Issue 18 June 3, 2013
Dishing with the Maine
Eating Disorders Learning Collaborative
Sadness and Disappointment Over Maine’s Proposed Eating Disorders Bill OR
Louder! They Can’t Hear Us!
This Newsletter
Brought to You By
Mainely Girls
PO Box 793
Rockport, ME 04856
(207) 230-0170
mainelygirls2@gmail.com
www.mainelygirls.org

Mary Orear
Executive Director
Mainely Girls
Project Director
The Eating Disorders
Learning Collaborative
(EDLC)

EDLC
Clinical Advisory Board
Francine Blattner, MD
Mary Orear
Debbie Pepper-Dougherty, RD,
LD
Sandy Picard, FNP
Jennifer Walker, LCSW

Like us on Facebook!
facebook.com/MainelyGirls

Logo Design
Antoinette Santos
.
An Editorial Opinion
We all know the basics: no
vitamin or inoculation exists
to prevent eating disorders;
they often start during
middle or high school; few
parents are aware of the
warning signs that would
allow for early intervention
and increase the chances of
complete recovery.
So when a group of us
learned, through the
National Eating Disorder
Association’s STAR
program, that the state of
Virginia had passed a bill
requiring schools to send
home eating disorders
information yearly to
parents, we supported it as a
sensible, low-cost,
convenient way to educate
parents and increase the
chances of early
intervention for children and
adolescents.
Senator John Tuttle of
Sanford, a long-time
supporter of eating disorders
efforts, wrote and sponsored
the bill.
The Joint Standing
Committee on Education
and Cultural Affairs gave us
only one week’s notice
before the hearing was held,
very little time for people to
rearrange their schedules so
they could attend.
NEDA sent out an Action
Alert to their Maine
members, and Mainely Girls
forwarded it to our lengthy
list of treatment providers,
encouraging people to
attend and speak in favor of
the bill, or to email their
legislators. Only Senator
Tuttle and Stephanie Pinette
were able to be there, and
Stephanie did a terrific job!
Thank you, Stephanie! And
thanks to Senator Tuttle for
writing and sponsoring this
legislation, and to all who
sent emails on this bill.
Though none spoke against
the bill, the Committee did
not pass it.
What lessons can we learn
from this?
Eating Disorders Association
of Maine (EDAM), the NEED
Program, NEDA, Mainely
Girls, the as well as college
health centers and women’s
health centers across the state
need to develop a louder,
stronger, united voice in
Augusta. We all need to
show up and speak up!
And we can start…NOW!
Email or call members of
the afore mentioned
committee; express your
dismay with their decision!
(You can easily Google a list
of their names and emails.)
It’s a sad day when common
sense legislation that has no
price tag attached and would
greatly benefit our state’s
children and adolescents is
voted down like this was.
And, we can’t submit similar
legislation again for two long
years, not until 2015.
Page 2
D I SH IN G W IT H TH E MA IN E EA TI N G D I SO R D ER S L EA R N IN G C O L LA B O R A T I V E
Eating Disorders
Support Groups
THE FEMALE ATHLETE
STRATEGIES FOR OPTIMAL HEALTH AND PERFORMANCE
*******************
Cultivating Balance
Saturday, June 8th and Sunday, June 9th
Eating Support Group
Fridays
4:30 to 5:30 pm
Sponsored by Cultivating
Balance and located at
Art of Awareness
813 Broadway
South Portland
Free and open to all who
struggle with disordered
eating, eating disorders, or
just want to improve their
relationship with their
bodies.
FMI email
cultivatingbalanceforyou@
gmail.com 207-332-9003
Babson College ~ Wellesley, MA
The 2013 Female Athlete Conference will provide participants with cutting edge strategies
for treating and preventing common physical and psychological sports health concerns.
Clinicians, coaches, athletes, parents and trainers are welcome.
Topics include
Female Athlete Triad Update
In Shape: Strategies for Improving Body Image in Athletes
ACL Injury Prevention and Research
Effective Coach Communication
Presented By
The Female Athlete Program
The Department of Sports Medicine at Boston Children's Hospital
The Eating for Life Alliance (ELA)
Sponsored By
Timberline Knolls Residential Treatment Center
Babson College
*********************
Midcoast Center for
Weight & Lifestyle
Change
Brunswick, Maine
For long-term weight loss and
overall better health.
17 years of age or older.
406-7446
**********************
PREPARING TO FLEX OUR ACTIVIST MUSCLES FOR OUR PATIENTS– S 562
The Missing Peace for
Eating Disorders
This week Team Member
Ellen Grunblatt contacted
me about a major concern:
The Maine Legislature's
Appropriations Committee
decided to bar LCPCs and
LMFTs from providing
services
to dually eligible
clients,
that
is, those with
both MaineCare and
Medicare.
Above & Beyond
Wellness for Women
Manchester, ME Contact
sandy@missingpeaceforwom
enshealth.com
Support for Caregivers
of those with Eating
Disorders
Caregiver Conference Call
Classes - 6-weekly 1 hour
phone sessions for parents
and others who care for those
with eating disorders.
http://hopenetwork.info/progr
ams-and-services/eatingdisorders-tele-classes/
The decision is based on an
obsolete Federal rule
regarding Medicare coverage
which failed to include
LCPCs and LMFTs as
providers.
It’s too late to change the
recent Maine Appropriations
Committee decision, but
Senator Susan Collins is
co-sponsoring a bill in
Congress that would
correct this for all the
states: S562.
updates:
http://www.amhca.org/news
/detail.aspx?ArticleId=627.
And the Maine Mental
Health Counselors
Association also has
background and suggestions
Soon we need to lobby to get for advocacy:
this bill passed at the Federal http://memhca.net.
level – which will solve our
For now, let’s educate
Maine problem.
ourselves and our colleagues,
Jeri Stevens, another Team
both in Maine and across the
Members, is actively
country, about this issue. ~
following this issue and says so that when the time comes
to act, we’ll be ready.
that The American Mental
Health Counselors
The solution is S562, and we
Association has some good
have to make sure it passes!
background materials and
D I SH IN G W IT H TH E MA IN E EA TI N G D I SO R D ER S L EA R N IN G C O L LA B O R A T I V E
Eating Disorders Association of Maine (EDAM)
Update
We are excited about this new statewide association and what it can accomplish, and we invite all
who would like to offer their services by joining the Board or volunteering on a committee to
contact us. We’d love to have you participate!
Page 3
Denver Bound?
5th Annual Eating Recovery
Center Foundation Eating
Disorders Conference
Fri. & Sat. Aug. 23 & 24th.
th
Our upcomoing quarterly board meeting is on Wednesday, June 12 in Portland from 5:30 –
7:30. If you have any interest in learning more, you’re welcome to attend. Email me ahead of time
for directions: mainelygirls2@gmail.com
EDAM executive board members talked about the new organization at the May eating disorders
conference in Freeport. A number of people signed up as professional members and received a tshirt, (printed and donated by Alice’s Guidi’s husband), with EDAM’s nify new logo. In addition,
Ann Conley arranged for a raffle, with a large basket of items donated by Coffee By Design.
Funds from both efforts will pay the filing fee to establish EDAM as a tax-exempt organization.
In the coming months you will be receiving the first edition of EDAM’s newsletter and an
invitation to join the organization as a professional member. Stay tuned!
Explore the research, trends
and emerging best practices
shaping the field.
Learn from and connect with
the leaders who develop
standards of excellence and
drive innovation in the
treatment of eating disorders.
FMI and to register ~
EatingRecoveryCenter.com
Self-Led Eating Weekend Intensive
For Therapists, Nutritionists and Health Professionals (16 CEU's)
***********************
Friday – Sunday, June 21 - 23, 2013
Concord, MA
FMI: Email: alice.rosen@gmail.com
Phone: (978) 369-1385
The Eating Recovey Center
provides comprehensive
treatment for anorexia,
bulimia, EDNOS and binge
eating disorder.
A self-led approach to repairing one’s relationship with food and body to enhance your work
with individuals who suffer from emotional eating.
Under the leadership of Drs.
Kenneth Weiner, Caris
Johnson, Emmett Bishop and
Ovidio Bermudex, the
program provides a full
spectrum of services for
children, adolescents and
adults and includes Inpatient,
Residential, Partial
Hospitalization, Intensive
Outpatient, and Outpatient
services.
Self-regulated eating is eating with Calmness, Clarity, Confidence, Curiosity, Courage, a
sense of Connectedness, Creativity and Compassion.
This experiential workshop is an opportunity to internalize the essentials of a healthy
relationship with food and body, and learn to guide others in the process.
* You will experience a cellular understanding that the body is Self-regulating.
* You will learn to differentiate nutritional from emotional hungers.
* Using the Internal Family systems approach, we will practice working with "resistance" to
eating when hungry, eating what one is hungry for, and stopping at satiety. We will use the
model to witness and release "diet" managers and firefighters from their extreme roles.
Cost: $320 (add $15 for 16 CEU if desired) plus $50 for "The Feeding Ourselves Method"
CD package. Limited to 8 participants.
Alice Rosen, MSEd, LMHC, who presented at May Eating Disorders Conference, has been
working with the BED population since 1979. She is the founder of The No-Diet and SelfLed Eating Workshops and The Conscious Cafe.
In an effort to increase
patient access to care
throughout the U.S., the
Center partners with Summit
Eating Disorders and
Outreach Program in
Sacramento, CA., and the
Moore Center in Bellevue,
WA.
Page 4
D I SH IN G W IT H TH E MA IN E EA TI N G D I SO R D ER S L EA R N IN G C O L LA B O R A T I V E
Aroostook County Road Trip
Breaking News!
Eating Disorders Public
Service Announcement to be
Filmed This July!
Ari Meil, writer and media
specialist at Maine Media
Workshops phoned yesterday.
All systems are in place for
filming and editing of our
eating disorders Public Service
Announcement!
We have a script, thank you
Susan Kimball.
We have an actor, thank you
Ellen Domingos.
We have a date and time,
Thank you Ari Meil.
We have a film and editing
crew, thanks to
Meg Weston, Maine Media
Workshops President.
If the weather cooperates,
the filming will be
out of doors in Rockport.
We are set to roll!
Does the Academy
give an Oscar
for best PSA?
Actor Paten Hughes and I spent five days in “The County” in April, Paten performing Add
Verb Production’s one-woman play, “The Thin Line,” to highly engaged audiences at five
schools, while I discussed eating disorders with groups of health care professionals and parents.
The bottom line is that parents, educators, and health care providers throughout the county have
expressed the need of intensive eating disorders treatment training for area professionals.
Several girls or young women have developed nearly fatal eating disorders in the last two years;
the need to increase local treatment capacity and provide a more advanced level of care is acute.
Mainely Girls is now partnering with Bill Flagg at Cary Medical Center in Caribou to make
that happen. We will pursue funding to offer a three-day training for 60 or so mental health
providers and registered dietitians in May 2014, with ongoing consultation and follow-up
opportunities. A training for medical providers will also be offered. All this will be coordinated
with an outreach effort to schools to help educators recognize signs and symptoms early on,
when treatment is most effective.
Paten and I are grateful to the Bingham Program and the Sadie and Harry Davis Foundation
for funding out trip north, to Cathy Plourde and Ryan Bass who helped make arrangements for
“The Thin Line,” and the too-numerous-to-name people in five towns who helped schedule
meetings, spaces, food, and provided introductions. Paten and I were warmly welcomed and
so enjoyed the openness and generosity that was offered us. (Paten remains disappointed,
however, that she never did see a moose.)
******************************************
New Hampshire – Moving Right Along
Our survey of NH treatment providers led to our survey report. (If you’d like a copy, please
email your request to me at mainelygirls2@gmail.com.)
This is being followed by a Stakeholders Meeting which is scheduled for Friday, June 28 at
Plymouth State University. At the meeting we will review the project’s mission, discuss
survey report findings; discuss stakeholders’ ideas regarding advancing eating disorders
prevention, intervention and treatment; consider the possibilities for using
telehealth/telemedicine for eating disorders treatment and professional mentoring partnerships;
establish priorities; and identify attendees’ areas of interest and possible degree of future
involvement in a Steering Committee.
If you’d like to attend, please email me at the address above by June 5 th.
************************
*******************************************
Oprah tells us….More adult
women are now developing
eating disorders than are
getting breast cancer.
Something like 13% to 12%.
(Oprah didn’t do the research,
but she printed it in her
magazine.
May Eating Disorders Conference
If you were there, you don’t need a review. If you weren’t there, you missed a very good
conference! As always, the networking itself was worth the registration fee. And we certainly
heard some excellent presentations from people who had a lot of knowledge and experience to
share. Several attendees mentioned wanting full-day workshops by certain presenters in the
future, and both Mainely Girls and EDAM will discuss that going forward. (Personally, I finally
learned what Motivational Interviewing is and am convinced it’s a critical tool for all those
working with eating disorders patients.) Thanks to all presenters, helpers and attendees!