NAME: Chanaya Belgrave

SCHOOL: Siparia East Secondary

SUBJECT: English A
CANDIDATE NO:
TOPIC: Mental Illness
GROUP MEMBERS: Jamila Ail,
Sarah-Lee Bes
Tia-Marie-Murray
Kermille Charles.

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TABLE OF CONTENT

PLAN OF INVESTIGATION 3
FIRST REFLECTION 4
SECOND REFLECTION 5
THIRD REFLECTION 6
ORAL PRESENTATION OVERVIEW 7
GROUP REPORT 8
REFERENCES 9
LITERARY PIECES 10

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PLAN OF INVESTIGATION
Our chosen topic our English A SBA is “Mental Illness” we choose this topic to expand our
knowledge and to learn different ways in which we can help others who’s suffering with Mental
Illness. My sub-topic is “ANOREXIA”. Anorexia is an eating disorder. People who have
anorexia try to keep their weight as low as possible by not eating enough food .I choose this
topic to know and share about and people who might be ineed from it. As an English student I
hope to learn research skills and improve my speak and job opportunities and to relate to people
from every country. I will be collecting stories, poems and articles from the internet and libraries.

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Reflection on a story
“My Anorexia “
The anorexia story of a girl who woke up one morning and thought to herself she going to start
restricting her eating she was slowly pushing her self to eat less than experienced it felt like it
was the most competitive times of her life .No matter how much weight she lost she was never
happy with herself. She become healthy enough her period completely stopped. She realized that
what she was doing was wrong and she needed help. The story was sad and I’m happy she came
back to her normal life.

Reflection on a story
“Sara’s story”
Sara’s story is a story of a girl who has issues with her weight and self esteem since junior high
school. She struggled with Bulimia. She completed school, graduated with Bulimia. She was
terrified and felt worthless. Her boyfriend even dumped her. She couldn’t sleep or eat. She
started to lose a lot of weight and it was unhealthy for her. This story was a struggled, but Sara’s
didn’t give up and she had family and friends who cared and helped her out.

Reflection on a poem
“Anorexia you’re inside of me”
This poem describes someone feeling mixed with emotions and struggles with anorexia. One day
the person decided to lose weight and stop eat. He thought it was the right choice then realized it
was a terrible mistake. He did get skinny might have been suffering way too long and was close
to death. He worked and forced it to leave to achieve freedom and live his life. This poem was
sad.

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The second reflection
Reflection on a story
“My Anorexia “
This literary device is narrative the writer uses physiological facts to helps the reader picture the
character is abnormally low body weight. Each point was irritability and sad. The tone of this
article was depressing. The mood is sad at the beginning but overall, she was happy at the end.

Reflection on a story
“Sara’s story “
This is an article of bulimia. This literary piece is a narrative the writer uses descriptive points to
help the reader picture the character. Each point was a struggled with anxiety. The tone of this
article was uncontrolled. It was life threatening at the beginning but overall better at the end.

Reflection on a poem
“Anorexia you’re inside of me “
This poem has 4 verses comprising on 8 lines. The poet uses rhyming words such as
trouble/struggle a death/treat inside of me. The tone of this poet was depressing and unhappy.

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The Third Reflection
This SBA has made me an active person by helping me to work more effectively in groups,
display better time management and improve my English skills. It also has helped me to gain
new knowledge. This SBA was not easy it took lot of time to find the right poetry and research
plus putting everything together carefully. Working in groups has taught me teamwork. Working
together is a good trait to process. This SBA has also helped me to be more confident and believe
in myself to be outspoken to read my Oral presentation. My writing skills and vocabulary was
improved. I have learnt facts and know more knowledge about my topic Anorexia.

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Oral Presentation
Eating disorders are like invisible chains. Eating disorders come in different types. Anorexia
makes people think they are overweight even when they are not. They eat very little and become
too thin. Bulimia is when someone eats a lot, then tries to get rid of the food by making
themselves sick. They are illnesses that make people scared of food, their bodies, or both.
Imagine being afraid of something we need to live, like food. That’s what it’s like for those with
eating disorders. They are more than just “picky eating”. They are serious health problems that
can even take away lives. These disorders don’t just hurt bodies, they hurt minds too. They can
make people feel sad, scared, and alone. They can also lead to other health problems like heart
disease, bone loss, and even brain damage. Eating disorders can be beaten. It’s not easy, but with
the right help, recovery is possible. Doctors, therapists, and dietitians can all help.

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GROUP REPORT
This assessment started out with our English teacher explaining what it was about further into the
conversation she allowed us to place ourselves into groups. The members of this group are
(Jamila Ali, Sarah-lee Best, Tia-Marie Murray, Chanaya Belgrave and Kermille Charles). Our
topic is “Mental Illness” and our sub-topic were selected. Each group member had a different
topic as such finding three pieces of data our theme was not easy. The use of Google was very
beneficial of gathering the information we needed to complete this assessment. Lastly, we
frequently requested help from our teacher regarding our reflection as we did not fully
understand what it should entail.
We then analyzed all the pieces and through a process of voting and elimination, we found that
these pieces best spoke to our overall topic. The three pieces chosen were two poems and a story.
In the poem entitled “The Sun Will Shine” written by Stephanie Paige, the poet speaks about the
different feelings that leads a first mother into a state of depression after pregnancy. The title of
the next poem is “PTSD” by Linda M. Crate, the poet describes the challenges of coping with
PTSD and how it can control your own life. The other piece is a story about a girl who thought to
herself to eat less, and it was the most competitive times of her life.
Our objectives were met, and we were able to complete the assessment in the time period that
was given to us. In conclusion at the end of the research each person was able to improve their
English skills and learn to cooperate with each other to achieve a common goal.

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REFERENCES
Story- “My Anorexia”
Name of author- Megan Collins
Date it published- April 14th, 2022
“My Anorexia” story link-
https://firststepsed.co.uk/my-anorexia-story/

Story-“Sara’s story”
Name of author- www.nedic.ca
Date it published- April 2006
“Sara’s story “link-
https://keltyeatingdisorders.ca/generalinformation/stories/saras-story/

Poem-“Anorexia you’re inside of me”

Name of author- Always anxious
Date published- Oct 2014
“Anorexia you’re inside of me” link-
https://hellopoetry.com/words/anorexia/

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LITERARY PIECES
My Anorexia
It’s pretty difficult to pinpoint exactly when I turned to food as a way My of feeling like I had
control of my life. It wasn’t like I just woke up one morning and thought from now on I’m going
to start restricting my eating and counting calories. It felt like it was very slow and almost felt
‘natural’ in a very weird and twisted way. Slowly pushing myself to eat less and less calories and
avoid more and more food groups that I labelled as ‘bad’.

My experience with anorexia felt like it was one of the most competitive times of my life,
constantly comparing myself to others and questioning how much further I could take it. I was
never happy. No matter how much weight I lost I still felt I had to have a new target to lose even
more. In a way it gave me something to be momentarily proud of that I had achieved something
but then seconds later I was feeling down like I could go further. To make matters worse when
going to the GP to be told that my BMI wasn’t quite low enough to get help that made me want
to restrict even more to prove that I was sick and did need help.

I honestly missed eating the foods, the foods that I always enjoyed, like really missed them. But
no matter how hard I tried to convince myself that I ‘deserved’ them, I always found a reason to
tell myself I didn’t. It was a way of getting control in my life when I felt I didn’t have any. The
honest truth about any eating disorder is it does the absolute opposite.

The more poorly I got the less choices I had on what me or my body was doing. I already felt
unattractive before my anorexia but because of my weight loss and side effects it made me feel
even worse about the way I looked. I had tiny downy hairs all on my arms and body which was
my body’s way of defending itself and keeping warm, but my hair on my head was falling out as
I didn’t have the right nutrients in my body for it to grow. I lost my figure completely; I had no
boobs or bum which was a massive thing to me because I love looking and feeling feminine. Not
only that but because I wasn’t healthy enough my periods completely stopped. At this point I
realised that what I was doing to myself was wrong and I needed help.

I can honestly say that I don’t know where I would be today if First Steps hadn’t been there. First
Steps didn’t need me to tick any criteria to say ‘yes’, I needed help. They just needed me to say
that yes, and that I did feel like I had a problem with food.

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I started off having 1 to 1 sessions, talking about my difficulties with food and body image and
went to the young person’s support group. It was great to feel like I wasn’t the only one who was
struggling with this and have someone fully understand where I was coming from. Because my
weight was very low by the time, we found out about First Steps they helped push me through as
an emergency referral to CAMHSED.

Through the medical help from CAMHS and support from First Steps I was able to restore the
weight I had lost with assistance. To begin with I didn’t feel like I was ever going to get better, I
felt I didn’t deserve to get better, I felt very lost and isolated. It took being told by my doctor that
if I carried on the way I was I would be dead in less than 6 months for me to realise I needed to
get better and try so hard to get through this.

Recovery is not straight forward. It didn’t happen overnight. It certainly wasn’t easy. Recovery is
very up and down and some days you will feel like waking up and slipping back to old habits,
but fighting the urge is the only thing that will truly make you better. For me, getting through this
meant facing my fear foods and taking supplements to restore the weight. I would go out for
meals with my therapists to talk about how it made me feel in the moment and help me fight the
voice that was telling me I was undeserving. With this support and understanding I felt less
‘weird’ for having these thoughts and made it easier for me to accept the illness and the recovery
journey ahead.

For me having someone understand the way my brain was thinking made recovery so much
easier. My parents went to the skills for careers group at First Steps, for me this was the best
thing in my recovery journey. I felt less guilty for my anorexia as I knew that they had a better
understanding of how to help me and had a group of people they could talk to who all were
going through the same.

Recovery for me made me realize how much enjoyment I’d missed out on in the last few years. I
don’t know when I’ll say that I’m fully recovered. But now I have the tools and understanding to
fight back against the thoughts that I have when they arise. I still have my days when I struggle
and feel like I don’t deserve to eat and hate the way my body looks, but I now have enough
respect for my body to make sure it has the right nutrients that it needs to function. I still miss the
voice that used to tell me I was doing well when I was restricting but I now know that the voice
wasn’t there to protect me, it wasn’t helpful and it certainly didn’t add any benefit to my life. I
can now go out for meals with my family and friends and be in the moment and appreciate how
far I have come.

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If I had to give any advice for someone who is at the beginning of their recovery journey it
would be don’t be afraid to speak out and say you need help, don’t accept no as an answer and
focus on your own journey. Every recovery journey is different, just because your journey may
be different to someone else it doesn’t make you any less deserving of help.

Sara’s Story
My story is not that different from most people with an eating disorder. My struggle with bulimia
fits the textbook definition and the similarities between my story and others are uncanny. But to
me, it is unique, it is different, and it is extremely personal. And my recent journey into recovery
has been the proudest, most difficult accomplishment of my life.

I am currently 25 years old, and I have had issues with my weight and my self-esteem since
junior high. I was your typical, awkward preteen. Chubby, braces, glasses, acne and a sweet, yet
painfully shy, personality. I was self-conscious about everything, including my weight.

As I entered high school, the concern I had about my body grew stronger. Then one day, I was
home after school watching a talk show. The topic was eating disorders. I watched several young
girls discuss their struggles with anorexia and/or bulimia. I listened intently as one girl described
exactly how she made herself sick. A light went off in my head. I made my way to the washroom
in a daze. I looked at myself in the mirror, still not entirely sure what I was doing. Then I pulled
my hair back into a ponytail, knelt over the toilet and made myself sick. I wish, with all my
heart, that I could tell every young girl or boy who is contemplating that very action for the first
time (or the action of skipping a meal) – not to succumb. That it may seem like a great way to
control your weight, but instead it wreaks havoc on your body. That you may think you’ll only
do it occasionally, but like any addiction it will become your life. I wish I could tell them to say
NO to that first, not so powerful, urge. To get out while they still can.

My on again, off again relationship with bulimia throughout high school and university was not
something I considered serious – at the time. It was my coping mechanism something I could fall
back on when I was feeling fat, stressed or upset. I would go for weeks without making myself
sick, the pattern was incredibly sporadic. I was in complete control of my bulimia. When I was
22 – bulimia gained control over me. I had just graduated from university. Society was expecting
me to ‘go out and get a job’. Along with a job, I was supposed to get an income, a place to live
and to support myself completely independently for the first time in my life. I was terrified. At
this very time, I was busy feeling rejected and worthless. A serious boyfriend had dumped me,
for the second time in my life. It was not a great phase for me. I sank into a very depressive-like
state. I didn’t eat, I didn’t sleep, and I spent my time either crying or listing reasons why I
shouldn’t exist. As a result, I began to lose weight. I didn’t even realize at first that I was getting

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smaller. My friends and family did. Everyone kept telling me how great I looked, but I couldn’t
see it. It wasn’t until I was at work one weekend that I finally realized something was going on.
My weekend job involved respite care for four elderly ladies. I was in the kitchen baking cookies
for them, when one walked in and asked if I had lost weight. A question I had grown accustomed
to hearing, but never from a person with.
Anorexia you’re inside of me

Anorexia you inside of me

Hysteria is all you’ll ever be.
You’re a struggle
And you caused me a lot of trouble
Yes, you made me skinny
All with that stupid theory
But I’m gonna win in the end
Even though you are my only friend

I will not die today

Just have to get back what I threw away
I called you my master for way too long
But I just realized where I belong
I have my friends here
And they take away my fear

I might have been close to death

But only because of your stupid threat
“you’re gonna get fat”
And then we had the calorie chat
But I’m forcing you to leave
So I can freedom achieve

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