Equipping young people to protect themselves against eating disorders

This Oration will set the scene for eating disorders in youth in Australia in a COVID environment. Tracey Wade will then examine in depth how eating disorders look in youth in Australia – including types of disorders, prevalence, progression across adolescence, and risk factors. Finally, she will examine the critical skills, supported by evidence, that are required to develop resilience in young people when facing numerous environmental triggers for disordered eating.

Our Orator
Professor Tracey Wade, Matthew Flinders Distinguished Professor of Psychology, Director: Órama Institute for Mental Health and Well-Being, the Blackbird Initiative, Flinders University Services for Eating Disorders, Flinders University

Tracey Wade has worked as a clinician and researcher in eating disorders for more than 30 years. In 2015 she was elected a Fellow of the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia. In 2016 she was made an Inaugural Honorary Fellow of the Australian Association for Cognitive and Behaviour Therapy. In 2017-18 she was the president of the Eating Disorder Research Society. In 2019 she was appointed Fellow of the APS and was a recipient of the Australia and New Zealand Academy of Eating Disorders Distinguished Achievement Award, and in 2020 she was the recipient of the Academy of Eating Disorders Outstanding Clinician Award. She is the director of the Órama Institute for Mental Health and Wellbeing, the Blackbird Initiative, and the Flinders University Services for Eating Disorders (FUSED). She has co-written 3 books and has over 240 publications in peer reviewed journals.