A new app to help support people affected by image-related mental health struggles is seeking people to volunteer as mentors.
Start-up charity, Been There, offers those suffering with body image-related mental health problems a free mentoring chat service through its new app, which connects those who feel isolated and alone with their struggles to a trained mentor who has previously been there themselves. The charity is now calling for more volunteer mentors to join the community after a greater than expected demand in the trial launch earlier this year.
The charity is calling on those who have experienced body image issues to volunteer to help people like them via the app, which is available in the Google and Apple stores. No training or previous mentoring experience is needed because once signed up, the charity will vet, train, and support mentors before pairing them with one or more adult mentees in the UK. The only requirement is that mentors have lived experience of body image struggles and now have acceptance, contentment and awareness of where they are in their own journey. “When suffering with your body image, especially when you’re at the stage of disorderly eating, it’s a lonely experience, even in the biggest of social circles. I felt I needed to hide who I was, what I felt and how I wanted to behave. You have a guard up to hide your shame that keeps you distant from family and friends” explained Been There founder and CEO, Tessa Peters, who founded the charity after her own battle with bulimia.
“There was this amazing social and vibrant world all around me, but I withdrew from it as I felt no one could understand what I was going through. It was only once I was able to talk to someone who had had a similar experience as me that something clicked, and I could start on my journey of self-acceptance and recovery”.
Find out more at www.beenthereapp.com or search for the charity on Instagram or Facebook.
