Over 500,000 Wisconsinites will struggle with an eating disorder in their lifetime. Eating disorders (EDs) are a serious mental illness that can present in many forms such as anorexia, bulimia, binge eating disorder and restrictive and avoidant food disorder.
Dr. Robyn Welk-Richards has been providing care in this field for over 20 years. She's helped people ranging in ages from six to 65, and notes that eating disorders are "non-discriminatory in nature." Welk-Richards explains that there are a wide range of risk factors to developing an eating disorder: "Genetics can be a component, transitions in life, environmental transitions, going into different phases of school, body changes and body transitions can also be a significant risk factor."
"I would also say eating disorders can begin to pop up when somebody's feeling really unsettled in their experiences in their life... Even things that can feel small for somebody can be very big, especially if there's anxiety involved, and that can really lead them to try to control things in their lives. Food being something that is very easy to gravitate towards," she adds. "I don't think I've ever treated somebody that just has an eating disorder — it's almost always partnered with some other mental health or emotional health concern going on."
Despite the prevalence of EDs, the state of Wisconsin only has two dedicated eating disorder inpatient care facilities and EDs are the least covered psychiatric condition in the U.S. managed care system. This means that people struggling with EDs often interact with practitioners that do not have as much awareness, nor specialize in appropriate treatments. This is a reality that Wisconsin resident Emily D. had to experience first-hand when she first sought help for her ED.
"From a very young age I was put on a lot of restrictive diets, and as a young person that was very much internalized... That my body wasn't good enough, that it needed to be changed, it needed look different, and that there was something wrong with me — that's how it felt," she says.
Emily says the restrictive dieting led to hiding foods she wasn't typically allowed to have, which escalated to a yo-yo pattern of restrictive eating and then bingeing. As a young adult it further developed into into bulimia, where Emily says she was binging and purging multiple times a day.
"I had seen a doctor at the age of 23 and I confided in them in the behaviors that I was engaging in, [which] at that point it was pretty significant... health was being affected, all that," Emily recalls. "I had a doctor verbatim tell me to not worry about it because the only problem they see with bulimia is malnutrition and I was overweight, and so it didn't matter. That's a very strong message and it's coming from a person who is in societal standards, a place of authority somewhat, right? We trust these individuals to help us and that was the messaging I got."
Emily says she carried on living with her ED for some time after that doctor's visit thinking she was OK, but it wasn't until she learned and recognized the severe health impacts that bulimia on her body that prompted her to seek help again.
"I literally walked into an eating disorder treatment center in my neighborhood and I asked for help. I didn't even make an appointment," says Emily. "I think at that point, to be honest, a lot of it was fear-based. I was very afraid because I finally realized what I was doing to myself and how severe it was and how serious it was, and that was a big turning point for me."
Welk-Richards has seen the landscape of ED treatment shift with slight improvement over the decades she's been practicing, but experiences like the ones Emily went through are all too common. To help address the lack of awareness, education and training, Welk-Richards founded a nonprofit called the Wisconsin Eating Disorder Education and Community Foundation (WEDEC). It strives to eliminate the stigma around eating disorders, bridge treatment gaps and cultivate a culture of healing, awareness and growth.
"The foundation behind WEDEC was we want to make sure that people are being trained adequately," says Welk-Richards. "We want to work with therapists that are in training, dietitians in training, nurse practitioner and psychiatric care in training. That's the trifecta of professionals that really are needed to work with eating disorders and to collaborate together in order to help those human beings find recovery."
Welk-Richards notes that there is very limited education at the university level in how to diagnose and treat EDs. Through WEDEC partnering with schools to provide internships, she hopes that more competency-based training from the start will help improve health outcomes and access to care.
While education is first pillar within WEDEC, the second is community "and that is dedicated to individuals across the state that do not have access to care for myriad of reasons," says Welk-Richards.
From costs to availability of practitioners, WEDEC wants "to be able to help either find somebody that can help that person to treat this human being the way they need to be treated, or to be able put services in place within our training institute to get them the services virtually," she adds.
WEDEC will be at the Stronger Together Fest in Racine County on May 30 as a part of its mission to educate and raise awareness about EDs to the public. If you are in need of additional information and treatment regarding EDs, you can reach out to the following local resources:
- The Wisconsin Eating Disorder Education & Community Foundation
Dr. Robyn Welk-Richards, Executive Director and Founder
262.352.9922
Robyn.WelkRichards@WEDEC.org - Samantha Bauer Nutrition Therapy
Samantha Bauer-Kuspa, RD
262.233.3988
Samantha@Samanthabauernutritiontherapy.com - Inner Haven Wellness
- Rogers Behavioral Health
- Mindful Movement
- Orenda Counseling
"Eating disorder[are] rooted in shame, they thrive in shame," says Emily. "And so even just taking that step of asking for help is a really difficult step. Admitting that there's something that's going on is a really difficult step, and it requires vulnerability. So, I think the biggest thing I could say is take that first step, even if it's just a Google search, look where there is help in the area, and just ask."
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