Distinguished Guests Make Eating Disorder Event a Great day
Kirsten Haglund and 4 Star General Barry McCaffrey are the Keynote Speakers of a Great day of Eating Disorder Awareness in Newport Beach.
The Victorian is Sober Living by the Sea's eating disorder treatment facility for women. The Victorian is a highly regarded clinical setting for women to address their disordered eating and also work on inner issues and co-occurring alcoholism.
On Friday, April 9th, Miss America 2008 Kirsten Haglund spoke about her experience with anorexia at a conference hosted by The Victorian entitled: Awareness and Action on Eating Disorders: Confronting America's Silent Danger.
Kirsten Haglund discussed her history growing up in Michigan and suffering from anorexia in her early teens. Kirsten spoke a few different times addressing clinical professionals and members of the press. Each time Kirsten addressed a crowd she was charming and poised (as you would expect a Miss America to be).
Iora Haglund is Kirsten's mom and also spoke on surviving and eating disorder from the parent's perspective. It was really interesting to hear about the despair and hopelessness of a parent of an eating disordered teen. This event should do wonders for raising the awareness of eating disorders which are the most deadly mental illness.
General Barry McCaffrey
Four Star General McCaffrey also spoke as part of a panel to discuss the need to raise awareness about anorexia and bulimia. General Barry McCaffrey was the White House Drug Czar under Bill Clinton and he is very well known for his crusade to help curb the epidemic of drug addiction in the United States. General McCaffrey also showed that he is concerned and knowledgeable about eating disorders as well.
Touring the Facilities
The rest of the day was spent with Kirsten and General McCaffrey taking a very enjoyable tour of our treatment facilities. They visited and walked through:
- The Rose for Women
- The Landing For Men
- The Victorian for Eating Disorders
- Sober Living by the Sea Extended Care House
Both Kirsten and Barry were pleased to see such an amazingly beautiful setting combined with a high level of clinical care. We were able to shoot some of the video on this page as they walked through the facilities.
Barry and Kirsten are no stranger to our facilities because they both have a history working with CRC and The Victorian. We had a great day hosting our esteemed visitors and cannot wait to have them come back. For some links to articles in the press about the Eating Disorder Event click below:
