Chat support helps girls with eating disorders

Eating disorders are a common problem among teenagers, who often find it difficult to talk about it with their family and friends. The Eating Disorder Zone in Stockholm is offering support through chat, which has proven very successful. Childhood has been supporting the project since 2008.

Karin, an IT-consultant in Stockholm, is one of 30 volunteers who are answering questions and give support to girls worried about food, their weight, and their looks. The Eating Disorder Zone’s chat is open five evenings a week, and girls asking questions can be entirely anonymous.

– The most common question is girls wondering whether they weigh too much. Some have almost recovered from their eating disorder after treatment, but feel worried they will fall back into the illness, says Karin.

The Eating Disorder Zone started about two years ago, but was able to upscale their work when Childhood started supporting the project during fall 2008. The funding from Childhood made it possible to train 20 new volunteers, and extend the chat hours to 15 hours a week. Recently, the authorities in Stockholm also granted support which makes it possible to develop further.

– The Eating Disorder Zone is an excellent example of how Childhood can give support at an early stage to enable a project to develop their ideas, and thereafter attract funding from authorities, says Anna De Geer, Project Director at Childhood.
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The eating disorder zone in Sweden 

Project:
Support over the internet to young girls with eating disorders.

Location:
Stockholm, Sweden

Target group:
Girls and young women between the age of 12-25

Co-operation with Childhood:
Since 2008

The support goes to:
Salary for a project manager, training for volunteers, and printing costs for information material.