Channelling pain into body positivity
This week our channels have been buzzing with a story from THE Channel. Not the swell of negativity that we've become used to recently, but a journey full of power and body positivity. It may not have had the ending we all hoped for but what a journey it was...
In the very early hours of an ordinary Sunday in late September, four amazing humans did something, well, amazing. Allie Kaufmann and Terri Ingram, along with Allie's dad Kevin and friend Gemma, got up, donned their swimmers and began their swim across the English Channel. All in the name of body respect.
What is even more extraordinary is that neither Allie nor Terri, self-proclaimed “normal people”, have had the easiest relationships with their bodies. Children of the 80s and 90s, they grew up in an era when body-shaming was rife and have experienced very personal struggles with their appearance. In fact, it wasn’t until the age of 48 that Terri even allowed herself to be seen in a swimming costume and she only learned to swim five years ago!
Inner confidence
Open water swimming has helped them both develop an inner confidence, which they now inspire in others through their Devon swim school, Coastal Swim Coaching. But that wasn’t enough – which is why they found themselves in the freezing cold open water just outside Dover at 1.45am.
From their pilot boat, they each swam an hour at a time, in the deep, dark and very choppy sea. They braved sea creatures, currents and sickness all with the aim of making it to France and raising money for the Body Happy Schools Programme.
Sadly, they made it to within four miles of the French coast before dangerous conditions forced them to stop. “In the end, it was the tides that got us,” said Terri. “Our skipper had to call it — we’d have been pushed into a restricted zone. Out of all the boats that went out, only one made it.
“I never thought I’d swim in the sea, let alone across the Channel – but I wanted to show children that it’s never too late to challenge the shame that so many of us grow up with. We’re heartbroken but still so proud of what we achieved, and so grateful for the incredible support we’ve had throughout this journey. And the biggest silver lining? We’ve raised over £5,000 for the Body Happy Org – an achievement worth celebrating no matter what. This isn’t the end of the story…”
Just the start
It certainly isn’t. It’s not too late to donate, here. But their extraordinary feat has already funded ground-breaking work in schools. The Happy Body schools Programme is the UK’s first whole-school programme building classroom cultures of body respect. After pilots in Devon, over 90% of teachers reported feeling confident to tackle body image and appearance-based bullying and students showed an almost 50% increase in using positive words to describe their bodies.
The project is now being highlighted in an upcoming All-Party Parliamentary Group report on eating disorder prevention. Plus, The Body Happy Org’s founder Molly Forbes recently won The Week Junior Magazine’s Children’s Book of the Year Award in the Wellbeing category for her book Every Body. The book, published by Puffin, helps children understand body respect and diversity and forms the basis of our work in schools.
“Terri and Allie’s courage is nothing short of incredible,” said Molly. “They’ve literally propelled this work forward. Thanks to them, and our amazing community, we’re building school cultures of respect and inclusion. Winning a national award this week is the icing on the cake – it shows we are creating change on an issue that affects every child and family.”
