Anti-bias body image curriculum for high schools

Dear Friend, 

Today’s young people are spending about eight and a half hours a day on their phones and computers. Studies show this gives them ample time to compare their appearance to edited and filtered images of people they see on their social media sites. It is not surprising that upwards of 70% of adolescent girls and 45% of adolescent boys are dissatisfied with their appearance. We know that having a negative perception of their bodies can then lead to serious mental health consequences such as developing eating disorders, depression, isolation, anxiety, risky sexual behavior, substance abuse, and low self-esteem.

BE REAL is committed to spreading body confidence resources to young people. We have workshops for adults and curricula for youth that are designed to teach children how to develop healthy relationships with food and their bodies.

We are proud to report that our high school curriculum, Be Real’s BodyKind has finished its pilot phase. These are the highlights: 

1. We brought together a team of body image academics, psychologists, and teachers from Ireland, Australia, and the University of North Carolina to create Be Real’s BodyKind body image curriculum for high school students.  
2. Workshops and presentations were showcased across the US in preparation for the study.  We delivered BodyKind to over 75 students and 10 teachers to get their feedback
3. We finalized pilot testing of Be Real’s BodyKind our high school body image curriculum, in Brooklyn Center Community High School in Brooklyn Center, Minnesota. Our results showed that students found the lessons important, relevant to their lives, enjoyable, and effective.
4. Educating educators about Be Real’s BodyKind at education conferences all over the country. Be Real has been selected to present the curriculum BodyKind and its findings at the SOPHE 2022 Annual Advocacy Summit in October 2022. I am the keynote speaker at Quad Cities Eating Disorder Conference.

Thank you for your past support at GlobalGiving. We could use your help now more than ever to distribute BodyKind to high schools all over the country!

Confidently yours, 

Denise Hamburger 

Executive Director of BE REAL