A staggering ninety-five percent of young Australians aged between 12 and 18 are experiencing some level of body image concern, and more than half are unhappy with how their body looks. That’s according to Butterfly’s second Body Kind Youth Survey.

With body dissatisfaction playing a significant role in the development of eating disorders, it’s not surprising that this data makes sense in relation to Butterfly’s latest Paying the Price Report, which shows 27% of individuals with an eating disorder are aged 19 or younger.

It's quite clear there’s a problem, but what can we do? How can parents and caregivers reduce risk and support the individual young people they love?

In this episode of Let’s Talk, we invited our audience to submit their direct questions. Then we asked Helen Bird, Butterfly’s Education Manager and Lead on the Survey, to respond.

While acknowledging that it’s not always easy talking to teens, Helen delivered.

“We live in a society where body size matters,” she says. “And people are picking up very strong messages from a young age. It’s in the media, in books, in the toys that they're playing with.”

The trick is to focus on health-promoting behaviours, that is, ensuring that our teens are eating nutritious food, they’re moving regularly, they're getting enough sleep, they're practising self-care strategies, and that they have positive coping mechanisms. These are the things that contribute to our teens’ health and happiness; it's not necessarily about their shape and weight.

And if you are noticing signs of a problem? “Lean in with compassion and curiosity,” says Helen. “Talk about the things that you've noticed, but in terms of your young person’s feelings and moods. Again, try not to focus on weight or eating behaviours because that’s quite likely to be met with resistance.”

Tune in for more of Helen’s wise and empowering tips, even if you might have body image issues yourself. Working to heal your own relationship with your body is not only good for you but also for the people around you, including your teens.

Find out more about Butterfly's Body Kind Youth Survey Findings

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The concept of including peers in your treatment team, that is people who have recovered from a similar health experience to yours, is not new in healthcare.

Alcoholics Anonymous, for example, has successfully engaged the support of recovered people—called sponsors—since the 1930s.

However, until recently, the model of care has remained quite uncommon. The good news it's experiencing a much welcomed revival, with peer support widely being seen as vital to an eating disorder recovery team.

“Peer work is a new space compared to clinical support, but it is incredibly powerful,” says Reece Georgas, a peer worker in Butterfly’s new Next Steps program that offers support to people discharging from hospital care. “I think it's a game changer.”

Reece turned years of difficult mental health challenges and an eating disorder into something of value for others on a path he knows well.

“Out of all the hospitals I've been in, the one where the therapist had a lived experience and where the groups were peer led – this is what I found to be most beneficial.”

Listen to Reece’s honest description of his own experience and how peer workers are skilled to use their mental health story intentionally to support others safely.

Find out more about Butterfly's Next Steps Program

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Improvements in quality of life and reduced healthcare costs are just some of the benefits uncovered in a Monash University study of Australia’s only residential treatment program for people struggling with eating disorders.

Wandi Nerida, based on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast, provides a unique model of holistic, person-centred, inpatient care. As the rate of eating disorders continues to rise, so does the need for improved treatment approaches.

“We're trying to step away from that more clinical hospital feel, where everything's super sterile,” says Dr Carly Roukos, Want Nerida’s Clinical Lead. “As much as possible, we try to have it feel less like a hospital and much more like a home.”

In this episode of Let’s Talk, Dr. Roukos shares how the pioneering model of care at Wandi Nerida was first developed, and what life’s like for participants who receive treatment there.

Dr Roukos has been with the centre from its inception in 2020 and has played an important role in developing the successful clinical program.

“The transition from treatment to home can be really difficult,” she says. “So, we provide opportunities to practice real-life things in real-life settings to help with that transition.”

This piece is key post discharge from hospital: How do we maintain our health and recovery in regular life? Dr Roukos addresses this issue and more.

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Please note: This episode was briefly published prematurely on the 4th of April. If you listened to it then we apologise for the repeat.

If you’ve ever wondered what the public in Australia knows and thinks about eating disorders and body image issues, this episode will put all your questions to rest. We unpack the latest findings from Butterfly's 2024 Community Insights Report with our Head of Knowledge, Research and Policy who shares her perspective on some enlightening results.

The report focuses on community awareness, perceptions, and attitudes, and while Dr. Squire shares the key findings, she also compares these with a previous report published four years ago. What are the implications of community understanding (and misunderstanding) for those with lived experience and the sector at large? Has anything changed?

One key part of the study reveals some dangerous myths and stereotypes surrounding eating disorders, and Dr Squire examines how various misconceptions impact those who might need support.

“We need to understand that eating disorder stigma is complex, important, and under researched. And we can't identify signs and symptoms or support people to seek help without understanding how public stigma and, consequently, self-stigma works for people because stigma around eating disorders is different to other types of mental health stigma.”

Listen to Dr. Squire explain it all – you'll be surprised by what we found out.

FIND OUT MORE ABOUT THE 2024 COMMUNITY INSIGHTS REPORT

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We often talk about the psycho-emotional costs of eating disorders for those living with them; but up to this point, we haven’t learned much about the costs to society.

Now we know. Since 2012, there’s been a shocking 36 per cent increase in the economic burden of eating disorders to the people of Australia. In the meantime, 1.1 million people in this country are currently living with an eating disorder – that's an increase of 21% in only ten years.

These and many other disturbing metrics are in the new Paying the Price Report, produced by Deloitte Access Economics and Butterfly. “In terms of economic cost, we're talking sixty-seven billion dollars per year,” says Jim Hungerford, Butterfly’s CEO. “Yet, in comparison, the amount of money that is spent to prevent eating disorders or to support people who do develop them is actually minuscule.”

Chantel, invested in their recovery, can relate - including that their condition could have been prevented. “The cost of my eating disorder takes up about 20% of my annual income," they say. “And this is even with Medicare rebates and private health insurance. To access a therapist for fortnightly sessions, a dietitian for quarterly sessions and a psychiatrist for quarterly sessions to manage my medication, costs me up to $11,738.97 cents every year.”

Chantel isn’t alone, and action is needed to change the paradigm, not only for the community but for the sake of taxpayers too. Listen to Butterfly’s CEO, Jim Hungerford, Deloitte’s reporting lead, Simone Cheung, and people with living experience unpack the report, and what it means for the future of prevention and care.

Find out more about Paying the Price Report

Find out more about the Parliamentary Friends Group

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We should let you know that this episode discusses sexual abuse and comes with a trigger warning. It's about trauma, which is an individual’s response to an event or series of events that have deeply disturbed their sense of safety, security, or well-being.

While research shows a clear intersection between trauma or post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and eating disorders, too few health professionals include trauma therapy in their practice. Why? They’re concerned that by opening the “trauma box” there’ll be a worsening of symptoms or relapse.

The problem is that this assumption is wrong. Not all people with eating disorders have indeed experienced trauma, but clinicians need to be trauma-informed to support their clients in understanding and addressing what they may have lived through. This is because appropriate discovery with appropriate care will have a positive impact on their eating behaviours.

Listen to leading clinicians and people with lived experience of both trauma and eating disorders discuss this difficult but important topic, with useful insights on what can help.

Find out more about dr Mandy Goldstein

Find out more about Archana Waller

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This month we’re talking to a distinguished social epidemiologist and behavioural scientist at the Harvard Chan School of Public Health. Her name is Professor Bryn Austin, and her research focuses on public health approaches to eating disorders.

Our conversation begins with an overview of the web that connects consumer culture, corporate exploitation, and the pervasive influence of diet culture on body image. “We’ve known for decades how harmful the consumer marketplace can be with diet culture, the diet industry, diet pills and supplements, and all the negative body image pressures that come through media, social media and advertising,” she says. “People have been writing about this for decades.”

The problem is we still need to more deeply understand–and do more to address—what corporations are doing to exploit diet culture for profit.

Don’t miss Professor Austin’s wise perspective. Not only does she share her thoughts on the complexities of the body image and eating disorders landscape, but she also discusses the transformative potential of strategic initiatives, including what her Harvard-based laboratory did to protect young Americans from predatory diet-industry profiteering.

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We’re talking about the higher-weight paradox, particularly when well-meaning health professionals can trigger an eating disorder or make one worse.

Not everything health issue is solved by losing weight, yet that is what people in larger bodies too often hear. Worse, numerous people living with eating disorders remain undiagnosed and untreated because the stereotype of an eating disorder doesn’t fit their reality.

Melissa says she had an eating disorder from age 12 but wasn’t diagnosed until age 22. In fact, her unhelpful behaviours were encouraged: “All that my doctors cared about was for me to lose weight,” she says.

Professor Leah Brennan of Latrobe University reports that eating disorders occur across the size spectrum and the prevalence of eating disorders is actually greater in people in larger bodies.

One problem, says GP Samantha Wyton, is that people in non-typical body shapes and sizes are too often made to feel unsafe and unwelcome in medical settings.

“We’re taught that obesity is a disease in medical training,” she says. But it’s a lot more complex than that. “We need to embrace the full spectrum of shapes and sizes, because that’s the reality of the human condition.”

Dietitian Dr Fiona Willer, agrees. “The effect of weight centrism, particularly in primary care, is that people will delay going to the doctor until they can’t avoid it,” she says. And that effectively creates an issue for all their health outcomes, not only body image and eating disorders.

Listen to Sam unpack this issue with our group of concerned and articulate guests, including their thoughts about how we can and must change.

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