As you know, this series of the podcast is taking a look at eating disorder provision in the UK and the last 12 months under the shadow of the COVID pandemic has been a challenge to say the least – both in terms of service provision but also in terms of how families and those with eating disorders have had to adapt to manage their illness. We’ve seen lots in the media about the impact of COVID on those with eating disorders and how services have had to change the way they deliver services.. and lots of reports use words such as ‘devastating’ and ‘dangerous’ to describe what’s happening.. but a ..read more

Welcome back to the podcast and today I’m continuing the discussion around eating disorder treatment provision. In the last episode I gave you an update about some of the conversation I’ve had with families and their difficulties in accessing treatment for their child. Most of the descriptions included struggles in getting access to specialist eating disorder services, not fitting the criteria and for some, the criteria of the services changing resulting in their care coming to an end. Another distressing theme surrounded access to medical treatment for their children when they became dangerou ..read more

Many of you have been asking what weight for height (WFH) is and how it’s used in eating disorder treatment and assessment. Here’s a brief explanation.. If you’d like to add your voice to the discussion, contact the Eating Disorder Insights Podcast on: Email:- eatingdisorderinsights@gmail.com Twitter:- @ED_Insights_Pod Voice Message:– https://www.speakpipe.com/eatingdisorderinsights Music from https://filmmusic.io “Modern Jazz Samba” by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.com) License: CC BY (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) “Samba Stings” by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.com ..read more

It’s been an interesting  time since the last episode was released where I’ve spent time talking to lots of families who are very keen to share their stories about their experience treatment within the UK and have agreed to be interviewed on the podcast. Along side this, I placed a note on Becki and Jen’s Facebook support group asking if it would be okay to quote some of their posts on the podcast to help with better understanding.. Over 120 families gave me total permission to share their posts with you.. so many families want to support change and want you to hear and understand the cur ..read more

The last few weeks have been a total eye opener for me. I’m a clinician in the NHS. I have worked in NHS specialist eating disorder teams in the UK and I’m proud of what my teams have done to help families to understand, take charge and recover from this vile and dangerous illness. Even with the knowledge that we could do more with more resources, we still leave work at the end of the day feeling like we helped to make a change. We get praise and gratitude from the families that we help, we see lives that were stuck in fragmented chaos slowly return to normal and we use research and studies to ..read more

So far, we have looked at how you can get your child to the GP successfully.. but what happens after that? the expectation is that your child will be assessed, referred for medical treatment if needed then be referred to your local CAMHS specialist eating disorder service. Sounds like a plan right? Yep, this is what should happen.. but.. this is not the case for many families. Some are having huge difficulties in getting their child to treatment and when they do, they feel misunderstood, frustrated anxious and frightened. Having an eating disorder in your family is very distressing and is a da ..read more

How do you choose between using an NHS service or seeking out private treatment? In this episode, we will explore the issue of treatment choice and take a look at the options that might be available to you in each treatment setting. As a professional, I see many families who find themselves trying to make such a decision, trying to navigate the wealth of services that offer wide-ranging treatments for eating disorders and the common factor is that they all want the best for their child. In this episode, I’ll help you to think about how to make the best choice for you and we’ll consider some of ..read more

In this quick episode we’ll look at what you can do if you feel that you didn’t quite get what you needed from your GP appointment. We’ll take a look at your options and  think about how you can get the help you need and get the best start to treatment possible. This is a short episode, but worth listening to..!   ..read more

Your child might not share your enthusiasm about going to the GP and seeking treatment. In this episode, we’re looking at your child’s feelings and what is influencing their reluctance. I will help you to understand the eating disorder by viewing it as something separate to your child – a living, breathing entity – a parasite –  that has attached itself to your child and is using them for its own gains. I’ll help you to spot it’s behaviours, help you to understand how it gains influence over your child and how you can work together as a family to reduce its power.   ..read more

Hello and welcome back to episode two of the second series of the eating disorder insights podcast. In this second episode of series .. we’ll look at what you’ll need to tell your GP in order to get the best outcome for you and your child.But before we start.. lets quickly recap the last episode….in the last episode, we talked about the current national climate for eating disorders in  the UK and how this impacts on professionals. We also talked about how this could influence your appointment with your GP and why it’s important for you to plan what you’re going to say So.. thank you comin ..read more