Author: Aaron McDowell

Warning of what lies ahead: spoilers for To the Bone and Feed. More importantly *Trigger warnings* for eating disorders and anorexia.

Netflix’s To the Bone, directed by Marti Noxon and starring Lily Collins, has probably popped up all over your social media streams lately. It’s the story of Eli’s (Collins) struggle with body image and anorexia. An artist and college dropout, she’s gotten herself kicked of a few rehab programs. Her family is determined to get her healthy, which leads Eli to a non-traditional doctor and group home filled with other youth with eating disorders. At first we see Eli thriving, but as we find out a secret only Eli (and her family) know the full story about, we being to fear for her life.

If you’ve heard of To the Bone, you’ve probably heard of Feed, written by and starring Troian Bellisario. Olivia (Bellisario) is in line to be valedictorian at her high school when a car accident takes the life of her twin brother, Matt. It’s not until Olivia starts seeing Matt in her dreams, then in real live that you understand the level of grief she is feeling. Through the ups and downs of the next several months, she has Matt back except he get progressively more aggressive. The psychological thriller has you wondering what’s going on until you realize the twin she’s been seeing actually represents her anorexia, not her brother.

Both films have gotten praise and criticism. From romanticizing and over triggering, to not going far enough to break stereotypes surrounding the portrayal of anorexia in the media— it seems there is no perfect way to tell these difficult stories.

But before we get to that, let’s throw it back with a little #FlashBackFriday.

Every sitcom I’ve ever watched has tried and failed to have a discussion surrounding eating disorders. Full House, Lizzie McGuire, Degrassi (a moment of silence to remember the time before Drake was Drake), Pretty Little Liars, and so many more have given it a go. It looks something like this: in a single episode, a young, white, female character develops, struggles through, and recovers from an eating disorder with zero relapses and little explanation of underlying mental health issues.

To the Bone and Feed don’t break the white female story line. But they both do what hasn’t been done before and give a close-up look at the issue of eating disorders. Unfortunately, neither fully captures the experience of someone struggling between what their mind is telling them and how their body reacts.

As you watch Eli in To the Bone do so many crunches that she bruises her spine, or Olivia in Feed run almost 5 miles seemingly multiple times a day, you might think, “what’s wrong with being fit?” or “wow, she’s dedicated!”  That’s not really what you want from an audience who already doesn’t get the difference between healthy body image and distorted and self-destructive body image.

So is there anything good to be taken from the imperfection of these TV shows and movies?

Follow me on this.

While To the Bone is a story to recovery and Feed is a story of (almost?) recovery, they do open a deeper discussion than poor DJ Tanner when she stopped eating and over-exercised because she was extremely nervous for a winter swimming party. You see, we never discussed eating disorders again with DJ Tanner, Lizzie McGuire, Emma Nelson, or Hannah Marin. As their stories went on, we probably forgot they even struggled in the first place.

To the Bone and Feed both show you the severity of eating disorders. They show how having an eating disorder affects your whole life, your family’s lives, and your friend’s lives.  They tell you that there isn’t that one magic reason an eating disorder starts and there are layers to recovery, including relapse. They tell you that help will include a treatment team, not solely your friends and family. They tell you the harsh voice in your head is wrong. They tell you, while the journey may take a long time, there is hope.

Because eating disorders have the highest mortality rate of any mental illness, calling attention to how they are portrayed in the media is important. In fact, portraying them in the media at all—however imperfectly—is a step in the right direction. It’s about making sure that stories like To the Bone and Feed are out in the world sparking all the discussions they have been recently.

Is there room to grow? Absolutely. And getting the discussion going is just the start.

My advice for the TV show and movie makers of the world (because I’m sure they will ask one day):

Diversify, diversify, diversify!! These issues leave no zip code, no racial identify, no economic class untouchedAdvertise  how to get help at the beginning and end of each programInclude  trigger warnings

As long as the goal remains to more perfectly portray real-life people with real-life challenges, creating empathy, while letting them know help is available, we can settle for progress not perfection.

We have completely talked about #MentalHealth in the media (*cough* 13 Reason’s Why *cough*) before, check it out.

National Resources

Crisis Call Center 800-273-8255 or text ANSWER to 839863 Twenty-four hours a day, seven days a weekcrisiscallcenter.org/crisis-services

National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Eating Disorders 630-577-1330 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. EST, Monday to Fridayanad.org National Eating Disorders Association 800-931-2237 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. EST, Monday to Friday nationaleatingdisorders.org

Thursday’s Child National Youth Advocacy Hotline 800-USA-KIDS (800-872-5437) Twenty-four hours a day, seven days a weekthursdayschild.org

Hannah Claros is down to earth, sweet and caring. That’s why, when you meet her, you may be surprised to learn just how much of the world she’s explored and how high her aspirations soar.

Her interest in personal development and in helping others makes her a vital asset to Family Service and the youth we serve. As a Youth Development Specialist, she enjoys playing Bop-it with the Teen Outreach Program and Positive Action kids.

More than playing fun games, her role as mentor and facilitator is to provide practical behavioral and social skills that are culturally relevant for today’s youth.

She has a Bachelor of Arts in International Relations and Spanish from Roanoke College. Hannah spent time in the Peace Corps, and has also traveled in Europe and South America.

She’s bilingual and believes in sharing her travel and world experiences to encourage youth to pursue their dreams and find their own relevance in their community.

When Hannah isn’t studying hard for her Master’s in Teaching through Liberty University and working with youth in the Roanoke Valley, she enjoys Star Trek, spicy food, and riding horses.

Hannah Hopkins wasn’t always the awesome Youth Development Specialist (and blooming social worker) she is now.

In fact, not that long ago, she was about as far away from a social worker as one could imagine.

With a Bachelors of Engineering in Biomedical Engineering, Hannah spent seven years as a product development engineer in the medical device industry before changing course.  She had always wanted to help people, but felt a bit too far removed as an engineer.

She started working with Family Service in 2016 as an intern and eventually as a part-time Youth Development Specialist. She has worked in Community Counseling at the West End Center, and Presbyterian Community Center. She has also supported Teen Outreach Program groups at Forest Park Academy, Rivermont and Noel C. Taylor.

Now working towards her Masters of Science in Social Work, she can continue her goals to be of service to others and to make a positive impact in the community.

She will start an internship with Family Service Child Therapist Jennifer Nolley as her supervisor in the fall. As a social work intern, Hannah will work through the Play Therapy Institute to treat traumatized children.

Hannah loves a really good belly laugh and describes herself as loyal, kind, and joyful.

“My goal is to facilitate light for those experiencing darkness.”

Jamie Starkey is a force to be reckoned with.  As the newly hired Project Director for the Health and Wellness Interpreters of Roanoke Valley with Family Service of Roanoke Valley, she is continuing the career she’s built based on serving people who need it most.

With her career originally starting in law enforcement, Jamie quickly came to realize that she wanted a career with the ability to have a long-term impact facilitating positive change for people. From working with youth at risk of incarceration to domestic violence advocacy, Jamie says it was a natural progression to work with victims facing cultural and language challenges.

“I have had a life-long passion for the underdog, for the being the voice of the voiceless. Giving those with limited English proficiency a path to access supportive services fits well with my professional goal to always recognize the inherent value of each individual and provide supportive service that respect the person in their environment,” she said.

Health and Wellness Interpreters is a grant funded program connecting individuals with limited English proficiency with interpretation services facilitating their ability to engage with helping resources such as Family Service of Roanoke Valley, TAP, SARA, and The Salvation Army. Although a new program, Jamie already sees successes. These successes are counted in every victim who summons the courage to tell their story and in every interpreter who helps to articulate the narrative.

Self-described as outgoing, an advocate, and sassy, Jamie truly believes that her job is all about meeting people where they are, joining their journey, promoting hope and facilitating positive change. Her favorite quote demonstrates these ideals.

“How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world.” – Anne Frank

Deseree Stanfield has always loved helping others and started “officially” doing so at just 12 years old by tutoring refugees in English at the West End Center. If that doesn’t tell you about her character, I’m not sure what will! (Except the rest of this blog).

Deseree has a Bachelor’s in Sociology and is a Qualified Mental Health Professional specializing in Children. As aYouth Development Specialist and Day Treatment Provider, Deseree has now made a career out of childhood goals.

"Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life,"–that’s an important quote for Deseree. Although most people use this expression in finding their next job opportunity, Deseree uses it to describe what she does now.

“While there are certainly challenging days, I never question whether or not I’m doing what I should be doing, where I should be doing it.”

With the Teen Outreach Program®, she still gets back to her roots with the West End Center, and other locations, helping kids and teens learn important life skills and service learning.

Seeing the kids she helps learn and grow in confidence is Deseree’s favorite aspect of the job. A close second, and is equally rewarding, is when a kid knows they are in a safe place to feel how they need to feel.  She describes a time when one of the younger kids were having a rough day. He was fidgety and had a hard time concentrating on his homework. After a few minutes, he stood up, walked over to Deseree, and leaned on her for a little bit. After some light talking, Deseree asked if he was ready to get back to his seat and he was. After that little moment, he was able to quickly finish his work.

“After he finished, I told him how awesome he’d done and he smiled. I knew then that the spell of his rough day was over.”

Find out more about what Deseree does at the West End Center by reading our last blog post

Ana Zuniga, Family Service Youth Development Specialist, graduated with a Bachelor in Social Work this month! We are so proud of her accomplishments and are excited to have had her on the Youth Development team. 

A lover of ice breaker games, Ana has a passion for working with kids and youth and developing connections with them in the community. She also enjoys the service projects that the Teen Outreach Program participates in.

She recalls once how there was a project at the VA Hospital and seeing the kids really “wake up” was inspiring. She describes it as them just being “awesome” and making the connection as to why volunteering is important. You could see on their faces how it all came together in that moment.

Ana served as an intern in Youth Development in 2016-17, and gained excellent experience working directly with youth and participating in a wide variety of programs.

As a native Spanish speaker, she has also provided critical support in serving Spanish-speaking clients at Family Service.

She believes that the youth development program is the perfect fit for her. Making a difference in the lives of young ones is what fuels her fire.

“Being able to impact the lives of youth and children through mentoring and modeling behaviors makes my job so rewarding and fulfilling. That’s why I love it so much.”

Just weeks before her graduation, as she was completing her internship at Family Service, Ana achieved another extremely rewarding and exciting milestone–she completed the process to become a citizen of the United States. She celebrated with her family and her Family Service family.

Congratulations to this impressive young lady!!

LuAnn Leffler’s passion for helping others can be seen in how many hats she wears here at Family Service. She works in youth development and intake.

“I don’t want to live in the kind of world where we don’t look out for each other. Not just the people that are close to us, but anybody who needs a helping hand. I can’t change the way anybody else thinks, or what they choose to do, but I can do my bit. “– Charles de Lint

Just like her favorite quote, LuAnn is in the business of looking out for people. With a BA in Education, she’s been working with children and adults for many years. In her roles with Family Service, she is always out in the community assisting the other youth development specialists if a child or teen needs some one-on-one time. Sometimes, a child or teen needs to work something out away from the rest of the group in order to get the full experience of Positive Action, TOP, or our Community Counseling programs.

LuAnn has a particular spot in her heart for children and teens who have been labeled as problems due to “behavioral issues.” She believes that we don’t find out what the underlying issues, the behavior will never change.

“I believe we should love and accept people as they are and where they are. I have a great deal of love for people and enjoy encouraging others to see their full potential and overcome obstacles.”