UPDATE (25/9) - Thank you to everyone who has donated so far! We are so excited to confirm that this money will be going towards delivering an accredited Mental Health First Aid course, offered specifically to parents and carers of young people suffering with an Eating Disorder. Offering this course will fill a current gap in the support network for EDs by enabling parents/carers to understand their child's thought patterns, behaviours, and actions and as a result empower them to be able to provide empathised support in the home environment. It is a truly incredible course that we wish everyone could do!

To be able to offer this course to a full cohort of 16 people, we need to raise £4800! Please do what you can to spread the word about the fundraiser to as many people as possible! If you, or anyone you know, would be interested in doing the course please follow the Youth Mental Health First Aid in Guernsey Facebook page and keep an eye out for the link to register.

Original text:

Across the globe rates of eating disorder diagnoses are becoming increasingly common. With an increase in diet culture and societal pressures, it can feel very isolating and all-consuming. Unfortunately, Guernsey is no exception.

Our aim for this fundraiser is to provide support for those suffering with eating disorders and to spread awareness of mental health, encouraging and opening conversations on the island.

So far we have been in contact with Guernsey Mind, BEAT and CAMHS in order to find the best direction for our fundraising. This is an ongoing conversation as we seek to maximise the impact of the money we hope to raise. We have and continue to witness far too many people close to us suffering - it is terrifying just how many lives are threatened by eating disorders and yet how little this is part of our conversations. With the money we raise, we are hoping to bring tangible change to Guernsey. Our ultimate goal is to increase specialised training for disordered eating, something we are continuing to push for.

As a group of ten friends who have grown up and spent our teenage years together, we are taking on the challenge of the Copenhagen Half Marathon on the 15th September 2024. We saw this as an opportunity to celebrate what our bodies can do whilst bringing awareness to a cause close to our hearts. We strongly believe that Guernsey has the potential to improve its services and to increase support to those suffering with an eating disorder.

As part of this fundraising, we are in the process of creating a signposting service of resources we have discovered in our research into eating disorder support in Guernsey. Finding help is a difficult process to navigate so we are trying to make it just a little bit easier. We hope this can be of some help to anyone struggling - you are not alone in your suffering. There are people out there who will listen to you and support you, and we hope this resource can guide you to these safe spaces.