On this week’s episode I am super excited to be introducing you to this week’s guest, Manager of Butterfly Body Bright at the Butterfly Foundation and Honorary Research Fellow in the School of Psychology and Public Health at La Trobe University, Dr Stephanie Damiano. Stephanie is an early childhood body image expert and current manager of the Butterfly Foundations primary school body image program. This program has been implemented as a way to fostering a healthy attitude for children around food, body and physical activity helping to develop a positive body image for children. 

Stephanie has dedicated her research to the prevention and treatment of body dissatisfaction and clinical eating disorders in youth populations. Leading the Achieving Body Confidence for Children (ABC-4-YC) research program which is a school-based body image program aimed at reducing weight bias, body dissatisfaction and appearance-based teasing in 5 to 8 years olds across Victoria. Stephanie has also collaborated on the Child Body Image Development Study and Confident Body, Confident Child Study. Investigating other risk factors for the development of body image and eating disorders in children aged 3-9 years.

On today’s episode Stephanie will dive further into the research around children and body image and how it can be linked to the development of eating disorders later in life. So, let’s get into it!

Podcast Summary: 

1.     Body image starting to form at the age of four

2.     Body insecurities typically starting in primary school

3.     Diet messages in children’s media or tv shows

4.     Media stereotypes impacting appearance-based bullying

5.     Being a positive role model for children 

Links to the Butterfly Foundation: 

Butterfly Body Bright: https://www.butterflybodybright.org.au/about-the-program-families

Butterfly Foundation website: https://butterfly.org.au

Butterfly Foundation Helpline: Call their National Helpline on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠1800 33 4673⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. You can also ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠chat online⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ or ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠email

Butterfly Foundation Instagram: @thebutterflyfoundation

Links from the episode and to BodyMatters: 

BodyMatters Australasia Website: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://bodymatters.com.au/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

BodyMatters Instagram: @bodymattersau