Session Presenter - Kathy Benn

Kathy Benn became aware of eating disorders when her 17 year old daughter, Shelby Starner, began to waste away before her eyes.  At first she attributed Shelby’s weight loss to a new awareness of nutrition and a commitment to improving her fitness, both spurred by a school personal health class.  When the weight loss became an unhealthy and compulsive focus, Shelby was diagnosed:  bulimia nervosa. 

Shelby’s struggle to recover was complicated by the lack of education and awareness in the medical field coupled with faulty healthcare practices that stubbornly treat mental and physical health separately and unequally.  Twenty-six months after being diagnosed, Shelby died from the physical complications stemming from this mental illness.

Kathy and her husband, Allan, created The SHELBY Project to share their family’s story, create awareness and understanding, and to fight for change in the way eating disorders are treated.  The SHELBY Project’s goal is to Support Healthy Eating Lifestyle and Body image in Youth through presentations from the classroom to the boardroom. 

Though her activism with the National Eating Disorders Association, Kathy has had the opportunity to write and speak about the eating disorder experience through outlets including WebMD and the Today Show with Katie Couric.  Participating with the Eating Disorders Coalition, representing families from Pennsylvania, Kathy and Allan lobby Washington DC to change health policy and create legislation that will provide mental health parity, equal insurance coverage for mental health issues, compared to physical health coverage.  As a consequence of lobbying, Kathy became a board member of A Chance to Heal based in Philadelphia. 

On the local level, Kathy serves on her school district’s advisory boards for both mental and physical health.  At the state level, she participates in the implementation of Pennsylvania Advocates for Nutrition and Activity programs.  PANA was created with grant money from the Centers for Disease Control specifically to target childhood obesity and improve school health practices.  Given the strong link that has been established between fear of fat and the thinking that can trigger eating disordered behaviors, Kathy serves as a voice of reason regarding the dangers and complexities of well-intended body mass index (BMI) testing, food service, health class content, and coaching practices in Pennsylvania schools.

Currently, Kathy is pursuing a psychology degree in honor of Shelby, to better represent the issues related to eating disorders, and because her younger daughter, Emily, is growing up in a world even more threatening to her body image and personal health.

You can contact Kathy Benn at theshelbyproject@verizon.net.

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