Devon Slack, a 20-year-old biology major, looks like your typical California girl. Tall and blonde with a big white smile, most who walked by her would never think that this girl had any kind of problems. But if you would have seen her during her senior year of high school, you would have been around a very different person. One hundred pounds with organs failing, Slack was a victim to anorexia nervosa, and bulimia nervosa through exercise, or working out to the point of vomiting.

 “Middle of my junior year, I was over-weight, and I started losing weight to try to get healthy,” said Slack. “I noticed that the thinner I got, people would tell me that I looked really good and I started to think that the skinnier I got, the more compliments I would get. Once the summer before senior year came, everything just got out of control.”

Like Slack, many young-adults, both male and female, suffer from various forms of eating disorders. The week of Feb. 24, to March 3, is named eating disorder awareness week by the National Eating Disorder Association. The week where light is brought to those people, suffering from various forms of eating disorders.

According to a study done by N.E.D.A., 20 million women, and 10 million men suffer from an eating disorder at some point in their life. College-aged people make up 25 percent of these. 

 “Twenty five percent is a huge number,” said specialist Candy Bartole, licensed therapist and eating disorder who practices in Ventura and Westlake Village. “During this week I do a lot of pro-bono work as my way of giving back to the community. I give speeches and sit on panels to answer any questions people have.”

Last year, Bartole came to Moorpark College with N.E.D.A to spread awareness. But after reaching out to Moorpark via email, Bartole said that “this will be the first year in a long time that I won’t be doing any kind of work because Moorpark never answered us. So instead I scheduled appointments with my clients.”

Eating disorders have been put into the shadows as something that many don’t pay attention to.

“There is no certain way someone with an eating disorder looks,” said Slack. “A lot of people with eating disorders look like they are a normal weight and no one really knows. I just want people to know that there is help out there and that they need to talk about their issues. It’s a constant struggle to stay healthy but it’s worth it to be happy.”

According to Bartole, and the California State University Channel Islands website, there will be a performance of The Good Boy preformed and directed by students to recognize body image awareness week. Dr. Jon Derek Croteau will be reading excerpts from his book The Thinning Years about his struggles with eating disorders.