A launch event for the new online magazine “Real” magazine took place on Matador Walk Tuesday, October 27. CSUN students stopped by the “Get REAL!” event where free food and free massage therapy was offered courtesy of the University Counseling Services (UCS), despite strong winds.

The magazine was a project that had been in the works for the past three years.

“The project is collaboration with Joint Advocates on Disordered Eating (J.A.D.E.) which is a program with the UCS, the Department of Journalism and the Department of Health Science,” said Ellen Mayer, J.A.D.E. coordinator and counselor for the University Counseling Services.

Mayer began working with journalism professor Bobbie Eisenstock and health science professor Gretta Madjzoob to design the “Get REAL” project. Mayer explained that the launch of the online magazine was a way for students to read and learn about other students who have or had eating disorders or body image struggles.

“For today, our goal is for people to become aware of the project…we wanted a lively and fun event to get people to stop and take a look at some of what’s available”, Mayer said.

According to Mayer, J.A.D.E. focuses on helping students by giving out information and conducting surveys on the CSUN population to help those with eating disorders.

“J.A.D.E. has been in operation for the past fifteen years doing eating disorders preventions on campus and the surveys we do annually indicate that 60 percent of students on campus knows someone that has eating disorders. And about 30 percent of students on campus have eating disorders” Mayer said.

Ellen Baurerefeld M.S., staff dietician for the Klotz Student Health Center, handed out flyers from her booth regarding on-campus meals, which are considered to be the “healthier” choices of food, in comparison to fast food.

“Many students don’t take advantage of the services the university offers”, Baurerefeld said.

UCS offers individual and group counseling, and up to eight sessions of counseling and psychiatric services for free, according to Erica Idle, counselor and pre-doctoral intern for the UCS.

Many of the statistics from J.A.D.E. and in the Real magazine are and will be drawn not only from CSUN surveys and statistics, but from the National Institute of Mental Health. Most of the surveys being done are based on the CSUN community and less on national population.

Project D.A.T.E., a sexual assault and date rape prevention program, is one of few sponsored by the UCS has been around for about eleven years.

“It’s unfortunate that people see (rape) as a social norm, if you will” said Zack Reed-Fier, a Project D.A.T.E. peer educator.

The event was funded by the Center of Initiative and Engaged Learning Opportunity. The event was from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.