I received this letter from Monika M. Woolsey, MS, RD, who was introduced by a frequent contributor and consultant to our site, Jessica Setnick, MS, RD/LD.

"Bess,

Some information for you. I was asked to send the letter below to our professional organization. It describes another publication that, as soon as the "nephew art" arrives in the mail to scan in, will be ready to print.

Sincerely,

Monika M. Woolsey, MS, RD
http://www.afterthediet.com

In a conversation I had this morning with Jude Clayton, she suggested that I tell you about a project I am working on.

Though I live in Arizona, I went to Cornell University, and many of my friends from college moved downstate to work in NYC and in the financial district. I don't have a single friend who has not been personally affected by the World Trade Center attack.  In keeping in contact with them to support them, I have watched their moods go from shock/disbelief, to depression, to despair, to anger, and around the cycle again.

I decided to use my experience with bulimia to support them. Since bulimia is often a specialized form of post traumatic stress disorder, I wrote a booklet explaining what PTSD is, how it affects food habits, and things that you can do to progress through the stages of trauma.  It was intended to be a private gift, but then I got to speaking to Wendy Newman, a colleague in New Jersey, who told me that in the town next to hers, 5 families lost BOTH parents in the attack. She was wanting to do something constructive with her feelings as well. I had the idea to use my PTSD booklet as a fund raiser, and to use the profits from the booklet to publish and distribute two resources I have created for helping children express their feelings, to children who need help in doing that. Wendy wants to help me on her end as the local contact for the project.

I am pasting a sample page from the booklet here, so you can see the project for yourself. My nephews are doing some of the illustrations, as I thought kids have a way of communicating hope much better than adults. My area of nutrition is mental health, and I think we need to understand that many illnesses with a mind-body connection, such as irritable bowel, infertility, and migraine headache are likely to increase as people progress through the stages of trauma. Even diabetes is known to be harder to control in people who are anxious and/or depressed. As dietitians, we need to recognize these connections and be sure we are able to connect our clients with the appropriate mental health professionals.

If you have any questions about the project, I would be happy to answer them. I have been using word of mouth to promote this project, because I want it to be as altruistically based as possible, and don't want people to think I am trying to capitalize on the misfortune of others."

But I happened to mention what I was doing to Jude and she thought you might like to know about it.

As soon as this book is ready, we'll announce it.  Kids and teenagers  especially need all the help they can get during this difficult period, and from previews, it looks like this will be an excellent book for adults as well who are experiencing stress (and who isn't during these times?).