While the Body Empowerment Project (BEP) is preparing to celebrate its Third Annual End of Year Event, Scoop USA spoke with its incoming Executive Director about the organization, the event, and its impact on the community.
According to incoming Executive Director Clara Pritchett, she joined the organization a year after its launch. As fate would have it, Co-Founders Amanda Moreno and Christina Miranda were searching for someone to take over that position.
“As someone who struggled with mental health, body image, and eating disorders all my life, getting to talk to students and teach them all the things I wish I had known when I was young means more to me than anything in the world,” stated Pritchett who grew up in Philadelphia.
Pritchett further described how Eating Disorders (ED) and Body Image issues are problematic for entire communities, as well as being unique to each individual.
“Eating Disorders (ED) and Body Image issues are happening in marginalized communities,” explained Pritchett, “but it appears in different ways. We can’t talk about eating disorders without talking about food insecurity and trauma; those things go hand-in-hand, and making that connection at the forefront when it comes to eating disorders and ED care is very important with low-income folks.”
Based on informational packets provided by BEP, “The Body Empowerment Project’s main service is a 10-week eating disorder prevention program for underserved middle and high school students. The program is offered free of cost to all partnering schools and is structured into weekly educational workshops led by trained college students who serve as near-peer mentors.”
The program builds on protective factors.
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