overview
Eating disorders can be debilitating. One of the most difficult aspects of living with an eating disorder is communicating the experience to others, as it can be a hard thing for people—especially loved-ones—to understand.
Honest conversations can be powerful in building connection, empathy and healing. BUT, how do you prompt those conversations, and create supportive spaces to really ‘hear’ the experiences?
In this interactive and celebratory webinar—five years after the original launch was cancelled due to COVID—we explore creative ways to use Eating Disorders & Other Shadowy Companions to challenge the silence and shame surrounding eating disorders and gently suggest ways forward.
Guided by Danni McDougall, author of Eating Disorders, this webinar is designed to show you how to use the cards to support conversations in a range of settings and situations.
Danni created these cards from her own lived experience with a very clear intention—to help people with an eating disorder talk about what the experience feels like, and to be able to communicate this with family, friends, medical and mental health professional, dieticians, and anyone else who needs to hear and understand.
“I needed something that connected with my experience and gave me a tool to communicate and explain to others what I was feeling and experiencing. There wasn’t anything out there and, being artistic, I decided to have a go. Eating Disorders & other Shadowy Companions is that tool, created in the context of my experience of an eating disorder.”
Danni
what to expect
This FREE 1.5-hour webinar will explore:
- How to bring a strengths approach to conversations about eating disorders.
- Why there’s a need for a resource like this.
- Who the ‘shadowy’ companions are.
- The myths and misunderstandings surrounding eating disorders.
- How making assumptions can have deadly consequences.
- The characters in the Eating Disorders
- Using the resource in a preventative space—challenging body image stereotypes.
- Danni’s art practice and how it reflects her experience with an eating disorder.
You’ll have the opportunity to:
- Explore the cards and the characters.
- Discover a range of ways you can use the cards in different ways.
- Challenge your thinking about eating disorders.
- Get a first-hand perspective from Danni about what life is like with an eating disorder.
Ask questions of Danni about the cards and her lived experience.
resources used
suitable for
- People with any type of eating disorder, anxiety, depression and other shadowy companions.
- Counsellors, psychologists and social workers, medical, and mental health professionals.
- Parents, carers, families and friends of those struggling with an eating disorder
- Secondary teachers and other educators.
facilitator
Danni McDougall – Guest Facilitator
Danni McDougall is an Accredited Mental Health Social Worker, Art Therapist and Artist specialising in mental health and eating disorders with children, adolescents and adults. Danni provides individual mental health and eating disorder counselling and facilitates workshops for health professionals exploring eating disorders through both a lived experience and clinical lens.
Danni is the lead author of Eating Disorders and Other Shadowy Companions Cards, which she uses in both therapy and workshops to support deeper understanding and connection. She is passionate about supporting people to improve their mental health, well-being and to achieve their goals.
Need more info
Get in touch to ask a question or explore delivery options. We offer custom workshops and can guide you toward the best training format for your goals.