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Social Justice, Advocacy & Campaigning with Youth Parliament Member Eva Woods

In this week's episode, Han is joined by Eva Woods. Eva is a Member of the Youth Parliament for Peterborough, representing young people aged 11-18 in the city. Eva has personal experience with disordered eating, and as part of her campaign is redesigning the teaching provided around eating disorders.

During Eva's first year, she campaigned on issues including universal access to free school meals, the engagement of first-time voters and sexual harassment in schools, an issue linked centrally to the development of my own eating disorder.

In this week's episode, we discuss:

  • Eva's experience of working as a youth member of parliament, and how she became interested in politics and working for the Peterborough council.

  • The presence of sexual harassment in schools and the reasons Eva chose this to be a key part of her manifesto and why she is working to reduce sexual harassment in schools.

  • The need for an improved curriculum around eating disorders in school, and how increasing a sense of self and identity could help to reduce the onset and prevalence of eating disorders.

  • The role and responsibility of adults working with school-aged children in recognising and responding to mental health conditions e.g. eating disorders. `

  • The importance of advocacy in eating disorders, how this relates to social justice, and the difficulty of advocating for yourself against the eating disorder.

Please note that this podcast discusses eating disorder topics that some individuals may find triggering. Please check in with yourself along the way, and remember this is not a replacement for clinical support and advice.

To find out more about Eva and her campaign work, you can follow her on Twitter @evawoodsmyp or email at Eva.Woods@peterborough.gov.uk.

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