guys but i'm carrie and you are tuning in to keller confidence well i'm really excited to be here with my guest gail show and back she's the executive director of the free foundation she's also a very dear friend of mine and we have similar stories and we're here to talk about lobby day coming out april seventeenth in d c so gail how did you do all this you were once a sufferer of an eating disorder and then you started this organization how did you do it well when i started the organization i decided i wanted to spread the word that people who get better if they got treatment so i hooked up with the eating disorders coalition in washington by accident they were having their first lobby day they were going to washington to talk about so what i mean by accident you went and showed up i found them on  web site i'm not really sure how i was looking for something to do when it was two weeks after i got to treatment and i went to washington in two weeks that's like so wrong yeah it was but i was sort of bursting with having to share with people that you know you could get better if you got help and they were lobbying for mental health parity and i had experienced all that with my insurance company while i was in treatment they didn't want to pay for it they cut me off on you know funds the whole nine yards so this was like perfect for me to go and tell everybody you know if you could get treatment you could get better despite the cost so i went and i met with them and it was just an amazing experience and this was eleven years ago that i did this started so you go to the lobby day and then end up creating this whole organization to help what lobby for better health care coverage for eating disorders sufferers yes that's part of it provide prevention and awareness and spread the word about eating disorders and you know how rampant it is and everything that's needed in got involved with them when writing a bill that the eating disorders coalitions star did with people like me and professionals and researchers that all came and gave input over the course of a couple of years and we came up with the freedom act federal response to limiting eating disorders so it was pretty cool it's so i'm so impressed and i just think you know here you went from being you know a sufferer to executive director of the free foundation to me and this is just me i'm a little nervous going on april seventeenth to lobby is it intimidating well most people feel that way because you know you're in washington and you're on the hill and you're dealing with legislators and people in suits and make all these you know national plans but it's really empowering and they teach you how to do it and that's i was on a live tweet yesterday and they said that they train you what does that mean it means you are you meet with the executive director of the eating disorders coalition and she really takes you step by step about what it is when making appointments going in to meet with the legislative health aides of these representatives talking to them about the freedom act and eating disorders and asking for support from their bosses and it's really an amazing thing when they hear personal stories and see the faces of people and how this affects them and what's so necessary and the response is always just it's great because you feel like your voices being heard even though the process of getting legislation or anything to happen takes a really really long time doesn't really help it does it does it does really help i mean it's in increment and overnight you're not going to go then things are going to change the world i mean i started i joined up with them eleven years ago and you know a lot of what you say you still feel like you're you know on i ask a later repeating and repeating repeating and it's to different people and you have to kind of go back every year and reiterate what it's all about for them to hear you and get it slowly but surely and the real issue is here just to relay to our audience because you and i kno from personal experience but eating disorder treatment is expensive and so many insurance companies cover maybe a week for a girl or you know a woman or when someone reaches a certain way up here better now we cut you off when i was in treatment a couple years ago i saw this time and time again these people suffering and insurance you know for whatever reason said nope we're done we're done covering you so you said this was your experience as well eleven years ago and you know proving to them that you know people don't have to die from this you knowing when we bring in families that are are very willing to share their story when they've had family members that have passed away from eating disorders and how unnecessary that is to really make the impact that wait a second you know sixteenth is we have a reception the night before where everyone who's coming to washington county gets together in in me and then in the morning on the seventeenth start with training for new first time lobbyists which they'll come  meet and then the rest of us kind of join in and we'll have a congressional briefing prior to going out and actually meeting your appointments with your team leaders and and then there's a recap at the end of the day and it's just it's a very cool thing it really is to get in and out of the buildings and meet people and you feel like you're really not just a number you know it's really good yesterday when i was on the live tweet for the eighty  academy eating disorders and we were talking about this lobby day coming up april seventeenth a one woman was on and said look i'm just like right out of treatment and i'm really suffering but i really want to go and how is my participation going to make a difference so explain to me if someone's watching here that suffering from an eating disorder or they know someone that is how is being involved going to help and help them well first of all if you are if you're able to come while you're sick to do this that's huge  it's a huge pop step in the direction of your recovery because you know you're out there in your you know you're avoiding the stigma and you're talking about you're saying look this is me i have an illness and we need help and this is what it looks like because people don't always recognize it and think that you're sick so that's the first thing in the second thing is when you go in there and you're telling it firsthand and they see face to face the struggle and what's involved it makes it very real and you'd be surprised how many legislators have family members and know people and you connect with them and they're like oh my god yes and they really can start to understand more and more and that's what we need or for people that are so you know that are struggling and family members to come out and talk about it so that it's really got face definitely how can someone get involved who can't be there you can go on the website of the eating disorders coley coalition dot org there are other ways that you can get involved they do letter writing campaigns they have we s we do virtual reality a lobby days where you can do it kind of from not really being there and talk to other people in on web chats of people that have been there and you know a lot of people can't travel to washington d c you know to do it we're also implementing state lobbying which we're going to start doing getting a group leaders in certain states to start managing lobby days on the state level so maybe a little easier for people to kind of get to their state and start there as opposed to you know having to travel to washington so there are you know there are a lot of other ways that you can get involved well thank you so much for speaking with me about this is a really huge issue april sixteenth and seventeenth in d c lobby day for the eating disorders coalition right and you light up when you talk about this so i know it's your passion and it's really an empowering day for i one right it is it isn't really excited you're going to be there because we do have similar stories and you know you also are bringing in a whole new light to it as well and and it gives people an opportunity to really be heard and listened to and so i'm glad you'll be there to tell them to all right well thanks for tuning in and listening to our information about lobby day and you can find out more about