Updates from the National Center of Excellence for Eating Disorders

· by · in anorexia nervosa, Awareness, Events, NCEED. ·

CEED was awarded a grant by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) to establish the National Center of Excellence for Eating Disorders (NCEED) (see an overview of NCEED published on the Southern Smash blog here). The award was an incredibly exciting opportunity, and we have been hard at work developing the core website and various programmatic activities. In this blog, we present updates on our progress thus far!

  • Our first goal was to define our mission and vision. With input from Content Experts, our Advisory Board, and our partnering organization 3C Institute, we declared our mission to be advancing education and training of healthcare providers and promoting public awareness of eating disorders and eating disorder treatment.
  • Our second task was to develop a strategy to broaden our reach. We created social media platforms using Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram that allow us to share information and interact and engage with providers and the general public.
  • With these pieces in place, NCEED officially launched on February 25, 2019. NCEED leadership and staff worked toward a Phase I launch focused on unveiling the center’s preliminary website. The launch also coincided with National Eating Disorders Awareness Week, which was the perfect opportunity for NCEED to begin providing resources to healthcare providers and the general public.
  • We built momentum for the launch by working with several nationally recognized eating disorder organizations and other media outlets including the Dana Foundation, Academy for Eating Disorders, and Project Heal. Interviews, press releases, and social media posts with these organizations were instrumental in spreading the word about NCEED (and you can read more about them here).
  • NCEED also hosted an informational meeting during the 2019 International Conference for Eating Disorders (ICED), during which thought leaders in the eating disorders field were invited to offer feedback and discuss collaborative efforts.

NCEED is now busy working toward the Phase II launch which will focus on expanding the Resource Library and developing courses and materials for the training component of our offerings. To further these efforts, NCEED has:

  • Collected resources from our in-house Content Experts specific to their areas of expertise and populations served. Information shared was both comprehensive and representative.
  • Generated our first newsletter that provided information on our Phase I launch as well as spotlighting the activities of NCEED faculty.
  • Continued to develop collaborative relationships with the eating disorders field (shout out to Southern Smash!) and other medical and healthcare organizations.
  • Attended the Eating Disorder Coalition’s(EDC) Advocacy Day in Washington, DC.

On June 4th, NCEED held its first educational webinar in collaboration with Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA). This free educational webinar focused on managing eating disorders in primary care and provided hands-on skills and tools for use in clinical practice. If you were not able to attend live, you can still access the recorded webinar through NCEED.

We are excited about the advancements NCEED has made, and we look forward to sharing additional training opportunities as they arise. We encourage you to stay informed about upcoming events and website developments by signing up at www.nceedus.org.