Staffordshire graduate says running aided anorexia recovery

Ms Woosnam gave a speech at her graduation ceremony

A woman who struggled with anorexia for 18 years has said taking up running started her on a road of recovery which led to a sports coaching degree.

Aimee Woosnam, 36, said she now wanted to "inspire students to keep going and to always try their best".

The Shrewsbury resident recently graduated from Staffordshire University with a first class degree in physical education and youth sport coaching.

She said support from her running coach had both helped and inspired her.

"When I left secondary school, I started to develop anorexia. It started off as a simple diet and 18 years down the line, there I still was, stuck with anorexia and not much of a life," she said.

"Then I joined a beginners running group and that changed me.

"I started to get better and saw the benefits of being stronger."

Ms Woosnam wants to become a lecturer

Ms Woosnam said she had spent most of her life as an inpatient on an eating disorders unit until the breakthrough four years ago.

"Two months into the first year of my degree I was discharged from eating disorders services after 18 years," she said.

"Then it was my degree that kept me going really."

The university said Ms Woosnam had received first class marks for all her assignments, including a podcast about coaching athletes with eating disorders.

Until the age of eight, she had selective mutism but said she managed to overcome it and "have my voice heard". At last month's graduation she delivered a speech on behalf of her graduating cohort.

Ms Woosnam, who studied for the first two years of her degree at Shrewsbury College, hopes to become a lecturer herself.

She is staying on at Staffordshire University to do an an MSc in applied research.

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