People First Radio – June 20, 2024People First Radio – June 20, 2024
People First Radio
Former boxer Charlie Cavanagh talks about mental health, eating disorders and life after elite sport, while foster parent Ashley Kendrick shares how her family creates a safe home for children in care and supports their parents. Together their stories highlight pressure, vulnerability and the power of community support.
0:00•20 Jun 2024
Boxing, Body Image and a Spare Room: Honest Stories of Sport and Foster Care
Episode Overview
- Elite sport demands huge mental as well as physical effort, and athletes remain human beings first, not machines.
- Boxing culture and weight‑focused language can reinforce disordered eating, highlighting the need to prioritise athletes’ health over size advantages.
- There is “strength in vulnerability”; speaking openly about eating disorders can help others recognise symptoms and seek support earlier.
- Foster care in British Columbia is centred on children returning home, with foster parents providing stability while parents work on making home safe.
- Strong relationships between foster carers and biological parents, plus wider community support, can transform outcomes for both children and families.
“I don’t think there’s hard kids. I think there’s hard behaviours, hard feelings, hard backgrounds.”
How do people find strength in their journey to sobriety, sport, and family life? This edition of People First Radio brings together two very different stories that share a common thread: humans trying to do their best under pressure. First up, former Team Canada boxer Charlie Cavanagh talks about stepping away from elite sport and reclaiming her health.
She walks through the brutal training schedule of high‑performance boxing, the pressure of tens of thousands of social media followers, and the hidden emotional cost of being seen as “tough” all the time. Charlie is refreshingly candid about her decade‑long struggle with eating disorders, explaining how boxing culture, weight classes and casual comments about being “four pounds overweight” fed unhealthy behaviours.
As she puts it, “there’s strength in vulnerability,” and she’s using her platform so others with eating disorders know they’re not alone. The conversation then shifts to foster care with Campbell River’s Ashley Kendrick, a child and youth counsellor and foster parent. Ashley shares how a spare bedroom and a conversation with her husband turned into opening their home to children in care.
She talks honestly about the “honeymoon phase” ending, the chaos that can follow, and the way stability and consistent love can transform kids who’ve had a rough start. For Ashley, foster care is always about reunification: “our goal is always that they get to go back home.” She stresses working alongside biological parents, treating them as the experts on their own children, and building wider circles of family and community support.
If you’re curious about mental health in sport, eating disorders, or what foster care really looks like behind the headlines, this episode gives plenty to think about. Whose pressure are you carrying—and who might need your support today?
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