“Eating Disorder” Treatment, Recovery and Survival: Sharing, Gathering and Co-Creating Research-Informed Mad Art

Since the pandemic, eating disorder (ED) treatment admissions have surged across Canada and internationally. Wait times for ED recovery programs currently extend up to two years. We are not only facing an inaccessibility crisis, Canadian research has also found that ED programming is often ineffective. International scholars have written about the “revolving door” of ED treatment admissions suggesting efficacy issues as a global problem. This Banting postdoc project is building off Nicole Schott’s PhD research which involved transforming five of their ED scholarly publications into a research-informed play. The play was performed for audience participants made up of ED service users and professionals. Post-performance interviews were conducted with audience participants who responded to the play by sharing their intimate stories of ED treatment, recovery, and survival. Their stories revealed valuable insights (e.g., what is helpful) and heart wrenching findings: systemic discrimination based on gender, race, mental illness status, and body size (i.e., being turned down for treatment for weighing “too much”). Nicole transformed these insights and findings into a research-informed poem that is being published in a Canadian critical mental health textbook. This postdoc research will produce and share the poem as a multisensorial theatrical performance for a variety of ED stakeholders who will benefit from this knowledge translation/mobilization. After each performance, Nicole will guide post-performance workshops with audience participants. Nicole will transform this post-performance research into academic publications, plain-text documents for ED communities and policymakers, and an artistic exhibition for public witness and further research creation. This postdoc research will do social justice education through bridging the academy/community divide. Producing arts-based scholarship that is accessible and vital to the lives of Canadians holds the power to contribute to social justice, particularly for girls and women who are being disproportionately impacted.