WOODLAND HILLS : Group to Discuss Eating Disorders

The Pierce College WoMen’s Resource Center is offering a free support group for men and women who suffer from eating disorders, school officials said.

The program will be held on a drop-in basis from 4:30 to 6 p.m. two days, Tuesday and Dec. 20, said Barbara Fish, director of the center, which serves men and women. Non-students are also invited to attend.

It will be conducted by Joyce Levy-Katz, a marriage, family and child counselor who is volunteering her time, Fish said. For details, call the center at (818) 719-6437.

Levy-Katz said she routinely sends flyers to schools throughout the San Fernando Valley.

“What I found was that there was a number of people at Pierce College who could not afford to pay for the sessions,” said Levy-Katz, a recovering bulimic.

“I know what it’s like to be a student, to be trying to get your degree and at the same time battling with an eating disorder,” she added.

She said she chose the drop-in basis because people feel more comfortable with that format. It allows students to schedule the sessions around their classes, and those who don’t feel comfortable can leave at any time.

“Sometimes, there is a lot of shame and denial with eating disorders,” she said. “Sometimes, they just want to leave as soon as they get there.”

Two prior drop-in sessions drew seven and five people, respectively, Levy-Katz said. Two school staff members have also expressed interest in the program, Fish said.

It’s difficult to determine how many people on the Pierce campus suffer from eating disorders because all of the evidence to date is just anecdotal, Fish said. Part of the problem is that few people want to talk about it.

“For some of these people, this is the first time that they have ever talked to anybody about it,” Levy-Katz said.

She hopes to continue the program into next semester. “It’s just wonderful that the WoMen’s Resource Center allowed this to happen,” she said.