Kasia, a second year clin. psych. PhD student working with Prof. Tracey Wade (here at Flinders) emailed me to let me know about a clinical research project they are running.

They are looking to recruit individuals of any gender between ages 17-25 to participate in an online perfectionism intervention. They are looking to specifically recruit individuals who have weight or body concerns (who are at risk of developing an eating disorder). The program involves 8 online sessions of CBT-based content, and access is granted for 6 weeks. Participants are asked to fill out pre- and post- survey about themselves, as well as give feedback on the program. Access to the program website can be found here: https://www.focusedmindsprogram.com/

Content from the program is based on the self-help book Overcoming Perfectionism by Roz Shafran, Sarah Egan, and Tracey Wade. The program is intended to help those at risk of developing an eating disorder by looking at ways to aim for high standards without feeling the need to reach perfection, to improve self-worth by focusing on areas of life which are not linked with achievement, and by tackling self-criticism. The idea behind the program is that focusing a person’s mindset on ’healthy achievement rather than perfectionism’ can reduce some of the factors which may contribute to an eating disorder.

If perfectionism and weight/shape concern are things you struggle with, this might be a good opportunity to get cutting edge therapeutic support. Yes, you’d be providing data for a research project, but I’ve said in previous posts that participating in research projects that have a clinical focus can be a great way to access free therapeutic content.

The full advertisement is attached. You can go straight to the website – https://www.focusedmindsprogram.com/ to complete a screening quiz and if appropriate join the study.