It’s Eating Disorders Awareness Week (EDAW) 2023!

On this episode, BANA Health Educator, Stephani Fenkanyn chats with Canadian mental health blogger, writer and speaker Chloë Grande.

Chloë Grande (she/her) is a communications specialist turned eating disorder recovery writer, speaker, and blogger. After an anorexia relapse at the start of the pandemic, she began blogging about her eating disorder recovery to help create a sense of community for other eating disorder survivors. The blog has since grown into a full-time business where she works alongside leading mental health organizations and facilitates body image workshops at universities and colleges across Ontario. Learn more about her work online: www.chloegrande.com. Follow along at: @ChloSheGrows on Instagram and Twitter.

In this podcast, Stephani and Chloë discuss this year’s EDAW theme, Transforming Asks to Action. Chloe shares about her own passed lived experience living with an eating disorder, as well as being a young athlete and being in sport culture. We get into contributing factors that Chloe can now look back on and understands how they may have impacted the development of her eating disorder. She discusses her passion for working with post-secondary institutions and the importance of bringing more services to this population. Chloë shares about accessing support and what treatment looked like for her. We discuss healthy coping mechanisms and how it is normal to have bad body image days. We also touch on future plans for Chloë’s business and what keeps her inspired to continue to do this work.

On this episode, BANA Health Educator, Stephani Fenkanyn chats with Registered Social Worker, Juliana Simon (she/her), from Trans Wellness Ontario (TWO). TWO is a community mental health organization within Windsor-Essex whose mission is to enhance and sustain the health and wellness of Transgender, Genderqueer, Two-Spirit, Non-Binary, Queer and Questioning communities and their families.

Juliana is a social worker at TWO and conducts assessments for new clients, facilitates health outreach and provides individual counselling for members of the Trans* community and their partners. In her studies at the University of Windsor, she completed a Bachelors of Social Work and Women’s and Gender Studies. Juliana notes that this is where her love for activism and advocacy flourished. As a member of the community, Juliana is extremely proud of the work she does at TWO and is happy she can now offer services that were not accessible to herself or to other loved ones who have experienced similar challenges.

In this episode, Stephani and Juliana discuss Juliana’s role, as well as the services offered at TWO and which are most heavily utilized by their clients. They get into the type of education TWO provides to other organizations and the importance of a safe space in health care for members of the Trans* community. Stephani asks Juliana to describe some of the terminology that is used and why it is important to be considerate of one’s pronouns. They also touch upon the unique considerations that pertain to the Trans* community as it relates to body image issues.

To learn more about how you get involved and to educate yourself, please visit www.transwellness.ca. Follow Trans Wellness on social media at: @transwellnessontario

BANA Health Educator, Stephani Fenkanyn chats with Registered Dietitian, Nicole Boulanger. Stephani and Nicole are also joined Erin McMahon, who is a University of Michigan School of Public Health student who is currently completing her internship at BANA.

Nicole, Erin and Stephani discuss what working as a dietitian in the field of eating disorders is like, how Nicole found herself in this area of work, working with a Health at Every Size approach, what is intuitive eating and how to define health more broadly. We also discuss diet culture, comments about food and body and how health behaviours go a long way in supporting your overall health.

To learn more about eating disorder treatment in the Windsor Essex Community, please visit www.bana.ca. You can also call our intake line: 1-855-969-5530 to be connected with our intake specialist and to ask further questions. Visit us on social media: @banawindsor.

BANA Health Educator, Stephani Fenkanyn connects with psychology professor, TEDx speaker, and former school psychologist, Dr. Andrea Dinardo.

Dr. Andrea Dinardo is a psychology professor, TEDx speaker, and former school psychologist who applies positive psychology to facilitate personal growth and transformational change. Her psychology blog and TEDx Talk (both called Thriving Under Pressure) were created in response to rising levels of student stress and anxiety. The purpose of both is to help individuals and groups develop coping skills in interactive, educational, and uplifting ways.

Dr. Dinardo received her M.A. and Ph.D. in Psychology from Western University. Afterwards, she completed the post-doc internship and exam requirements of the College of Psychologists to become a fully registered psychologist (C. Psych.) in the province of Ontario, Canada.

As a registered psychologist specializing in school and counselling psychology, Dr. Dinardo spent 18 years working with students, educators, and their families. She retired her psychologist practice in 2016 to dedicate more time to psychology teaching, speaking, and writing.

In this episode, Stephani and Dr. Dinardo speak about what positive psychology is, turning your perceived flaws into strengths by moving from self-criticism to self-compassion, posttraumatic growth and how adversity can be beneficial to us, boundaries around social media use, the magic of prevention work and maintaining hope.

To learn more about Dr. Dinardo, book a presentation and access her work, visit her website: www.dr.andreadinardo.com, or check her out on one of her social media listed below:

· YouTube: https://m.youtube.com/c/DrAndreaDinardo

· IG: @Dr.Andrea.Dinardo

· Twitter: @DrADinardo

· LinkedIn Company: Positive Psychology Talks

Eating Disorders Awareness Week (EDAW) runs annually each February from the 1st to the 7th. EDAW has been commemorated across Canada since 1988 by established eating disorder organizations, education and public health institutions, and concerned members of the public. It draws attention to the causes, prevalence and impact of eating disorders. Traditionally, organizations around the country host local events, light notable landmarks in the colour purple, and engage in public education campaigns in an effort to raise awareness of eating disorders.

Today, for our special EDAW episode of the podcast, Stephani chats with Ary Maharaj. Ary is the Outreach and Education Coordinator at the National Eating Disorders Information Centre, or NEDIC, based out of Toronto. A secondary area of Ary’s work, outside of his role at NEDIC, is providing counselling and group therapy in his community.

NEDIC provides information, resources, referrals and support to Canadians affected by eating disorders through their toll-free helpline and instant chat. NEDIC’s outreach and education programming focuses on the awareness and prevention of eating disorders and is available online across Canada and in-person in the Greater Toronto Area.

Ary and Stephani discuss, what is eating disorders awareness week, some myths and misconceptions associated with eating disorders, changes that could be made within our health care system in order to improve eating disorder care, how far we need to go when it comes to eating disorder prevention and how we get there, and all ither things eating disorder awareness and advocacy!

For more information on NEDIC or to reach out for help through their toll-free number or instant chat, please visit: www.nedic.ca.

To learn more about what BANA has planned for EDAW 2021, please visit: www.bana.ca/edaw, or check out our social media @banawindsor.

In this episode, BANA Health Educator, Stephani Fenkanyn, sends holiday wishes to all of our listeners. She updates you on what we have in store for our next episode which will be released the week of February 1st-7th for Eating Disorder Awareness Week 2021.

Stephani is also joined for a short episode by her fellow health educator at BANA, Marisa Casey. They provide some considerations and tips to help one manage an eating disorder during the holiday season.

To stay up to date with what we have in store for Eating Disorder Awareness Week 2021, please continue to follow us on social media at @banawindsor. We look forward to connecting with you in the New Year!

BANA Health Educator, Stephani Fenkanyn connects with former CFL footballer and mental health advocate, Frank Renaud.

Frank Renaud speaks very openly and candidly about how he has been dealing with mental health struggles throughout his whole life. He was first diagnosed with anxiety and depression in high school, and then after a manic episode in 2018, he was diagnosed with bipolar disorder. Frank describes himself as a journey man and now views his mental health diagnoses as a gift. Frank was linebacker who played at the University of Windsor and then professionally with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers and Hamilton Tiger Cats. After two knee injuries, his football career came to an end and he played his last game in 2018.

Frank and Stephani discuss viewing the mental health spectrum as more neutral, the evolution of your own self-care practices, what is a ‘self-care soup’ and how energy plays a role in elevating your mood. They talk about how the ego aims to protect us against being vulnerable, facing and questioning our own conditioning, the importance of listening to understand as a caregiver and being of service to self before taking care of others. The conversation continues to cover how we are wearing masks on social media and how the online environment perpetuates fear and lack-based feelings, and they finish by touching upon the power of self-love.

To learn more about Frank, follow him on social media at @frankeyrenaud.

BANA Health Educator, Stephani Fenkanyn chats with Registered Social Worker, and clinician at BANA, Sara Dalrymple.

Sara and Stephani discuss what working as a social worker in the field of eating disorders is like, who is on BANA’s clinical team, how assessment and diagnosis work at BANA, what type of therapy is used in treatment for our clients, the complexities of trauma, and more specifics about eating disorder treatment.

To learn more about eating disorder treatment in the Windsor Essex Community, please visit www.bana.ca. You can also call our intake line: 1-855-969-5530 to be connected with our intake specialist and to ask further questions.

BANA Health Educator, Stephani Fenkanyn chats with anti-diet Registered Holistic Nutritionist® and Certified Intuitive Eating (IE) Counsellor, Sarah Berneche.

Sarah and Stephani discuss what intuitive eating is and how it can help heal one’s relationship with food, misconceptions of IE, how this concept is used with clients, what weight stigma is and the role of the health professional in recognizing signs of disordered eating and eating disorders.  Stephani also learns more about Sara’s new book which is focused on intuitive eating principles, self-care strategies, and recipes. Additionally, Sara shares her own health journey and experience with disordered eating and how she was led to IE.

To learn more about Sarah and her work, visit her on Instagram @sarahbnutrition and on her website:  www.sarahberneche.com. Don’t forget to check out her book ‘Enjoy It All- Improve Your Health And Happiness with Intuitive Eating’, which will be available in September 2020. Follow the link in her IG profile to pre-order.

BANA Health Educator, Stephani Fenkanyn chats with Registered Nurse and Team Canada Track and Field Olympian, Noelle Montcalm.

Noelle and Stephani discuss her time as a student athlete competing as a Lancer on the University of Windsor’s Track and Field team, what drew her to becoming a nurse, the surreal experience and emotions associated with being a part of the 2016 Olympic games in Rio, why supportive mentors and communities are important, her own relationship with food as an athlete, being a positive influencer online and how she became a mental health advocate.

To learn more about Noelle, visit her on Instagram and on Twitter at @noellemontcalm, or on her Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/noelle.montcalm/.