Students had the opportunity to be confidentially screened for eating disorders and learn about how to seek treatment to achieve recovery.

The Student Health & Counseling Services (SHCS), HOPE & Wellness Center and Active Minds CSUSM held Eating Disorder Screening Day at the Forum Plaza on Feb. 28, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. This event occurred during National Eating Disorder Awareness Week from Feb. 25 to March 3.

Eating disorders such as anorexia, bulimia and binge eating disorder were the main focus of this event.

At Eating Disorder Screening Day, the SHCS held confidential screenings, with students filling out a screening form that asked them questions about their eating attitudes and behavioral health.

If students scored at least 20, they were recommended to get evaluated by a professional at the SHCS. Psychologists from the SHCS and from the CSUSM Student Nursing Association were available to help and support students throughout the event.

Emily Roberts-Parker, a psychology pre-doctoral intern at the SHCS said, “I think it’s important to treat eating disorders because they have the highest mortality rate of any mental health disorder.”  She also said that her advice to students who are suffering from disordered eating and body image issues to “come to student counseling, check in with one of us. We have walk-in appointments every day.”

Roberts-Parker said that on campus she runs Body Wisdom, an eating disorder and body image support group at the SHCS that meets on Fridays from 1 p.m. to 2:30 p.m.

Kevin W. Choi, a post-doctoral fellow also from the SHCS said, “If I were to work with a student whose struggling with eating concerns… I want to take the time to validate their experience, because oftentimes they feel alone, like they are the only person whose struggling with it, when in fact that’s not the case.”

There was information tables at the event such as: North County Health Services San Marcos, Vista Community Clinic, CSUSM Graduate Organization of Public Health (GoPH), Montecatini Eating Disorder Treatment Center and the SHCS.

These organizations provided information to students about different types of eating disorders and how to get help for them.

Students who filled out the screening forms were given free grilled cheese sandwiches. Other activities were available at other information booths. The CSUSM GoPH table had a mix and match game where students had to match the myths about eating disorders with the truths.

The SHCS table had a positivity poster where students could write about what they liked about themselves.

There was also a wheel that students could spin to win prizes after answering a question about eating disorders and receive a raffle ticket for a prize.

Eriana Moreno, a kinesiology major said that her favorite part of the event was “the different resources that were available.”

For more information or to schedule an appointment, visit the SHCS website at www.csusm.edu/shcs.