Italty conference

In June this year, I was given an amazing opportunity to speak at the Conference on Health and Well Being (ENRYCH) in Rome. There was a lot of media attraction, including TV channels and many Italian ministers were there.

I attended the eating disorders workshop and on the third day was able to give a talk with fellow ambassador Hannah. Here is my speech from the day:

My name is Rachel Cowey and I am from the North East England. I am 23 years old and I am a student. I have a degree in French and German and now I am studying my MA in magazine journalism. There is a misconception that anorexics are stupid but I disagree!

I am a young ambassador and am training to be a mentor.

Beat promotes the awareness of eating disorders through extensive research, media work, conferences and training for schools, professionals and carers.

The website has information for sufferers, parents, families and friends. It contains press releases and guidelines for the media. There is a young persons section which has message boards, live chats, Recovery Club and work written or done by young ambassadors.

There will be a new web site by the end of the year focused on recovery and motivation and there is a beat mentor project. There are 70 ambassadors ranging from the age of 14 to 24. We receive media training as well as support.

I have been an ambassador for almost five years. I have given presentations at the House of Commons twice and been involved in a question and answer session. I have spoken at health conferences both eating disorders related and gynaecologists. Beat produced a leaflet explaining my story which raised 11 million pounds from the National Lottery. This was a great sense of achievement that I had done so much to raise funds for a charity that has helped me enormously.

I have done a lot of media work: I was involved in a meeting with different magazines, informing them how best to report eating disorders and to make them aware that we are not comfortable giving photos of when we were at our illest as it sensationalises the subject and acts as a trigger to other sufferers. This is the same regarding what weight we dropped to. This is also because we know that eating disorders are not about being thin. There are many sufferers who have an eating disorder but are still a healthy weight.

I have spoken to radio stations, magazines, newspapers and web sites. Next month I will be appearing in leading woman’s magazine, Cosmopolitan which is both daunting and exciting! The media has become more interested in talking about eating disorders in a responsible manner. On Monday I appeared in my local newspaper speaking about my anorexia and the fact I had been given an amazing opportunity to speak at this conference. After this article the media has taken a big interest in me. Although it feels like I have been bombarded, I am happy that I have been given the chance to promote awareness and hopefully helped put an end to stigma. On Wednesday I appeared on a radio station speaking about this conference and I think both the radio station and newspaper will want to do a follow up story when I come back from Rome.

I have also been approached by two different media agencies who want to do features on me for magazines. I am also featured on someone’s blog who thought my story was inspirational.

With this media interest and the rise in young ambassadors, I truly believe we can make a difference. I want to make something positive out of a terrible part of my life – I want to help others and show that you can survive such a controlling illness – the illness that wanted me dead. Six years ago I was told I was going to die. The fact I am standing her today proves that eating disorders can be beaten!