WaterStone Foundation funds counsellor to treat eating disorders

WaterStone Foundation and Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU) want students experiencing an eating disorder to know they don’t have to face it alone.

Partnering with the Student Integrated Health and Wellbeing team at TMU, WaterStone has granted $100,000 to date to help support the hiring of a counsellor fully integrated into the on-campus Centre for Student Development and Counselling (CSDC) and who specializes in treating people with eating disorders.

Eating disorders are significant physical and mental health conditions. They negatively influence how people think about and behave toward food, their body and identity. Such disorders affect a wide range of people, across all genders and ethnicities. The most common eating disorders are anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa and binge eating disorder.

The counsellor specializing in eating disorders at TMU is registered social worker Colleen Conroy Amato, MSW. Amato’s connection to the university goes back to 1999, and her most recent involvement was as an embedded CSDC counsellor with the Athletics & Recreation department, where she counselled student athletes on a variety of mental health issues. She also simultaneously ran support groups for injured athletes in an effort to mitigate the onset of eating disorders and/or addiction issues. Now, thanks to WaterStone Foundation, more students will have access to Amato’s expertise, as part of TMU’s central health and wellbeing services.

“As an eating disorder clinician, I work with students who are struggling with body dysmorphia, disordered eating and eating disorders. We prioritize behavioral goals; we work on staying alive,” she said. “I am a lifelong, passionate advocate for early intervention and prevention of eating disorders. Health — at every size — is what I endorse, and I want students to never feel alone.”

Amato’s new role was first launched as a pilot initiative in August 2022. Due to the success of the program and the growing need for eating disorder support among students, WaterStone  renewed their funding in May 2023.

“WaterStone was established in 2014 with the mandate to improve access to treatment for individuals with eating disorders,” said Sandra Palmaro, Senior Advisor at WaterStone Foundation. “Across all age groups, there is an incredible gap in services. And private therapy, which could be $250 a session, is inaccessible for a lot of people, especially students. We saw an opportunity to partner with universities and colleges to help provide access to treatment and support for post-secondary students.”

She added, “We find institutions that we really feel we can develop an open and honest and transparent partnership with, and TMU was at the top of our list.” Palmaro and WaterStone want to ensure that eating disorders don’t stop students from being successful at school.

Young people face challenges that can trigger an eating disorder

Palmaro has been with WaterStone Foundation since its inception, and was inspired to join by her daughter’s own experience with an eating disorder at age 14.

“Most eating disorders start in the early teens; and sometimes it’s manageable and sometimes it’s not,” she said. “When youth transition from high school to college or university, it can often trigger an eating disorder because of all the circumstances they face. Financial insecurity, isolation, a new environment, the stress of school — all of those things can trigger the onset or recurrence of an eating disorder.”

Palmaro added that “in a lot of schools, even when they see students with eating disorders, it would only be for a crisis situation for maybe one or two sessions [but] we want to be able to provide treatment and access to individuals for as long as they need it. It might be for the four years that they’re in school.”

It is WaterStone’s long-term aim to build awareness about the importance of early intervention when treating — and eliminating — eating disorders, and keeping patients from needing to be hospitalized. According to Statistics Canada’s 2016 Census, between 725,800 to 1,088,700 people across the country meet the diagnostic criteria for an eating disorder.

“WaterStone has always spearheaded innovative projects trying to meet the need,” said Amato, who has been working with patients with eating disorders since the mid-1990s. “I have a long-standing relationship with WaterStone, and I was really excited when they reached out to give us this chance to partner with them, as it has allowed us to reach many students and alumni.”

She noted, “I am grateful for the funding that has been afforded through our partnership with WaterStone, as eating disorders, like addictions, have been on the rise since COVID.”

TMU builds multidisciplinary team to combat the climbing rate of eating disorders

According to a study published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal in October 2023, compared to pre-pandemic levels, emergency department visits in Ontario for eating disorders increased among adolescents aged 10 to 17, young adults aged 18 to 26, and adults aged 41 and older. The study also revealed that hospitalizations for eating disorders increased for adolescents.

“The average amount of time in treatment is seven years,” said Amato. “And so we know that university is a really good time [to provide support] because students are so young, that it’s the right time to resource that issue and try to have an early intervention.”

Every student who presents with disordered eating or body image issues and is seen for an initial consult at the CSDC is directly referred to Amato for an assessment, if they are open to it. Since eating disorders tend to be a coping mechanism for other issues, she says that she treats students holistically.

“An eating disorder has to be quiet enough to enable the deeper level work,” said Amato. “I have been able to keep students in school and help them make some behavioural modification changes necessary for them to thrive in this environment, and I have been able to support them in a community setting where they can meet peers that make them not feel alone.”

Her students who do thrive and graduate from school and from the treatment programs she runs are often invited back to inspire other students or to co-facilitate eating disorder support groups with Amato. This, in turn, helps to prevent these alumni from a relapse in their own lives. “So I keep very close contact with the alumni, actually,” she said.

Within the last year, Amato has also trained a Master of Social Work student who interned at the CSDC. Following that internship, the CSDC hired him as part of their growing team with specialties in treating eating disorders, which includes psychiatrists and a newly hired registered dietician and registered nurse.

“We’re building a multidisciplinary team that can more effectively manage students and coordinate their care,” said Amato. “We know the earlier that students have care, the faster they can get better.”