Eating Disorders Awareness Week 2025

“As a South Asian woman, I didn’t understand my eating disorder for a long time… Growing up I struggled with ‘traditional’ food, but eating it was a sign of respect in my culture… after a while I found therapists who understood my identity and the ways in which this influenced my triggers and fears - they were the help I had desperately been seeking” ~ East London resident

We know that eating disorders can affect people from any background, but some people are more likely to get support than others. In our service people from a South Asian background have told us that they face particular barriers in getting help for disordered eating, and that it would be helpful to have access to more information in the community to help raise awareness and challenge stereotypes.

This year, Eating Disorders Awareness Week coincides with the beginning of the month of Ramadan. We know that this can be a particularly difficult time for people with eating disorders and their loved ones, and are using this time to share helpful materials across community organisations and healthcare services.

As part of this work, we have worked with residents to create a flyer available in English and Bengali which aims to raise awareness of eating disorder symptoms among South Asian communities and the support available. We have also created a list of resources with further information about eating disorders, personal experiences, and Ramadan. These will be launched on our website from the 24th February and can also be accessed via the QR code on the flyer.

Whether you are a healthcare professional looking to provide further information to service users who might need it, or an East London resident of any or no religion, we encourage you to take a look at the links above and share with anyone who might benefit.

In the East London Community Eating Disorder Service (Adults), we provide support to adults across the boroughs of Tower Hamlets, Newham and City & Hackney. This project is part of a Quality Improvement project we are currently running in the service on ‘Addressing Inequalities: Increasing referrals from underrepresented populations.’ If you have any ideas, feedback or questions about this work please do feel free to get in touch with us at elft.disorderedeatingsupport@nhs.net.

Disordered eating can affect anyone. It can show up in lots of different ways, but everyone deserves support to recover. In these short videos, people from East London share their experiences of disordered eating, treatment and recovery. They explore some of the challenges, things that helped them, and why they are glad they kept going with recovery.

Watch here: https://www.elft.nhs.uk/service-users-and-carers/eating-disorders-awareness/personal-stories

These videos were written and coproduced with people with lived experience, as part of the Service User Placement opportunity within the East London Eating Disorder Service. They aim to raise awareness of how disordered eating really feels for different people. We believe that having space to define our own experiences beyond clinical criteria is an essential part of helping professionals to understand what support we need. We also hope that it can help other people struggling to recognise that they need and deserve support. 

Lottie Bolster is a visual artist and mental health advocate, currently working within the East London Eating Disorder Service People Participation Team. She uses a range of media to present human stories which counter stereotypes and challenge ideas about (ill)health. Since becoming a parent her practice has focused on her own story of motherhood and mental health through photography.

Alongside her role at ELFT, Lottie has recently been working on a project drawing on her experiences of parenting whilst in recovery from an eating disorder. The below art work considers questions such as: What does it look like to have both a “healthy” diet and a “healthy” relationship with food and exercise? And as a parent, how do you foster these in your child when you don’t know yourself?

Weaning Works
‘Weaning Works’ is an experimental collaboration with my daughter, documenting our journey as we attempt to (re)learn a healthy relationship with food together. It is a recording of her first hundred days exploring food expressed through the remnants of her 'meals'.  

Balance 
Balance is a playful exploration of my own challenges navigating the confusing landscape of health advice and opposing societal pressures, both for myself and my child. Using collage it draws a contrast between guidelines and societal norms and calls both into question.
As a parent I fear, to disregard national health advice would be to the detriment of my child's physical health. Meanwhile, to deny her participation in societal 'norms', the constant 'unhealthy' food presented, the omnipresent screen-based activities, could spell the destruction of her mental health. I walk a tightrope between the two, with someone else's life in my hands.

Website: Lottiebolster.com
Instagram: @lottie_bolster

Are you (or someone you are working with) an adult with experience of disordered eating or an eating disorder? Are you currently accessing mental health services in East London? In the East London Community Eating Disorder Service, we believe that ‘professional expertise’ is only one part of what makes a good mental health service. In our People Participation group, ‘experts-by-experience’ work with us to help develop and improve eating disorder support. Find out more about our work and how to get involved here. 

ELFT Adult Community Eating Disorders Service and Caraline (ED Charity) has established our Eating Disorders Working Together Group  to provide a platform for people with lived experience of eating disorders, carers /family, professionals in the field and other stakeholders to work together as equal partners to review, monitor and develop eating disorder  support across Bedfordshire and Luton.

Achievements over the past year

Educational documents for staff

• Co-production of a ‘Language, Terminology, and Behaviours used’ document that has been circulated  to mental health & general health NHS service staff

   

Changes to referral & waiting list protocols

• Confirmation letters now sent to all new clients on receipt of their referral

• Scheduled ‘check-in’ calls to clients that are on the CEDS waiting list for therapy

Eating Disorder Training

• Service users have supported the CEDS team in delivering eating disorder training sessions

• A training sub-group consisting of service users, carers, & professionals, are co-producing an effective and engaging set of training materials for delivery across multiple NHS services and departments.

Advances to community-based support

• Implementation of two intensive community-based treatment programmes to prevent hospitalisation; reduce length of admissions; and support individuals post-discharge from a SEDU

• Virtual Intensive Treatment programme
  Intensive Community-based Support    

   

Service Document Reviews

• Regular service user and carer reviews of service documents, to provide feedback that is used to improve the format; content; and tone, to make more appropriate & engaging to the recipient 

   

CEDS and Caraline Intersection

• Joint triage continues to be a success in directing clients to the treatment option best suited to their needs

• Recruitment of staff members that are employed to work across both services, promoting collaboration and shared knowledge

Continued support from service users, carers and professionals 

• Over the past year the Working Together Group has been well supported by service users, carers, and professionals across services. We have seen many new faces that have brought fresh ideas and perspectives to the table. The generous support and contributions from the group, has  been the driving force behind every success and achievement.

For more information, you can contact the group at elft.iandp@nhs.net.