OUR MISSION IS TO BREAK down systemic, healthcare, and financial barriers to eating disorder healing.
Of the 30 million people in the United States who are diagnosed with an eating disorder, less than 20% ever receive treatment.
The stereotypes of who has an eating disorder – white, young, female, thin, affluent – are not accurate or representative, but they do exist for a reason: they are the subgroup that has been the focus of research and treatment marketing because they are the subgroup who is more likely to have the resources to access treatment. Research is clear that people of every ethnicity, age, gender, body shape and size, and socioeconomic status struggle with eating disorders, but our broken healthcare system prevents them from utilizing the resources required to achieve recovery.
In the United States alone, there are 30 million Americans suffering with an eating disorder, and that only includes those who receive a formal diagnosis. Despite this prevalence, less than 20% of people with eating disorders ever receive treatment. The other 24 million cannot access the care they need due to insurmountable financial and insurance barriers, in addition to pervasive systemic oppression and bias. These barriers have serious consequences: eating disorders are the second most fatal mental illness (after Opioid Use Disorder), with one person dying as a direct result of an eating disorder every 52 minutes.
Eating disorders affect people of all genders, ages, races, ethnicities, body shapes & weights, sexual orientations, and socioeconomic statuses.
Project HEAL’s goal is to change that system and, in the meantime, to provide life-saving support to people with eating disorders who the system fails.
VISION & VALUES
Read Project HEAL’s Vision Statement and Values that define and direct our work and culture.
OUr Origin Story
Learn about our beginning in 2008 and the stories of the remarkable women who founded Project HEAL.
TEAM & BOARD
Get to know the dedicated staff, national volunteers, and board of directors that make Project HEAL’s mission possible.