the LGBTQ+ community, including weekly virtual Sexual & Gender Equality (SAGE) support groups, inclusive psychotherapy materials, gender neutral bathrooms, domestic partner benefits, and ongoing staff training and supervision, to name a few. Most importantly, we understand that being an inclusive, safe space for the LGBTQ+ community requires unceasing effort, self-reflection, listening, and learning, and we are fully committed to this work.
