How can we make the messages people receive about health, food, minds and bodies ‘Eating Disorder Safe’?
The Eating Disorder Safe (ED Safe) principles each address a key area in relation to health, food, mind, body or harm minimisation, which all work together to help us create environments that uphold eating disorder prevention and harm minimisation.
The ED Safe principles are a world-leading public health initiative, arising from the National Eating Disorders Strategy 2023-33. Throughout the development of the National Strategy, NEDC consistently heard from community members about the need for broad-based change in the way that society speaks, thinks and acts about health, food, minds and bodies. People told us that safe, consistent messages and practices across the many touchpoints we all encounter in our daily lives are important for eating disorder prevention and harm minimisation.
This involves culture and practice change across a wide range of settings. That's why NEDC has been developing guidance materials to help translate the ED Safe principles into action across a wide range of contexts, including healthcare, education, sport, media, workplaces and more.
How can I put ED Safe approaches into practice?
Expand the boxes below to find resources relevant to your role. We are continuously updating and expanding our ED Safe resource bank to reach more people, so check back here for the latest updates.
Individuals and families
Check out the How-To Guide for individuals and families for an extensive list of ideas to help you put ED Safe approaches into practice at home.
Need something quicker? We've created a condensed fact sheet for families with eight key actions for you to try.
Frontline workers, managers and planners
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We have recently launched the Eating Disorder Safe First 2000 Days Implementation Plan. This Plan looks at how to implement ED Safe approaches in all key touchpoints across the First 2000 Days of life, from conception (or just before it) to five years of age.
We have launched several supporting resources for the Implementation Plan. In addition, links to the wide range of ED Safe resources and programs our partners have created for the early years period can now be found via our Workforce Development Hub.
The ED Safe How-To Guide for frontline workers gives a wide range of suggestions for ED Safe practice across the broad range of settings where workers have a duty of care for people who may be at risk of or experiencing an eating disorder.
The ED Safe How-To Guide for managers and planners helps you lead your team, service and organisation in adopting ED Safe approaches.
Wondering how to talk about food in the context of your role? Our factsheet on neutral food language has plenty of concrete examples.
How can you talk about bodies in safe and respectful ways? Our factsheet on neutral language about bodies has tips and examples.
We also have Quick Reference Guides, for an overview of the evidence, lived experience perspectives and key actions that you can take. Check out the guides on Cultural Perspectives, the First 2000 Days, Food Insecurity and Weight Stigma in Healthcare.
Policymakers and researchers
See the How-To Guide for researchers and policymakers for key guidance on embedding a harm minimisation approach in your work.
We also have Quick Reference Guides, for an overview of the evidence, lived experience perspectives and key actions that you can take. Check out the guides on Cultural Perspectives, Research Practice and Public Health Campaigns.
Reach out to us at nationalstrategy@nedc.com.au if you have specific queries about a current or proposed research project or policy development process.
Communicators, media and relevant platforms
Check out our How-To Guide for communicators, media and relevant platforms for a wide range of ideas to incorporate into your news, content and related processes and guidelines.
We also have Quick Reference Guides, for an overview of the evidence, lived experience perspectives and key actions that you can take. Check out the guides on Language in Media and Social Media and Public Health Campaigns.
See also: tips and guidelines for portrayal of eating disorders.
Workplaces
See the How-To Guide for workplaces for a wide range of suggested actions to boost safe and supportive workplace cultures and reduce risks to staff mental health and wellbeing.
If you have a case study to share about your own Eating Disorder Safe activities, we would love to know about it! Please email nationalstrategy@nedc.com.au.
How do the Eating Disorder Safe principles address cultural safety?
‘First Nations Perspectives: Strengthening the Eating Disorder Safe Principles’ is a step towards developing culturally safe and aligned approaches to eating disorder prevention, care and healing among First Nations communities. It sets out a definition of cultural safety in the context of eating disorders, discusses key historical and contemporary issues that uniquely affect First Nations people and communities, outlines key First Nations-led approaches to health and wellbeing, and sets out practice tips. These concepts have been woven throughout all Eating Disorder Safe documents and resources, and should be central to all efforts to put ED Safe approaches into action and practice.
With thanks
The development of the Eating Disorder Safe principles was supported by La Trobe University, Southern Cross University, an Expert Advisory Group and a First Nations Governance Group. Their contributions greatly enriched our thinking and will lead to much greater impact. We also thank the First 2000 Days Expert Advisory Group and Collaborative Network for helping us translate the principles into tangible priorities for action.
NEDC thanks the students whose research projects contributed to the development of the Eating Disorder Safe principles: Sachi Liston and Nina Grdjan, supervised by Professor Leah Brennan, from La Trobe University.
We also thank the students who have contributed to the resources on this page: Madison Bruhn from Deakin University and Zi-Chih "Arielle" Liao from Macquarie University.