Jaimee Krawitz: changing the eating disorder conversation

Approximately 1.1 million Australians live with an eating disorder. Why did you decide to set up a support non-profit in this space?

It started off in 2020, when I finished my Bachelor of Counselling degree. I had been meeting with Dean Cohen, who stared Flying Fox and was a mentor to me. I wanted to start something on my own and Dean helped me think about the endeavour being meaningful.

I have a lived experience of an eating disorder, and was set on exploring that area because it's close to my heart. I want to help people who don't have the same opportunities or resources that I had. My recovery was very quick. I got in early because I had the right healthcare around me, but if I'd spoken up a little bit earlier, I would have had even more help than I did. Having the communication skills, language and awareness – both for me and my parents – to open a conversation around eating disorders at an early stage would have been a game changer.

Coincidentally, at the time I was thinking about this, it was COVID and eating disorder rates completely skyrocketed. I knew that I was in the right field at the right time.

How did you go from initial concept to launching Hide N Seek?

I didn’t want to solely target the person who was suffering from an eating disorder, I really wanted to reach the support people, the caregivers.

I started off by having a few open table conversations, which involved affected people, caregivers and practitioners, and learnt about the biggest issues in the sector. I was then asked to be part of a Hackathon with Australian Friends of Shaare Zedek, which involved people around Australia, America, Israel and Mexico discussing the concept of eating disorders and what we could do.