Community Highlights: Meet Cami Nelsen of The RecoverED Project

Today we’d like to introduce you to Cami Nelsen.

Hi Cami, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
I started building The RecoverED Project as an eating disorder recovery social media campaign when I was sixteen, and formally founded The RecoverED Project as a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization when I was seventeen years old. During my own recovery from an eating disorder I recognized a need for greater communal support, advocacy opportunities for youth and young adults in recovery, and pro-recovery and stigma-reducing content online. Overtime I thought more and more about these community needs and the solutions I could create for them. Once I recognized tangible ways I could support the eating disorder recovery community, I knew I needed to act on these ambitions.

The beginnings of The RecoverED Project were not always easy and things often did not go as planned. As a high schooler at the time, I knew very little about business or nonprofit organizations, and didn’t know an adult in my life who knew much more than I did. With that said, I spent day after day conducting research, reading books and articles, and reaching out to anyone I could to learn how to form and sustain a nonprofit organization. Sometimes the task ahead felt quite daunting and my goals felt out of reach, in fact it still feels that way sometimes, but my calling to make a real change trumped my fears.

When I started The RecoverED Project, alongside a small group of youth advocates, I would tell myself that I knew I did the right thing if I helped just even one person recover from their eating disorder. Since then, our pro-recovery media (social media posts, videos, and our blog) have reached more than 30 million people, we have sent cards and care packages to nearly 2000 patients, and have brought eating disorder support and education to more than 500 young adults through in person presentations.

As our impact grew, so did our team, and so did our ambitions. We know operate as a team of 20 youth and young adult advocates, as well as a large network of volunteers, ambassadors, and campus clubs that play an integral role in our organization. Additionally, we are always working to scale our programs and introduce new programs, including a program focusing on student-athletes that we aim to launch in the Fall.

When I founded The RecoverED Project in high school, I intended on going to college to study biochemistry and viewed my advocacy as something that was merely a passion project. Over the last few years, advocacy has become an essential part in who I am and is the cornerstone of my ambitions. This Fall I am transferring from Antelope Valley College to CSU Fullerton to study business and will be pursuing a career mental health advocacy and nonprofit management after college.

Outside of my role as Founder and CEO of The RecoverED Project, I have also engaged with mental health advocacy through youth leadership roles, media campaigns, and policy advocacy. I am currently serving my second year on NAMI California’s Youth Leadership Council, was featured in the Dove Self Esteem Campaign and Cost of Beauty Commercial, and have spoken on national mental health legislative on Capitol Hill. As a winner of the CalHope Courage Award, I have also focused on advocating for student-athlete mental health. Who I am as a leader is also who I am as a person, so I spend a lot of time bringing up mental health and advocating informally for greater support and stigma reduction.

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
One of the hardest challenges of running The RecoverED Project is that we are a fully youth-volunteer led organization, especially since we operate remotely with team members based across the United States. Learning to coordinate a team of young adults has had it’s up and downs, however, it’s also been what makes our organization what it is. Each member of our team is a truly extraordinary person who brings their own life experiences, education, and unique skills to the table. Leaning into the strengths each team member brings with them as helped us overcome balancing a lot of busy schedules.

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your business?
The RecoverED Project is a youth-led nonprofit organization aiding those in eating disorder recovery by providing communal support, spreading awareness, and providing resources and education to those impacted by eating disorders.

Our core program, Cards with Courage, sends handmade cards (and care packages) of support to patients in eating disorder treatment centers. Through Cards with Courage, we have sent nearly 2000 cards and care packages to patients in eating disorder treatment centers. We host Cards with Courage events across the country, often on college campuses or at community centers, where we create the cards and provide volunteers with an educational presentation about eating disorders and how they can support a loved one in recovery. We’ve reached over 500 volunteers through these presentations.

One of our core beliefs as an organization is that youth and young adults need creative outlets to heal, and as a result we host an annual art competition centered around the theme of “celebrating recovery”. We also have a community blog which featured 2-4 monthly articles, many of which are submitted by community members sharing their own stories of recovery.

Many of our team members are in recovery themselves, and we have all recognized a need for pro-recovery messaging online. It’s often easier to find content is harmful to someone in recovery than content that is needed for someone in recovery. As a result, we’ve had a consistent goal as an organization to promote recovery online and create a brave space on the internet for those in recovery. Through our social media, we post educational content as well content that affirms recovery, we also collaborate with eating disorder professionals to share this information and help our audience learn more about recovery resources. Our Instagram page, @therecover.ed.project , has a community of 18.8k followers and our posts have been viewed more than 30 million times in the last year alone.

As apart of our mission to build confident, educated, and passionate youth advocates we also work to ensure the voices of youth advocates are included in major mental health conversations. Over the past year our team has sent youth to present, table at, or attend events including mental health conferences, Capitol Hill advocacy days, fundraising galas, and several college campus events. Additionally, we began our on-campus clubs last year, where students gather to promote recovery and mental wellbeing in their communities.

What matters most to you?
What matters most to me is that no one feels they are alone in their eating disorder and recovery. Navigating eating disorder recovery can feel isolating, confusing, and even impossible at times. My work is driven from my core belief that anyone struggling with an eating disorder is capable of recovering, and deserves access to the resources and support they need to do so.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.therecoveredproject.org
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/therecover.ed.project/?hl=en
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-recovered-project