History & Logo
The History of the Eating Disorders Foundation Inc
The Eating Disorders Foundation Inc was established in 1991 by the founder, Amanda Jordan. At that time, it was common for families affected by these illnesses to be given the advice that these were lifelong disabilities and the best that could be hoped for was that people would ‘manage their condition.’ She believed that it was important to decode some of the secret language of the illness; validating the experiences of the sufferers and their families, while working within the medical and therapeutic community to improve their understanding of these illnesses and provide more effective treatments.
The Eating Disorders Foundation is the only organisation in NSW with consumer expertise that offers information and support to those people affected by an eating disorder, including sufferer and their families, friends and carers. The foundation also provides information and training to professionals in health, education and the media.
A critical component of this work is our counselling and advisory service. We run both the NSW Eating Disorders Helpline which last year assisted over 8,000 telephone callers (up from 2,000 in 2001) and an online counselling service with up to 20 enquiries a day. Young people particularly find the anonymity of an online service most appealing. Our counselling work frequently leads to early identification of illness and the accessing of appropriate professional help, provides hope to sufferers and helps maintain the sanity of families!
The demand on our service is constantly increasing - and thanks to the generous support of our benefactors and the fundraising efforts of our Events Coordinator and her committee we have been able to employ additional social workers and psychologists to keep pace with this demand. The focus of our work over the next three years is to increase the awareness of our service in regional and remote areas where no such help is available and treatment facilities are virtually non-existent.
The Pink Flannel Flower Logo
Why have we chosen the Pink Flannel Flower as our logo?
Our new logo represents the Pink Flannel Flower. Whilst designing the new logo we decided that it would be appropriate to have an Australian Native flower as our symbol. We then discovered that the Flannel Flower is the national symbol used to promote awareness of mental health. Further research found that the Pink Flannel Flower is unique to New South Wales….a perfect fit!
Can you tell us about the Flower?
The Pink Flannel Flower (Actinotus forsythia) is a very rare plant in the daisy family. The Pink Flannel Flower belongs only to the upper Blue Mountains in New South Wales where it is known to grow in a few isolated locations and even then its flowering is very spasmodic and unpredictable. It is as rare as it is precious.
What is the significance of this flower to eating disorders and to recovery?
To survive the extremes of Australia’s climate the Flannel Flower has had to be adaptable, in the same way, all of us, regardless of our life circumstances, need to develop resilience and the ability to adapt to change in order to strengthen and maintain our mental health.
The Flannel Flower, with its soft silky texture, encourages contact and is thought to help people express their feelings verbally and to develop sensitivity. People with an eating disorder lose themselves to the illness. They risk withdrawing from family and friends, and all their creative, vocational and educational opportunities and connections are compromised. The pink flannel flower reminds us that connections are more important than isolation and the Eating Disorders Foundation provides that vital first connection to recovery. Because we are open and empathetic to a person’s expression of distress, we can help a person to recover but ultimately, we aim to also change the negative attitudes of our society to mental illness.
We were very fortunate to have been offered the pro bono services of Zern Liew from Eicolab to design the logo and we thank him most sincerely for his time and above all, his patience.