Great North Run 5 October 2008

A friend and I are doing the Great North Run 2008 for a charity called NIWE Eating Distress Service. Many people don't realise how devastating eating problems can be and there is still a great deal of stigma attached to them, just as there is with other mental health problems. At best eating disorders can dominate and take over someone's ability to get on with their life at their worst they kill: Anorexia has the highest death rate of any mental illness and between 5% and 20% of people who develop the disease eventually die from it. NIWE Eating Distress Service has been in existence for over 20 years now and through that time has supported many women and men in the North of England, both those with an eating problem as well as their friends and families. NIWE helps people understand why they have developed an eating problem and explore how they can change their behaviour. NIWE provides this support through a telephone helpline and through support groups run by trained counsellors. NIWE runs its services on a very small budget and is limited in what it can do because of this. We want to raise as much money as we can for NIWE because the demand is great and help at the right time can really make a difference. If you do sponsor us it will go directly to providing services.