As a community we may not realise how stressful Ramadan conversations about food can be for a person with an eating disorder, and that even the thought of food can trigger feelings of shame, guilt or panic.
The Lantern Initiative asked mothers from their community How are you practicing self-care?
Although Self care, in theory, is a simple concept, it’s something we often overlook. It is any activity that we do deliberately in order to take care of our mental, emotional, and physical health. Good self-care is key to improved mood and reduced anxiety. It’s also key to a good relationship with oneself and others.
These women will always be seen as the trailblazers who made it ok for us to vocalise our fears and feelings and to really acknowledge what we were going through. By openly voicing their own pain and their fears they opened up the doors for so many of us to speak up and speak out.
Statistically, 1 in 4 people in the UK will be suffering from a mental health issue at any given time, which means we will all know of someone who needs some help or support even if we don’t need it ourselves. Sometimes we are not qualified or able to give our loved ones the support they need but being able to signpost someone can be super helpful. The Lantern Initiative has researched and recommended a range of services
Despite the knowledge that more Muslim counsellors are needed and more community support services are desperately required, there simply isn’t enough being done to tackle this situation. Unless more mosques make significant cultural adjustments these problems will go unaddressed and women will be left isolated.