Student life at University can be stressful enough, but having an eating disorder on top of work, your social life and any extra-curricular activities could make life ten times harder. Leeds University Union prides itself on being “Here for You” offering confidential and independent free advice. We even have our own Welfare Officer – Katie Siddal – who works to help students with general well being, mental and sexual health, our safety and our happiness.
Second year psychology student Ruju Desai is part of SRSH group, which stands for Student Run Self Help and is specifically used for helping students cope with eating disorders.
How did you get involved with SRSH?
I received an email in my first year asking if anyone would like to be involved with an eating disorders’ charity group. 45 people applied, then there was an interview process we had to go through and then they chose 3 or 4 people, of which I was one of. Afterwards there were hours and hours of training to teach you about confidentiality and how to run the sessions. This year the new recruits went down to Oxford and were even put up in a hotel during their training.
What does the charity do and who is it for?
SRSH is a volunteer led charity group who work with volunteers all around the country deal with mental health problems; it’s in most universities like Leicester, Bristol and Sussex but specifically the one we run in Leeds is for people with eating disorders. The woman who founded the charity actually suffered from an eating disorder herself at university. Our group in Leeds only started training in November 2011 and didn’t officially start till January, so we’ve been going a year now. The group is for students who may or may not have an eating disorder; you don’t have to be diagnosed, you can either have a problem, someone’s told you you have a problem or you just think you have. We all sit around and they just talk to each other about anything that’s on their mind or how their week’s gone, but trying to focus on feelings and eating.
What’s your role in the group? And how many people are involved in the running of SRSH Leeds?
My role is a facilitator and, along with three other facilitators, we organise and run events and sessions. It’s two people every fortnight, then we do sessions alternatively. We sit there, go through the rules and prompt conversation. There’s four of us facilitators right now and we’ve just had another four that were recruited last week.
Why is it important for a group like to exist? And how is it different to counselling group?
I think it’s really important for a group like this to exist as there are loads of places like hospitals and eating disorder institutions where they give counselling, medication, drugs and other kind of help. Whereas, what we do is nothing to do with counselling or giving advice, it’s a person who is suffering helping another person. I believe that a counsellor wouldn’t necessarily know what it’s like to have an eating disorder so someone else with an eating disorder can help another person with empathy and support. We’re not giving advice or telling anyone what to do.
What happens at one of your sessions?
The sessions are quite informal and start at 6.30pm on a Monday. We would set up at 6pm and align the chairs in a circle so that when people come in they can talk to each other and see everyone and no one’s backs are to anyone. We close the door and cover up the windows with paper so whatever happens in the sessions stays in the group. Then everyone comes in and we first start talking about how everyone’s weeks have been – no pressure to talk or chat. Then after half an hour of introducing ourselves we move on to ask more personal questions, but not like specifically aimed at one person, for example “how is everyone feeling this week?” “how has everyone been coping with work load?”. Then people just start talking and then us as facilitators will take a step back so everyone can talk to each other.
How do you broach the topic of eating disorders?
We never ask outright questions because it can make people feel quite uncomfortable so we never force conversation that’s to do with eating. We’d perhaps say: “what would you say has been positive about this week?” or “what would you say has made you feel uncomfortable this week?” and “how have you dealt with this?”. Then naturally it leads into conversation about how people are feeling about food and meal times etc.
Are there any ground rules for the sessions?
Yes there are. When the facilitators introduce ourselves we normally say the ground rules and also stick them up just in case anyone forgets. The ground rules are really, really important. Confidentiality is number one – whatever we talk about never gets spoken about outside these sessions, names especially. Then some of the other rules are that you’re not allowed to talk about calories, food types and anything to with behaviour such as purging as this can trigger other people.
Could you expand on that please?
Well an example would be, say if someone talked about purging and said how this helped them. Obviously purging isn’t good, especially for people with bulimia, and because quite a few, but not all, people with eating disorders are also quite competitive it could cause them to repeat these behaviours, whereas we’re trying to stop them.
Is it quite hard for people to stick to the ground rules?
I think it can be, as the rules are so important and so if someone even started to talk about, say calories, we’d have to stop them instantly. It might sound rude to interrupt but we have to as it’s so important. We’re trying to help, not promote eating disorders.
When are your sessions?
The sessions are run fortnightly every Monday from 6.30pm till 8pm in Room 3 upstairs in the Union. We’re strict on what time it starts, everyone has to be in the room by 6.30pm because if people come in and out it interrupts the flow of conversation, but then they can stay as long or as little as they want. We have the room booked till 8.30pm.
Is it proven that these type of sessions genuinely help people coping with eating disorders?
I don’t know if it’s been proven but last year the session I ran before summer had quite good positive feedback from people who had come along. Comments like: “This has really helped me talk to other people about it as I’ve already had all the other help I could get and this is the one thing I haven’t tried.” Most people want to give it a go and some have said that this has helped, even if it’s really minor, but it’s helped with their eating or how they feel towards eating.
Do you run any events with SRSH?
We did last year with Eating Disorders’ Week. We had a couple of stalls in the student union foyer and showed some films and some YouTube clips about celebrities who had been suffering eating disorders and how they got through it. We also had a carers fair for people whose friends, boyfriends, girlfriends, family members or anyone who they knew suffering could come along to this group and talk about their feelings and how they were concerned about them. This year on Monday 11th February we’ve got a stall in the Union foyer from 11am till 4pm and we’ll be selling handmade Valentines cards.
Finally, how can people get in contact with SRSH?
The official website is: www.srsh.co.uk where you can find all the information about what SRSH do as a charity, the eating disorders group and all the groups that are run across the UK. Then there’s our personal one which is: www.facebook.com/srshleeds.
Sessions: Every Monday fortnightly, 6.30pm till 8.30pm, Room 3 upstairs in the Union.
Upcoming sessions: 18th February, 4th March, 18th March, 15th April, 29th April
Image Sources:
1. Ruju’s own.
2. and 3. www.facebook.com/srshleeds