Anti-bias body image curriculum for high schools

Dear Friend,

Today’s young people are spending more than eight each day on their phones and computers. They have ample opportunity to compare their appearance to edited and filtered images of people they see on their social media sites. It is not surprising that 77% of adolescents report “body image distress,” feeling dissatisfied with their own appearance. We know that having a negative perception of their bodies leads to serious mental health consequences such as 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 evidence-based workshops for adults and curricula for youth that are designed to help children develop a healthy relationship to food and their body.

We are proud to announce the completion and successful testing of BE REAL's BodyKind program. Here are some notable highlights of BodyKind:

• Be Real’s BodyKind high school, body image curriculum is now available. It is ready to be used by teachers across the country. We are testing this curriculum in Ireland the fall of 2023 in 37 schools. We are working with school systems and eating disorder non-profits in Georgia, Iowa, Illinois, Rhode Island, Oregon, and Minnesota on bringing Body Confident Schools to their communities.
• BodyKind’s reach is expanding to other countries. We have received significant interest in developing cultural adaptations of BodyKind from: Ireland, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and Israel.
• BodyKind's influence is expanding to middle schoolers and college students. We are currently developing a curriculum on How to Eat based on Intuitive Eating principles for middle schoolers and high schoolers. We have a version of BodyKind coming out for middle school and college student activity groups. 

Thank you for your past support at GlobalGiving. We could use your help now more than ever to develop and expand BodyKind’s reach!

Confidently yours,

Denise Hamburger

Executive Director of BE REAL