 a kind of secret you didn't want to tell a single soul, even the people closest to you. These are the words from a participant in my research. Her secret had a name. Anorexia nervosa. Anorexia, an eating disorder, has amongst the highest mortality rates of all mental illnesses. However, eating disorders come in all shapes and sizes and could affect any of your friends without you noticing, maybe even you. Effective treatments for eating disorders exist, yet few seek professional help. This is called the treatment gap, a significant problem because people are suffering in silence. For my PhD, I was one of the first to ask why there is a gap between young adults in Australia having an eating disorder and not seeking treatment. To do this, I surveyed almost 300 young Australians with eating disorder symptoms. What I found was astounding. Young adults did not believe they needed help for their reading, weight and shape concerns. They preferred to deal with the problem alone, just like my participant, who suffered severely for years, even though she knew help was available from her GP, family and friends. My research discovered that the number one barrier that stopped people from seeking help for their problems was not wanting to be a burden to others. One participant said it was her secret to carry along. As a registered psychologist and researcher, I can understand the difficulty in sharing this secret, but I also know how critical it is to reach out in order to get better. My research found one potential solution to tackle this problem. Young adults with eating disorders were keen to seek support online. Knowing this, my team and I developed an online program that encouraged help seeking by connecting young adults with others who were experiencing similar issues. I found that this approach offers a safe and supportive space and may bring us one step closer towards reducing the significant treatment gap. If you know someone who is keeping a secret about their reading, weight or shape, tell them that you care about them. Tell them that help is available and that researchers like me are working to make treatment easier to access. Encourage them to talk to someone they trust and tell them that recovery is possible. Just like my participant, eventually shared her secret and got better.