CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Gov. Jim Justice has signed a bill into law that would provide training to students and teachers about eating disorders and self-harm.
“Overall, it’s probably one of the best mental health bills that we could’ve come out with in the last few years, I believe,” Delegate Wayne Clark (R-Jefferson) told MetroNews Tuesday.
Clark is the lead sponsor of the bill dubbed “Meghan’s Law.” It’s named after 15 year old Meghan Clark, one of his twin daughters.
Last year, Meghan developed an eating disorder after a cheer leading coach criticized her weight.
“She only weighed 126 pounds,” Clark said. “The comment was she was a little too big to be a flyer, so she took it upon herself to say okay, I’m going to teach you and I’m going to lose weight.”
Meghan went through excessive exercise, restricting foods, cutting herself with razors and when she felt like she wasn’t losing any weight, she started to purge by hiding food at the dinner table.
“She got to the point where on Sept. 29, 2021 when we admitted her to the Center for Discovery, she weight less than 90 pounds, she had a resting heart rate of 20 and she was literally a few days away from dying when we checked her in,” Clark said.
After spending 32 days in a 24/7 care facility and another few months in therapy, she was released from overall care on Dec. 17, 2021. She’s now maintaining a weight of 119 pounds.
“We still have struggles on a daily basis including little things that trigger her,” Clark said.
Under the bill, middle and high school students would undergo training every year on the warning signs, prevention and treatment of self-harm and eating disorders.
Clark said his hope is to save other teen’s lives before it’s too late.
“We’re going to start saving kids earlier, identifying them earlier, giving the parents an opportunity to get them therapy at an earlier state before it gets too bad,” he said.
The bill requires the state Board of Education to establish training requirements for all public school employees on students’ self-harm behaviors and eating disorders. Staff would be trained every three years.
“They have to start doing the training in August of this year. Teachers, administrators and service personnel will all take this training during their staff development process,” Clark said.
Clark said there’s been a 21 percent increase in eating disorder cases reported to local emergency rooms over the last few years.
If you or a loved one are suffering from an eating disorder, Monte Nido Portland is a residential eating disorder treatment center that can help.
The law is set to take effect in mid-May.