2008 Woodie Awards
Students screened for eating disorders
Rachelle Marshall
Issue date: 3/26/07 Section: Inside WCC
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Do you know someone who obsesses about his or her weight or tries diet after diet? Do you ever avoid eating when you're hungry, or go without eating due to stress?
Maybe you know someone who you think is too thin, or people have made comments about your own weight? Eating disorders have a range of severity, and at the college level many more of us are affected by them than we like to believe.
On Monday, March 12, a free and confidential eating disorder screening was held on WCC's campus in the Student Center Building. During this time students and staff had the opportunity to speak with a mental health professional, take a survey to see if they were at risk of developing an eating disorder, and to pick up information about the different disorders. Shivaun Nafsu, a therapist who works part-time in the Counseling and Career Planning center in the SC Building, organized the screening.
This was the first eating disorder screening on our campus, but in the past there have been annual screenings for depression and anxiety. The event was inspired by a group called Screening for Mental Health, which has a program called College Response. According to mentalhealthscreening.org, College Response's goal it is to, "Raise campus awareness about mental health disorders that an increased number of college students experience each year."
Nafsu added that these screenings are also used as outreach to let people know that there are resources and trained professionals on campus that are available to students.
An eating disorder is defined as an illness during which one continues to go to extreme measures to lose weight even while their health deteriorates.
There are three main types of disorders. Bulimia and binge eating are related in that both involve eating to the point where one feels out of control and beyond full, also known as compulsive eating. The difference is that bulimia takes the condition one step further by bingeing, or throwing up afterwards.
Maybe you know someone who you think is too thin, or people have made comments about your own weight? Eating disorders have a range of severity, and at the college level many more of us are affected by them than we like to believe.
On Monday, March 12, a free and confidential eating disorder screening was held on WCC's campus in the Student Center Building. During this time students and staff had the opportunity to speak with a mental health professional, take a survey to see if they were at risk of developing an eating disorder, and to pick up information about the different disorders. Shivaun Nafsu, a therapist who works part-time in the Counseling and Career Planning center in the SC Building, organized the screening.
This was the first eating disorder screening on our campus, but in the past there have been annual screenings for depression and anxiety. The event was inspired by a group called Screening for Mental Health, which has a program called College Response. According to mentalhealthscreening.org, College Response's goal it is to, "Raise campus awareness about mental health disorders that an increased number of college students experience each year."
Nafsu added that these screenings are also used as outreach to let people know that there are resources and trained professionals on campus that are available to students.
An eating disorder is defined as an illness during which one continues to go to extreme measures to lose weight even while their health deteriorates.
There are three main types of disorders. Bulimia and binge eating are related in that both involve eating to the point where one feels out of control and beyond full, also known as compulsive eating. The difference is that bulimia takes the condition one step further by bingeing, or throwing up afterwards.
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