🌊 About the Webinar

Eating Disorder Prevention IS Suicide Prevention

SEA WAVES began as a ripple of hope and has grown into a powerful wave of change for military service members, veterans, and their families. Founded by Navy Senior Chief (Ret.) Leah Stiles, SEA WAVES was born from her own journey and a deeply felt need to confront a challenge too often hidden in military life: eating disorders.

Leah saw firsthand how the pressures of service — rigid fitness standards, relentless stress, and stigma around mental health — created a perfect storm where disordered eating could quietly thrive. But she also saw something even more alarming: the undeniable link between eating disorders and suicide.

🔹 1 in 3 women and 1 in 5 men in the military community struggle with disordered eating or eating disorders.

🔹 Eating disorders have the second highest mortality rate of all mental illnesses — and suicide is the leading cause of death.

🔹 Yet they are rarely included in suicide prevention strategies. If we want to save lives, we have to change that.

That’s why SEA WAVES is proud to be part of the Face the Fight Coalition, working alongside organizations committed to tackling military and veteran suicide from all angles, including this one that’s been overlooked for far too long.

This quarterly webinar series puts eating disorders where they belong — at the heart of suicide prevention conversations. It’s not just a training. It’s a life-saving initiative that equips military leaders, veteran-serving organizations, healthcare teams, and advocates with the tools to see the full picture, intervene earlier, and help save lives.

Looking to go deeper? This training is a powerful introduction to the connection between eating disorders and suicide — and it’s a great primer for our MEDAL Training Program, which dives further into how military leaders, providers, and peer support teams can recognize, respond to, and reduce the harm of eating disorders in service communities.

✅ What You’ll Learn

Attendees will walk away able to:

Understand the link between disordered eating and suicide risk in military and veteran populations
Identify warning signs of eating disorders that are often missed in high-performance or fitness-focused environments
Apply practical tools to integrate eating disorder awareness into your existing suicide prevention efforts
Recognize how peer support and early intervention can change — and save — lives

Continuing Education Information

SEA WAVES is honored to partner with EDCare, who is generously sponsoring CE credit for this training.

CE credits will be available for psychologists and mental health professionals. Qualified participants who attend the full live virtual session will receive a certificate of attendance for one (1.5) clock hours.

Please note:

Full attendance is required; no partial credit will be awarded
CE credit is only available for live attendance (watching a recording does not qualify)
Participants are responsible for verifying with their licensing boards whether CE credits apply to their discipline

EDCare has been approved by NBCC as an Approved Continuing Education Provider, ACEP No. 7113. Programs that do not qualify for NBCC credit are clearly identified. EDCare is solely responsible for all aspects of the programs.

EDCare is approved by the American Psychological Association to sponsor continuing education for psychologists. EDCare maintains responsibility for this program and its content.

👉 Click here to view EDCare’s Continuing Education Grievance Policy.

For questions or special accommodation requests, please email continuinged@eatingdisorder.care.

Meet the Presenters

Leah Stiles

Retired Navy Senior Chief & Founder of SEA WAVES

Leah is the founder of SEA WAVES, the nation’s only veteran service organization dedicated exclusively to eating disorder awareness and support. After 20 years of military service and personally navigating the challenges of an eating disorder, Leah created SEA WAVES to advocate for prevention, early intervention, and trauma-informed care across the military community. Through initiatives like the MEDAL Training Program and The Lighthouse Project, she leads efforts to ensure no service member or veteran has to face these storms alone.

Florence Ogunlesi, MA, RDN

Registered Dietitian

With over 20 years of experience in eating disorder care, Florence spent a decade at the VA supporting veterans through individual and group-based treatment. Now in private practice, she helps clients heal their relationship with food through compassionate, whole-person care rooted in nourishment, not restriction.

Carolyn Karoll, LCSW-C, CEDS-C

Psychotherapist, Author & Certified Eating Disorder Specialist

Carolyn is a psychotherapist, author, and certified eating disorder specialist dedicated to helping individuals heal their relationship with food and body. After witnessing firsthand how military culture can contribute to disordered eating, she became a passionate advocate for prevention, early intervention, and systemic change

Join Us

SEA WAVES is more than a nonprofit — it’s a mission. Every registration, sponsorship, and conversation helps us expand this work and save more lives.

Together, we can shift the conversation and turn the tide.

Register now and help ensure no one in our military community walks this path alone. 🌊

Eating Disorder Prevention IS Suicide Prevention

By SEA WAVES

Eating Disorder Prevention IS Suicide Prevention

The invisible crisis every military-connected organization must face.