Second Annual HEAL Week

By OSCAR BURNES ‘21

Two weeks ago, Milton Academy held its second-ever HEAL Week. Project HEAL is an organization which provides support to people with eating disorders by  raising awareness for them and providing them with a supportive community as well as insurance to pay for treatment they could not otherwise afford. Milton’s HEAL Week started last year when Eva Westphal ‘18 brought it to Milton after she did a summer internship with Project HEAL. Last year’s HEAL week accomplished its goal of raising awareness for eating disorders on the Milton campus. This year, students at Milton worked to create an equally successful event; they held assemblies and planned all-school activities to raise awareness. Additionally, in the spring, the students involved with HEAL Week—Erinma Onyewuchi ‘20, Shalimar Pujols ‘20, and Tamara Cowham ‘19—want to have a more organized week with events, fundraisers, and mental health checkups.

Eating disorders are a widespread mental health issue. According to ANAD (National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders), 30 million people in the U.S. suffer each year from an eating disorder. Data from ANAD also shows that eating disorders have the highest mortality rate out of any mental illness.Without organizations like Project HEAL to raise money and spread awareness, this statistic could keep getting worse and worse.

According to Erinma, this year, “[HEAL Week] is really about letting people know that we’re here for them.” While not as many all-school activities were planned this year, the students involved wanted to make sure that everyone who might be struggling with an eating disorder knows that there are people out there who can help them.

Erimna explains that the worst part of eating disorders is that people can feel like they are going through it alone and no one feels their pain. “Our goal for [HEAL] week is to make sure no one feels like they are going through [an eating disorder] alone,” she stated. If you are struggling by yourself, reach out! Reach out to a friend, a trusted adult, the health center, or even Project HEAL. That is the first step to recovery. Erinma notes, “reaching out can be one of the scariest, but also most important things in this process.” While the act of reaching out and admitting you have a mental health disorder seems daunting, it is the single most important thing in the process to getting better. After doing that, you can start recovery.

When dealing with an eating disorder, “setting small goals is one of the most important things,” says Erinma—if your goals get too big, it becomes harder to motivate yourself to accomplish them. If you are a student who is not affected by an eating disorder, but is still looking to help out with this cause, there are some ways to help, like donating to Project HEAL. Most importantly, letting everyone struggling know that you are there for them and that there are ways to deal with what they are going through can go a long way.•