We Stood Up

Stories of Solidarity. Strategies for Action.
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October 2, 2025

Welcome back to We Stood Up!

In today’s issue, Abbie Harper shares how helpline workers unionized and spoke out when their organization retaliated.

We Organized Our Nonprofit and Lost Our Jobs, But We’d Do It Again

By Abbie Harper

In 2022 and 2023, I worked at the National Eating Disorders Association ([link removed]) (NEDA), the largest eating disorder nonprofit in the United States, as a helpline associate.

My job was providing peer support to folks coping with eating and mental health concerns via the NEDA Helpline, the organization’s only direct service arm. The Helpline was run by a small team of full-time workers with the help of hundreds of remote volunteers. We all loved our jobs—we just didn’t love our working conditions. We were burning out.

My coworkers and I, hired precisely because of our own lived experience with eating disorders, were operating under the false assumption that a mental health organization would care about the mental health of its employees.

When we raised our workplace concerns, we were reminded to “practice self-care,” as if a cup of tea could meaningfully address our burnout…

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The End of the NEA

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Future federal funding for co-op development, which has always been limited, is now at risk. But co-ops have resources. Here’s how co-ops could self-finance their own development.
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We Stood Up spotlights the first-person stories from workers, builders, activists, and organizers sharing moments from their work and world, offering inspirational narratives and strategic insights that reinforce community solidarity we need to keep pushing toward a just and equitable future. Do you have a story to tell? Share it with us here ([link removed]) !

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