Please help us raise awareness and offer direct support to those experiencing eating disorders and their loved ones in the San Diego community and nationwide.
The Rally for Recovery is a free event! We hope that you will join us as we come together as a community to celebrate recovery, hear from motivational speakers, honor those that are no longer with us, smash some scales in our Southern Smash event, and much more!
Event Chaired By:
Sharon Maxwell (She/They): educator, speaker and fat activist. With compassion as a guiding principle, Sharon is a leading force in dismantling systemic anti-fat bias. She dedicates her work to eradicating weight stigma on both a social level and within healthcare settings. Drawing from her previous career in education, she combines her knowledge of curriculum development with her lived experience battling weight stigma to offer unique insights and practical tools that foster safe and accessible environments for people of size. Sharon's story has been featured in the New York Times Magazine, on The Tamron Hall Show and numerous podcasts. Their activism work has been highlighted in news outlets including 60 Minutes, the Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, The New York Times, NPR and more. You can follow Sharon’s work on social media platforms through @heysharonmaxwell.
Featured Speakers:
Allyson Inez Ford, MA, LPCC (She/Her) is an Eating Disorder and OCD therapist with lived experience. Allyson is multiracial, queer and neurodivergent, which fuels her intersectional and feminist approach to food and body healing. Allyson provides virtual therapy services throughout California, runs a group private practice in San Diego and is passionate about serving her community both in and outside the therapy room. Allyson has a passion for integrating anti-oppressive principles throughout her practice and has a podcast available on Apple and Spotify called Body Justice. You can find her on Instagram at @bodyjustice.therapist and her website: www.eatingdisorderocdtherapy.com
H
eather Poland (She/They): As a teacher and activist in San Diego for over 20 years, Heather strives to bring equity and inclusivity into their classroom daily. Heather is also a mom to 16 year old twins. In January, Heather’s teen, Virgil, was hospitalized with anorexia. Since then, Heather has learned so much about eating disorders through the UCSD Eating Disorders Program, and wants to educate others and spread hope to other caregivers dealing with eating disorders.