Dr Caryl James, UWI’s first professor of eating disorders, body image and mental health
Published:Sunday | September 29, 2024 | 12:06 AMAinsworth Morris - Staff Reporter
When the parents of a patient with an eating disorder moved their child overseas for treatment and care some 18 years ago, Professor Caryl James began her journey to become the English-speaking Caribbean’s first eating disorder specialist.
“While in the [doctor of philosophy] PhD programme [in clinical psychology at The University of the West Indies (UWI), Mona campus], we had a patient that was admitted for anorexia nervosa, and there were a lot of people there, but it was unique for us at the time, and I was very encouraged. I wanted to treat this patient, but I knew that I didn’t have the skills,” Professor James told The Sunday Gleaner during an interview on Friday.
“That was close to the time when I was supposed to do my predoctoral internship, and that’s when I decided that I wanted to specialise in eating disorders. So, because we didn’t have it at UWI, I reached out to a site in Florida. They had a post-doc, but they created an internship, and from that, I got the one-year training there and did further training, and then afterwards, I decided to come back home because we didn’t have the support,” she said.
Years after returning to Jamaica, she now has no regrets, as she not only got to reunite with her family and her beloved grandmother, Loraine Channer, who passed earlier this year but also brought new expertise to students at The UWI which she hopes will inspire them to join the field of psychology that focuses on eating disorders.
During the interview, Professor James, who has a passion for improving mental health, said that after she returned to Jamaica, armed with education about eating disorders, she found that more persons with eating disorders and mental illnesses sought treatment, which took her career to another level.
“In 2008, upon coming home, that’s when our patients started to surface because people believed that we don’t have eating disorders in Jamaica, we don’t have any issues with body image, which is quite the contrary to what we’ve seen. I mean, certainly, it’s different now in comparison to back then, so we have more cases [and] a little bit more awareness,” Professor James told The Sunday Gleaner.
Common eating disorders include anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, binge-eating disorder and avoidant restrictive food intake disorder. Each of these disorders can be associated with different challenges and sometimes overlapping symptoms.
Professor James said a lot of patients from Jamaica and the Caribbean are in the systems within first-world countries such as the United Kingdom and the United States but still feel disadvantaged because of language barriers. She hopes to change this by making eating disorder care and treatment accessible in Jamaica.
“One of the struggles I realise my colleagues have, those who are overseas and who are not from the Caribbean, is that there’s a disconnect between themselves and their patients [from the Caribbean]. There’s a connection when you have a similar cultural background, and this is why I’ll travel to conferences and give talks, and sometimes I’m just invited to just educate people about our culture. What is different for us, is that our patients tend to connect with practitioners who have similar cultural backgrounds, because we speak a similar language and because there are certain things that they’ll talk about that only a Caribbean person will get it, and someone who is not exposed to our culture won’t get it,” she said.
MOST CHALLENGING TIME
For Professor James, the most challenging time was when she had to put the importance of her career to the test during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
As the associate dean for undergraduate studies and student experience in the Faculty of Social Sciences at UWI, Mona – a post she got during the COVID-19 pandemic while many students and educators were struggling – she was tasked with the responsibility of caring for the mental health of students within her faculty.
“I had to be creative in transferring information and helping people to keep the hope [alive] and how to manage the pandemic and manage all different areas that were coming up, as well as inform them as to what was happening internally in terms of mental health and tips and strategies as to what to do,” Professor James told The Sunday Gleaner.
“Out of that, I created a platform called ‘Roll With It’, and the dean at the time was impressed by what I had done and shared it with the principal at the time, and we basically gave this information to all UWI, not only students but to members of staff as well,” she said.
As she continues to educate not just her students but others as well, Professor James, along with the UWI Mona and Abigail Harrison, will be co-chairing the upcoming Dying to be Beautiful? Symposium, which will take place between December 6 and 8.
This symposium will examine the serious negative health behaviours affecting the people of the Caribbean and those of Caribbean descent living in the diaspora who are on a quest to achieve the ever-changing ideals of beauty. The headliners for the event are three-time Chopped winner Chef Andre Fowls and Charlynn Small, clinical psychologist.
Other sessions include Sonita Abrahams Burrowes, who will be speaking about The Power of Choice; Kevin Bourke, Plant Medicine; Dr Taryn Brandt, Mental Health in Athletes; Dr Richard Desnoes, Skin Bleaching; Dr Renee Morgan, Medical Complications – Feeding and Eating Disorders; Dr Michael Rich, The Pediatrician – Managing Social Media; Dr Veronica Salter, Breathwork for Healing; Dr Keneisha Sinclair-McBride, Managing Social Media and Chef Danya Smith, Eating on a Budget.
Her advice for persons who would like to have a career in clinical psychology but with a focus on eating disorders is to find their niche.
“For all eating disorders, you do need to have an area of specialisation to treat patients, so I ventured on the path of doing that area of specialisation while doing my pre-doctoral internship. That was pretty beneficial because we don’t have support for our patients who suffer from body image issues or eating disorder issues, and a lot of people aren’t aware of the medical consequences of having an eating disorder and that it can be life-threatening,” Professor James said.