Connexions Resource Centre - Satellite Offices
Visits by appointment only
Shawville: 530, rue Main, Shawville, Qc, J0X 2Y0
Wakefield: 721, chemin Riverside, Wakefield, QC J0X 3G0
819-557-0615 •

#YouAsked: “My child has an eating disorder. Where can I find help?”

Eating disorders can involve rigid diets, bingeing on food in secret, throwing up after meals or obsessively counting calories. It’s not easy to watch someone you care about damage their health—especially when the solution appears, at least on the outside, to be simple. But eating disorders are more complicated than just unhealthy dietary habits. At their core, they’re attempts to deal with emotional issues and involve distorted, self-critical attitudes about weight, food, and body image. It’s these negative thoughts and feelings that fuel the damaging behaviors.

The following organizations provide both resources, helplines and directories to find specialized help for your child or a loved one:

Info-Social 811, option #2 is a free and confidential telephone consultation service that promptly puts you in contact with a psychosocial intervention worker in the event of a psychosocial problem.The service is available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Anyone living in Québec can call Info-Social 811 (or 1-866-567-4036) for themselves or a family member.  Info-Social 811 professionals offer advice and may answer psychosocial-related question. When necessary, they may also direct you to a resource, such as a crisis centre, where you can receive care or the required services.

NEDIC’s Barriers and Strategies to Receiving Eating Disorder Support

February 1 to 7 is Eating Disorders Awareness Week (EDAW). The theme this year is: Eating Disorders Can’t Afford to Wait.

Eating Disorders affect people of all genders, sexual orientations, ages, socioeconomic class, abilities, races, and ethnic backgrounds. That is why, from February 1st to 7th every year, Eating Disorder groups across Canada unite to commemorate Eating Disorder Awareness Week (EDAW) with a national week of action focused on educating the public about Eating Disorders.

It is a time to escalate awareness of the impact of Eating Disorders, the dangerous stereotypes and myths, and the supports available for people living with or affected by them.

EDAW is a collective effort, from coast-to-coast-to-coast. Organizations around the country are set to host local events, light notable landmarks in the colour purple, and engage in public education campaigns.

For more information about EDAW and to find out about events happening in your community, visit: Eating Disorders Awareness Week (EDAW)

Myths and Facts about Eating Disorders

Myth 1: You have to be underweight to have an eating disorder.
Fact: People with eating disorders come in all shapes and sizes. Many individuals with eating disorders are of average weight or are overweight.

Myth 2: Only teenage girls and young women are affected by eating disorders.
Fact: While eating disorders are most common in young women in their teens and early twenties, they are found in men and women of all ages—from children to older adults.

Myth 3: People with eating disorders are vain.
Fact: It’s not vanity that drives people with eating disorders to follow extreme diets and obsess over their bodies, but rather an attempt to deal with uncomfortable feelings.

Myth 4: Eating disorders aren’t really that dangerous.
Fact: Eating disorders are serious conditions that cause both physical and emotional damage. All eating disorders can lead to irreversible and even life-threatening health problems, such as heart disease, bone loss, stunted growth, infertility, and kidney damage.