Articles
With Incredible Change Comes Space For Reflection
December 2020
I’m late to the game, but now that we’ve been in some form of quarantine, social unrest, election drama, coupled with our own mix of personal crises for nine months, I am worn down. I’ve gone back and forth about how open I feel capable of being, but as the leader of an organization that is focused on mental health, I know I need to be honest and share.
Like all of you, the experiences of 2020 have impacted Garment on personal and professional levels. And in August, I unexpectedly lost my mother.
I’ve sat down to address this almost every day and continue to come up blank. This is hard. Some days are distracting and I’m able to cross a few things off my to-do list. On others, the panic and loss feel a little too heavy and I need a break. I’m thankful for Jordan and my dog Kelby, the loves of my life, and the family and friends who have offered their love and support.
When I was in treatment, my mom loved and rooted for my peers as though they were a part of her own family, truly yearning for me and all my new friends to see their worth. Although our Garment candidates were not visible to her, she served as their number one fan. She made recovery possible for me, and I will forever be grateful that I could show her what my recovered life could look like.
With incredible change comes space for reflection, and all of this change has led to considerations on what we want to do and who we want to be as an organization. While we have been silent for quite some time, we have missed every moment of working with treatment professionals and Garment candidates. Without forgetting about the challenges that we have faced since March, and accepting them as part of our narrative, we are ready and recommitted to our mission and to change the landscape for not only those people in recovery from an eating disorder, but for all individuals who are struggling with mental health, body image, and the systems that are designed to tell us that we are not enough.
I'm excited to begin styling new candidates with a streamlined nomination process and the addition of a full-time Operations Program Manager.
Nominations
We have streamlined our nomination process to better serve our candidates and make collaboration with eating disorder treatment providers simpler and more standardized.
Beginning in January 2021, our nomination window will open the 1st-12th of each month. Candidates must be nominated by an eating disorder treatment professional, whether that’s a therapist, dietician, or another member of a person's treatment team. Once nominations are closed, we’ll review applications and notify the nominating treatment professionals. Garment can then get to work creating personalized try-on guides based on the individual’s curated boxes. This process will allow us to serve each candidate more efficiently, opening up space for us to serve more people over time. We know that we cannot possibly serve all the deserving individuals that will be nominated each round, so candidates may be nominated on more than one occasion.
For more information on the nomination process on our FAQ page.
Growth
Megan Neuf is joining us as our full-time Operations Program Manager. Megan’s journey to join the Garment team is years in the making. Megan and I have been friends since we were 13 and have always looked for opportunities to work together. We have been together through most of our major life moments; eating disorders and recovery, graduations, dating the wrong people, and then the right people, weddings, babies (fur and human). After all this time, we are both so excited to put her passion and skills to work on our Garment team.
Professionally, Megan has been pursuing a career in the nonprofit and public sectors. She received a bachelor's degree in social work and master’s degrees in social work and public health from the University of Pittsburgh. Megan has worked in the foundation community, nonprofit advocacy, and community relations for local government. In recent years, Megan has provided program and project management expertise to support public health programs that prevent overdose and suicide.
Megan has joined Garment to do a little bit of everything. With her primary focus on our growth as an organization, Megan will have her hands in fundraising, operations, and special projects that help achieve our vision.
Collaborations
We are actively seeking ways to build the Garment community through increased engagement, more collaborations with like-minded organizations, and virtual programming. Keep in touch on Instagram and Facebook and feel free to provide us with ideas of what you would like to see at info@thegarmentproject.org.