Outgoing Australian of the Year Taryn Brumfitt reaches more than 1 million kids

Body image advocate Taryn Brumfitt will hand over the Australian of the Year title this Thursday in Canberra, and is delighted to mark the year with the announcement that the Embrace message has been shared with more than one million Australian children.

Taryn said that it has been an incredible honour to represent her country over the last year, and to finish on this milestone announcement was exceptionally rewarding.

“Being the Australian of the Year has been an incredible honour and opened up so many opportunities that we had only dreamed about previously. With this platform, we’ve been able to reach one million kids around the country and start a national conversation about body image that will make a meaningful difference to the health and wellbeing of our young people – now and for generations to come.”

Taryn, along with body image expert Dr Zali Yager, leads The Embrace Collective (TEC), a health promotion charity that works to prevent body image issues and eating disorders by equipping parents, teachers and other professionals with evidence-based resources to help the young people around them. 

They were able to reach one million young people by sharing the Embrace message - which encourages young people to appreciate their bodies and celebrate all the things that make them unique - with parents, professionals and young people directly in a range of settings such as program sign-ups, live events, community film screenings, school visits, keynote talks, social media and media appearances. 

“This year has had highs and lows, but the driving force for me to keep going with each experience, keynote, project launch or media interview is how important it is to prevent the issue at the start. Yes, we have reached more than one million kids, but the work has only just begun – now we need to embed this message in every setting where young people live, learn and play,” she said.

Reflecting on her time as Australian of the Year, Taryn said it was her interactions with young people across the country that she’ll remember the most.

“When I look back on this year, it won’t just be about the once-in-a-lifetime opportunities like delivering an address at the National Press Club or attending a State Dinner at the White House. It will be about the conversations I had with young people everywhere, from Sydney to Alice Springs to Perth, and the stories they shared about how they’ve learnt to embrace their bodies with kindness, compassion and gratitude. This year, we have built an incredible momentum for change. We will continue to work towards a future where young people are empowered to grow and thrive, free from feelings of shame and judgement about their bodies.”

Throughout the year, TEC has also led important advocacy work with collaborators such as Eating Disorders Families Australia (EDFA). TEC and EDFA teamed up with several other individuals and organisations to successfully advise against activities in the Australian Curriculum that could be harmful to young people’s body image, such as recording and comparing body weight and body measurements; calculating body mass index (BMI) or caloric intake; and recording what they eat in food diaries.

“There used to be more than 340 search results in the Australian Curriculum for terms such as BMI, weight, calories, healthier, class surveys, food and diet. Now there is only one - and that links to the advice for teachers to avoid these types of activities,” said Kylie Burton, the EDFA member who spearheaded the campaign.

Now, TEC is turning their attention to the next phase in their mission for change: extending their reach to even more Aussie kids, and helping parents and teachers embed these messages in all the environments where young people live, learn and play.

As a new school year begins, they are encouraging teachers around Australia to download the free Embrace Kids Classroom Program. This engaging, evidence-based program for Years 5-8 is based on the EMBRACE KIDS film, directed by Taryn, and explores themes of body image, bullying, gender identity, representation and more. The five modules are aligned to the Australian Curriculum and are designed to be incorporated into lesson planning without any further training required.

In a recent evaluation of the program led by Pip Granfield at Flinders University, which involved more than 430 students across five South Australian schools, preliminary data indicates there was a small but significant improvement in students’ self-compassion. After receiving the program, 84% of young people agreed or strongly agreed that they would spread kindness on social media in the future.

“This is an important finding as it indicates that the program is effective in building up protective factors for body dissatisfaction and eating disorders,” said Dr Yager. “By equipping young people with this armour early in life, and encouraging them to be kinder to themselves and each other on social media, we have the opportunity to shape the environment that is constantly influencing the way young people feel about themselves.”

Teachers can register for the free Embrace Kids Classroom Program at bodyimageresources.com.