The new MGEDT pens and button badges arrived this week (see photo below). We're really pleased with the results and hope you'll all agree. 

We've not wasted any time getting these sent out and many of the main eating disorder groups and charities should be recieving a stock of these to distribute this week. If you're a group or individual and would like to request some please email us via the contact page with your name and address. Please note we are only able to send pens and badges to UK addresses at present.

The new MGEDT pens and badges are ready for order.

The Article 12 youth council, a project run by Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Mental Health, have created two short films aimed at tackling the stigma surrounding mental health issues; one about depression and the other focusing on eating disorders.

MGEDT has been supporting the Article 12 by appearing in their eating disorders film and providing guidance over the last two months about the issues men face in getting help for their eating disorders, providing them with the valuable insight to make their eating disorder film gender inclusive.

The young people's hard work finally paid off when the two films were shown at a premiere screening called 'Summerscreen.' The event was attended by several other youth projects on a big screen in a local Oxford cinema.

The project will be available online on the OBMH website and you tube page as well as plans to distribute throughout networks in Oxfordshire, and will be heavily publicised in local media.

Nick Watts, MGEDT Trustee and has been supporting the young people on this project, says: "Overall I think the project has been a massive success and will go far in pushing the awareness campaign not only for MGEDT but the overall issue of eating disorders and general mental health. I would like to thank the Article 12 youth council and filmmaker Alison Palmer-Smith for getting us involved and to help us generate the vital publicity and exposure we need to further our campaign in the Oxfordshire area."

MGEDT is pleased to announce that we have secured a £1,500 grant for campaigning work and core costs.

The grant comes from ‘Grassroots Action Support Fund’ to support campaigners and small campaigning groups for vital funds to support campaigning development work. The fund is managed in joint partnership between Shelia McKechnie Foundation and Esmee Fairbairn Foundation.

Sam Thomas (MGEDT Founder and Project Leader) won the grant for MGEDT after delivering a seven minute ‘Dragon’s Den’ style pitch followed by questions from the panel.

We are exceptionally pleased to receive this grant as will cover most of our basic essential costs as we continue to fundraise for the long-term sustainability of the project. Last month we were successful in getting a £6,000 grant from the National Lottery’s ‘Awards for All’ programme. This is to develop a poster and leaflet to be distributed to various outlets nationally and an event for early next year.

We are hopeful that we will have obtained charitable status later this year to optimise funding streams through community fundraising.

Sam says: “Our goal is to continue to raise awareness of men and eating disorders through numerous ways and levels so that this is issue is properly recognised. I feel that we are still at the very early stages in our campaigning work and the grant from Grassroots Action Fund will help us immensely in the next stages of the project.”

On Wed 21^st July Sam Thomas (MGEDT Founder and Project Leader) was interviewed on ‘The Big Fix Live’ to celebrate two years of ITV Fixers.

The event has held at the glitzy ITV Studios in London at Studio 1 where numerous flagship ITV programmes are filmed including ‘X Factor’ and ‘Ant and Dec’s Saturday Night Take Away’ to name but a few shows. The 90 minute programme celebrated the successes of the hundreds of projects ITV Fixers has supported including ‘Men Get Eating Disorders Too.’

Sam was interviewed by Danal MacIntyre, presenter for ITV regional programmes and asked Sam why he set up the project and what the future plans are for charitable status.

Numerous celebrities supported the event by recording video messages from Stephen Fry, Alan Carr, John Barrowman, Graham Norton and others.

ITV Fixers is a major campaign supported by Vinspired.com and created by the Public Broadcasting Trust, giving young people the opportunity to tackle an issue they feel passionately about. Sam approached ITV Fixers two years ago to establish the first website for men with eating disorders to encourage men to seek help.

Sam says: “ITV Fixers have been incredibly supportive since the start and I am so grateful to them for giving me the chance and helping me to set up the website. ‘The Big Fix Live’ was an amazing event and I was thrilled to be a part of it.”

To see Sam’s interview go to: http://www.mengetedstoo.co.uk/index.php/tv-and-media.html

You can watch other segments of ‘The Big Fix Live’ here:  http://www.itvfixers.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=frontpage&Itemid=199