FEDUP SUPPORT GROUPS
FEDUP support groups are for any trans, nonbinary, and/or intersex person experiencing any stage of an eating disorder, eating disorder recovery process, disordered eating, or struggles with food and body. On this page, you will be able to find:
A brief introduction to the groups.
The Schedule for Upcoming Support Groups.
Links to Register for Our Groups.
Recent Updates.
An FAQ for Support Groups.
A feedback form.
About the Support Groups:
The FEDUP Support Groups are:
Free to access, virtual, and available to individuals in any geographic location,
Restricted to those that are age 18 or older,
Open to anyone in the Trans, Gender Diverse, and/or Intersex community (TGDI) who has lived experience with an eating disorder or disordered eating,
Community run, and was created by TGDI people, for TGDI people,
Confidential.
Currently offering two types of groups, the General Support Group for any TGDI individuals, and the BIPOC support group, for BIPOC TGDI individuals only.
All community members joining the support groups must respect and follow the Member Agreement in order to create a shared supportive environment. Anyone interested in attending FEDUP’s support groups will first need to read and agree to the Member Agreement before they can register for groups. The Group Guidelines are a condensed version of the Member Agreement which facilitators will read at the start of each group.
Support Groups Schedule:
The groups will be running as follows:
BIPOC Group: 6-7PM EST on the 1st and 3rd Wednesdays of the month,
General Group: 12-1PM EST on the 2nd and 4th Saturdays of the month.
The schedule on this page shows the next group occurrences.
How to Register:
In order to register, community members need to fill out the form at this link:
The link is also included here for those who may be having issues clicking the button: https://forms.gle/Euajrf85mUw9U2Xy5. Group members will receive access to the Zoom registration link after this form is submitted. Community members will need to register on Zoom for each occurrence of each group.
Recent Updates:
Starting in May 2023, FEDUP decided to suspend support group offerings in order to improve groups' structure and guidelines and expand the training for the support group facilitators. The team has and continues to work diligently to implement measures that create a safe and supportive space for both group members and support group facilitators.
What has changed? For the last year, the FEDUP team has been creating a comprehensive, sustainable structure for the support groups.
Since May of 2023, FEDUP has undergone an external consultation to understand how our community viewed and experienced our support groups, including compensating community members to provide feedback anonymously, through an external party.
Through paid external consultation and mediation as well as internal collaboration, FEDUP has been able to create more support and structure for our facilitators. This includes a manual outlining Support Group policies and procedures, 8 hours of training and onboarding (with external facilitation), improved group guidelines, and comprehensive communication processes.
As a community member, how will my experience in groups change from previous years?
The Group Member Agreement: Moving forward, community members will need to agree to a group member agreement before joining any of our support groups. If you have any questions or need clarification on this agreement, you may contact us at hello@fedupcollective.org. There will also be an opportunity to ask questions or get clarification about this agreement at the beginning of our support groups, if needed.
Guidelines: The group guidelines have been edited, extended, and reviewed by a Support Group Consultant to ensure they meet the needs of a shared group space, especially one for TGDI community, focused on eating disorders and disordered eating. These guidelines will be read at the beginning of each group and sent to all registrants. A process and training have also been put into place to address instances in which the guidelines are not respected in order to keep the space supportive for community members.
Facilitators: All groups now have two facilitators for each group, one lead facilitator, and a backup facilitator to handle logistics. A survey form is available for community members to provide feedback on FEDUP’s groups, including whether having two facilitators per group is preferred.
Recurrence: There will be two general support groups and two BIPOC support groups every month.
Access: This page has been created to provide updated information about FEDUP’s groups and increase accessibility of information about the groups, documents, and registration links.
The schedule for groups will be available on the website for 3 months at a time.
If you have any questions, concerns, or feedback about the changes that have occurred, please feel free to email us at hello@fedupcollective.org.
FAQ
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The groups will be held on the Zoom platform. Registration for each session of each group you would like to attend is required in order to receive the unique Zoom link for that group.
In order to edit your name on Zoom from your "default name", you can use the following link.
Captions are available through Zoom and participants are welcome to communicate through the Zoom chat instead of or in addition to sharing verbally, and can keep their Zoom cameras off if desired.
Participants are required to uphold all components of the group member agreement.
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You are welcome to attend our groups if you are part of the TGDI community, are looking for peer support around issues related to eating disorders or disordered eating, and can honor our commitment to upholding the needs and values of a communal space that understands other community members needs, as well as one's own.
What does this mean?
The groups are exclusively for Transgender, Gender Diverse, and Intersex individuals who are 18+. The BIPOC group does not include white TGDI folks, but they are welcome to join the General Group.
Being in community requires some boundaries on how to receive, express, and communicate feedback. The group member agreement summarizes all of this, and it is necessary to respect this agreement in group.
There are no expectations of having a clinical eating disorder diagnosis, nor do we require attendees to be pursuing recovery. The only expectation is that all attendees can respectfully share space with others that are also experiencing an eating disorder or disordered eating.
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It has always been FEDUP's intention to meet the specific and crucial need for eating disorder support spaces dedicated to TGDI communities. However, due to our lack of internal structure and communication practices, this need was not always met. This, coupled with the rapid growth FEDUP experienced due to the expansion of our programming, led to disorganization, miscommunication, limited and unequal access to information, and insufficient support for many team members, particularly support group facilitators.
We've made it a priority to fully and thoroughly investigate and address each of these issues. As a result, we have implemented changes to our facilitator training process and support groups (discussed earlier on this page), as well as many other internal changes to processes, fundraising, onboarding, and documentation. The tireless work that team members have put in has led to incredible change, and a much needed restructuring, organizing and planning. After consultations, implementation, and assessment of these changes, the groups are finally ready to resume operations.
Feedback Form:
Feedback about groups can be provided through the following form:
If discussing information about the groups is preferred through email, a voicenote, a meeting, or any other format, please let us know at hello@fedupcollective.org and we will be more than happy to set that up!
The link is also included here for those who may be having issues clicking the button: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSc-ZKsvF8KYVISknOUGtcylHFFM_2O-q_gT8K8bm2YMDuDJWw/viewform.