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SPEAKER bio
Johanna Kandel
After recovering from a ten-year-long battle with various eating disorders, Johanna founded The Alliance for Eating Disorders Awareness, based in West Palm Beach, Florida. Since its inception in 2000, The Alliance has brought information and awareness about eating disorders to more than 290,000 individuals nationally and internationally. In addition, Johanna runs free weekly support groups, mentors individuals with eating disorders and their families through their treatment and recovery, and helps thousands of people gain information and find the help they need.
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As a passionate advocate for mental health and eating disorders legislation, Johanna has spent a lot of time meeting with numerous members of Congress, and was part of the first-ever Eating Disorder Roundtable at the White House.
Johanna is the immediate Past President of the Board of Directors for the Eating Disorders Coalition, member of the Academy for Eating Disorders Advisory Board, founding board member of the Eating Disorders Activist Network, and a member of the Eating Disorders Leadership Summit. She is an active participant in National Eating Disorders Awareness Month. She has received many awards for her ongoing outreach and advocacy work, including the Jefferson Award for Public Service© and Harlequin Enterprises' More Than Words Award. Johanna has appeared on national television programs including NBC Nightly News and The Today Show, and profiled in the New York Times, Cosmopolitan Magazine, and Glamour Magazine.
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Johanna's book, Life Beyond Your Eating Disorder, was released by Harlequin Nonfiction in September of 2010. Success to Johanna means helping even one person avoid traveling down the same road she did and continuing to use her voice in the fight against eating disorders.