Eating Disorders Workshop
2020 Dreams Eating Disorders workshops help to promote understanding of eating disorders while helping young people to spot the signs and access appropriate help – for themselves or others.
Young people are particularly vulnerable to eating disorders, particularly anorexia nervosa and bulimia. The causes of eating disorders are complex and are likely to involve a combination of social pressures, stress, genetics, biology and specific ‘trigger’ events but all eating disorders are harmful to the physical and psychological health of sufferers and impact on friendships, family relationships and schoolwork.
In 2015, 725,000 people in the UK were diagnosed with an eating disorder and 2020 Dreams are determined to help schools and other young people’s institutions to drive those numbers down. Anorexia nervosa, characterised by the excessive desire to be thin, tends to begin around the age of 16 while bulimia, where sufferers binge eat and then purge their bodies, usually starts around the age of 18.

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By raising awareness in schools, young people can help to protect themselves against developing eating disorders later on.
Introducing 2020 Dreams ‘Eating Disorders’ Workshops
2020 Dreams Eating Disorders workshops provide much more than a theoretical explanation of the conditions. Carefully staged role-play scenarios enable young people to engage more fully with the issues involved and think about how they would spot the signs of an eating disorder in others and what they might do to help themselves or a friend who was suffering.
Some of the signs that students will be made aware of include:
- Discomfort of eating in public places (e.g. never eating in the school hall at lunchtime).
- Visiting pro-anorexia websites.
- Excessive interest in weight and body shape (including regular weighing and looking in the mirror).
- Constant complaining about being overweight when thin or of normal weight.
During the role play sessions, young people will be encouraged to think about ways in which they can approach and support friends who are showing signs of an eating issue.
2020 Dreams employ sensitive and experienced facilitators who will challenge students to think but never make them feel uncomfortable. Should any young person reveal concerns about their own eating this will be handled with the utmost sensitivity.
Encouraging Healthy Debate about Unhealthy Eating
A 2020 Dreams Eating Disorders workshop will also include a student-centred open discussion forum whereby young people will be encouraged to share their opinions, ideas and, where appropriate, their experiences regarding eating issues.
Body image is a huge issue for children and teenagers and students will have the chance to vocalise their own thoughts about the social pressures to be a certain weight or shape and what can be done to maintain self-esteem.
Young people will also be introduced the many sources of help and support for eating disorders including friends, family, different types of counselling, support groups and charities/helplines such as Beat and the National Centre for Eating Disorders.
Why Choose a 2020 Dreams PSHE Workshop?
As the chosen PSHE workshop provider for schools and young people’s institutions throughout the UK, you can be sure that our programme meets the quality and safety standards demanded by education providers. Our collaborative workshops are designed to achieve maximum engagement with students so that information is retained over a longer period of time than a standard lesson.
All of our facilitators are specialists in their field and have been DBS-checked. Our workshops are thoroughly risk-assessed, all necessary insurances are in place and we are able to customise course content to meet the needs of individual schools or institutions.
For more information or advice, email hello@2020Dreams.org.uk or call us free on 0800 471 4983.
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