One Survivor Shows Why Funding Treatment for Eating Disorders is Worth the Investment

The high cost of a residential treatment program for eating disorders keeps many people from seeking treatment. Organizations like Moonshadow’s Spirit and Project Heal have stepped in to help. They provide scholarships to help individuals fund their treatment program. Founders of both organizations have personal experiences with eating disorders.

Project Heal

Liana Rosenman was diagnosed with anorexia when she was 12 years old. She was in outpatient therapy until her sophomore year of high school, but her weight continued to drop so she went into inpatient care that October.

Liana Rosenman is the co-founder of Project Heal. She was diagnosed with anorexia at the age of 12. (Photo courtesy of Liana Rosenman)

She and another young woman, Kristina Saffran, who attended the same treatment facility, became friends in a recovery group after leaving the inpatient program.

"We were the ones who really wanted recovery, we were the ones that were really challenging ourselves," said Rosenman.

They started hanging out more post-treatment and Rosenman said one topic kept coming up over and over again.

"We kept having these conversations about how everything is so flawed with the system and how we hear about all these stories of people who want to get better, but the finances were in the way," said Rosenman.

That's when Saffran and Rosenman came up with an idea to help. "She was a 10th grader, I was an 11th grader and we were just like let's start a nonprofit and let's have our first fundraiser. We had our parents, we had a meeting and they were like, 'You are crazy'," said Rosenman.

Even with their parent’s skepticism, they held their first fundraiser three months later and raised $14,000. Two months after that they sent their first applicant to treatment. That was in 2008 and Rosenman said the organization grew from there.

Kristina Saffran is the co-founder of Project Heal. She was diagnosed with anorexia at the age of 10. (Photo courtesy of Liana Rosenman)

Originally, Project Heal was only able to help applicants when funds were available. That meant sometimes only sending one or two people to treatment in a year.

Today, they are sending applicants quarterly. Last quarter, they were able to send four applicants to treatment. They have also partnered with multiple treatment centers such as Monte Nido and Columbia who have offered its services free of charge for Project Heal.

“It’s really incredible that we’ve grown to this point,” said Rosenman.

Project Heal chooses who receives the scholarship on many factors, but the biggest factor is the individual’s motivation to get better. Once selected as a recipient, Project Heal helps them from start to finish based on the person’s needs.

“We want to make sure that they are on the right path and whatever we can do to make sure that happens, we will do it,” Rosenman said.

That includes travel expenses to and from the treatment center, the treatment costs, and help on the road to their recovery.

“It’s an amazing feeling to be a part of their journey,” Rosenman said.

“It’s been an adventure and it’s been a great one,” said Rosenman. “I want to make sure people don’t go through the pain that I did.”

Sharon Mathiason created a scholarship fund called Moonshadow’s Spirit in 2010 for people who were seeking treatment, but couldn’t afford it. Mathiason said she wanted to do something that her daughter Jennifer—who battled her own eating disorder—would have wanted.

Mathiason said although Jennifer did recover from her eating disorder, some complications lingered. A particularly bad breakup led her back to low-self image.

“She refused to return to her eating disorder and sought what she believed was her only other means of escape,” Mathiason said.

Jennifer Mathiason helped others with eating disorders through online support groups. She went by the username "Moonshadow". (Moonshadow's Spirit/Facebook)

On February 21, 2009, Jennifer Mathiason committed suicide.

After she died, Mathiason logged onto Jennifer's Facebook page and saw messages from people all around the world. "All by people I did not know, whose names I did not know. My daughter called me everyday—sometimes twice a day—so I thought I knew her friends, or at least their names," said Mathiason.

Mathiason started private messaging some of the people who were leaving messages on Jennifer's page and she found out that a lot of them had met Jennifer online in a support group. Most of them only knew her by the screen name of Moonshadow.

"They told me 'Jennifer called me and stayed up all night with me, Jennifer came to visit me, Jennifer convinced me to go into recovery,'" Mathiason said.

She took the opportunity to ask all of the people who Jennifer helped what they thought would be a good memorial for Jennifer. She said they told her, "When she recovered it bothered her that she knew so many who could not recover because they couldn't afford it."

That is why Moonshadow's Spirit was created. "We call it Moonshadow's Spirit because most of them only knew her as a Moonshadow and this is what we do. We help people that can’t afford it," said Mathiason.

Sharon Mathiason and her husband, David Mathiason, at a fundraiser for Moonshadow's Spirit in 2013. (Photo courtesy of Sharon Mathiason)

Most of the funds that Moonshadow receives are from private donations, but they also have fundraisers and an annual 5K to raise more money. Today they give out scholarships four times a year and have helped 41 people with scholarships ranging from $500-$7,000. In total, Moonshadow's Spirit has funded more than $90,000 since May 2010.

Those awarded are based on the urgency of need, the financial need, the commitment to a treatment program, the desire to change the behaviors, and the strength of support that the individual has post treatment.

"Every time I write a check to a treatment center for someone, I'm happy to be helping them, but I would rather be shopping with my daughter. I have mixed feelings every time. I'm glad to be helping people, but I don't like the reason why I'm doing it," Mathiason said.

Moonshadow's Spirit plans to continue to provide scholarships, but they also want to move forward by increasing people's awareness about eating disorders and helping others understand them.