The Body Peace Collaborative comprises three non-profit organizations - Body Brave, Eating Disorders Nova Scotia and the Bridgepoint Centre for Eating Disorders. Together we aim to rapidly build community capacity to address eating disorders by offering culturally sensitive, inclusive, online training programs for healthcare professionals and for people working directly with youth. This training will equip frontline providers with the essential skills and tools needed to provide effective person-centred care and support to those struggling with eating disorders. These education modules were developed in collaboration with people with lived experience and are being offered through our innovative online platform. This allows us to consistently collect data and makes it uniquely accessible and scalable. We have successfully piloted the program and are now ready to scale nationally. We aim to train organizations across Canada, improving the lives of thousands of youth and families unable to access the care they need.
Presenters and slide deck
Ayeh Khanfar
Sonia Kumar, CEO, expert by lived experience Body Brave
Sonia Kumar holds a Master’s in Economics and Business from Wilfrid Laurier. She is the CEO of Body Brave, a national charitable organization. She also serves on the Canadian Medical Association's Patient Voice Committee.
After recovering from a devastating eating disorder that nearly took her life, Sonia co-founded charitable organization Body Brave. Body Brave provides person-centred treatment and support for those struggling with eating disorders and their families as well as healthcare professional training and education. With her economics and business background, Sonia has a particular interest in innovative, e-health approaches that drive systemic change in the healthcare landscape. As a mixed person of colour, Sonia believes in the importance of exploring ways in which treatment and support can become more accessible and equitable. She brings her passion and experiences of recovery to all of her work.
Dr. Karen Trollope, Medical Director, expert by lived experience (family/caregiver), Body Brave
Karen Trollope-Kumar is a family physician with over 30 years of clinical experience. In addition to her medical qualifications, she holds a PhD in medical anthropology. She is an Associate Clinical Professor of Family Medicine at McMaster University, and has been involved in medical education for many years, teaching medical students in her clinical practice, and later serving as Co-Director of the Professional Competencies program at McMaster. She’s also been involved with continuing medical education forfamily physicians at a national level. Major changes occurred in her life when her daughter Sonia became ill with an eating disorder. Karen realized then how many gaps exist in education, research and treatment of eating disorders. Sonia recovered from her illness after an arduous struggle. Karen and Sonia founded Body Brave in 2017, a non-profit corporation based in Hamilton aimed at providing support and advocacy for people with eating disorders. A second focus of Body Brave is to develop an e-platform that could serve as a hub for training and education about eating disorders. In Karen’s role as Program Director at Body Brave, she hopes to use her background and skills both to develop programming as well as to promote the e-platform. Karen is also a published author. She just released her memoir, Cloud Messenger, which has won a Canada Book Award.
Jeannine Smith
Key Learnings
- The high prevalence of eating disorders.
- The necessity of lived experience informing the creation of educational resources for professionals and supports