pink background with yellow tire tread stripe that reads educate yourself, support your friends and celebrate recovery

Educate yourself. Support your friends. Celebrate recovery.

Eating disorders are both complex and treatable. They can affect people from all demographics, regardless of gender, age, race, sexual orientation, body shape, or weight. We recognize that racism, sexism, fatphobia, and other systems of oppression frequently contribute to eating disorders. You can’t tell if someone has an eating disorder just by looking at them.

Know the Signs

Restrictive eating habits and dieting are some of the strongest risk factors for developing disordered eating. Negative body image and lack of self- worth, when combined with other biological, emotional, psychological, interpersonal, social, and cultural factors like beauty standards and fad diets, can lead to an eating disorder.

If you think you might have an eating disorder we are here for you. Everyone’s experience and road to recovery looks different and is shaped by the broader context of culture and systemic oppression. The Center for Health and Wellbeing strives to recognize these differences in our collective work and to approach disordered eating and eating disorders through a body liberation lens. We believe that all bodies are worthy of care and we celebrate body diversity in the prevention and treatment of eating disorders on campus.

Get Support

You can fully recover from an eating disorder. It is easiest to achieve when you seek support early.

Because eating disorders are complex illnesses, they are best addressed by a team, including a medical provider, a therapist, a psychiatrist, and a dietitian.  The team works together to support your physical health, address your thoughts or psychological concerns that contribute to disordered eating, ensure that you are adequately nourished, and create a recovery plan to prevent relapse.

The Center for Health and Wellbeing can collaborate with your existing treatment team, or assist you in creating a local treatment team to help you get the support you need.

On-Campus Resources

Clinical Services

Call Student Health Services to schedule a visit with your UVM Primary Campus Provider or UVM dietician.  You can also schedule appointments on MyWellbeing.

Call Counseling & Psychiatry Services to schedule a visit with a CAPS counselor. You can also schedule appointments on MyWellbeing.

Body Positive UVM

Body Positive UVM is a community that fosters body acceptance and self-love by encouraging students to explore their relationships with body, food, and movement.  Based on Health At Every Size™ it provides weight-neutral information about health, challenges diet culture and discrimination based on body size and appearance, and provides a space for interpersonal connection and community. 

Eating Disorder Awareness Week

We recognize Body Liberation and Eating Disorder Awareness Week each year as a campus community with workshops, events, and campus-wide activities to draw attention to eating disorders and body liberation.