Self-Acceptance, Shedding Shame, and Recovery Featuring McCall Dempsey and Alexandra Miles

From February 23 through March 1, 2026, NAMI joins the National Alliance for Eating Disorders in challenging stigma about eating disorders and supporting recovery. In this episode, NAMI CEO Daniel H. Gillison, Jr. is joined by McCall Dempsey, founder of Southern Smash, and Alexandra Miles, Founder and CEO of Project Blackbird. They will explore the connections between their work engaging young people, embracing self-acceptance as part of recovery, and what it means to shed shame about mental health and eating disorders. This episode highlights lived experiences with eating disorders and stigma reduction efforts. As students head back to classrooms this month, discover all that NAMI's Back to School resources can offer. Visit NAMI's Back to School resource hub for more ways to connect with young people heading back to school and support them through their new routines. Check out nami.org/BackToSchool to learn more. You can find additional episodes of this NAMI podcast and others at nami.org/podcast."Hope Starts With Us" is a podcast by NAMI, the National Alliance on Mental Illness. It is hosted by NAMI CEO Daniel H. Gillison, Jr. Co-executive produced by Traci Coulter and Connor Larsen.