Adult Eating Disorders Service

Our specialist team covers all areas of Lincolnshire. We work to provide assessment, treatment and support for people over the age of 16 who are experiencing difficulties with:

their relationship with food or eating
any body weight, shape and size concerns which are impacting their daily lives

We work with people who have symptoms of eating disorders, such as: Anorexia Nervosa, Bulimia Nervosa, Binge Eating Disorder and Other Specified Feeding or Eating Disorders (OSFED).

If you would like to know more or request support from our team, please click here to access our self-referral form. You will need to be registered with a GP practice in the county of Lincolnshire prior to submitting a referral.

Our service works Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm.

What an appointment involves

The first appointment with our service would be an assessment. You are likely to meet with one or two clinicians from the team. An assessment allows us the time to think together about the difficulties you are experiencing. This helps us to understand what type of treatment might benefit you, and where this would come from (for example, our service or an alternative treatment provider). As part of your assessment, we will talk about you, your life in general and the difficulties that have led to the referral to our team.

At your assessment, we will need to complete physical health checks, including your height, weight, blood pressure, pulse and temperature. It is likely that we will ask you to go for a blood test in the days before your assessment - this is because it helps us to build a better picture of someone’s physical, as well as mental, health. This is something that we monitor throughout treatment. The information you share as part of the assessment will be discussed at our weekly team meeting to help us decide whether we are the right service to offer treatment or whether another service might be more helpful to you.

How you might feel

We understand that reaching out for help can be difficult and change can feel scary, so you are welcome to bring someone along to your assessment to support you, should you wish. Our caring team are skilled in managing the worries or anxieties you might, understandably, be feeling. Speaking about the difficulties you are experiencing is an important step in overcoming them; our team will do all they can to make this process as comfortable as possible for you.

If you are working with us, who might you see?

We have a range of different professionals in the team working across different disciplines including: Consultant Psychiatrists, Psychologists, Mental Health Nurses, CBT Therapists, Physical Health Nurses, Occupational Therapy Practitioners, Assistant Practitioners, Dietitians, Peer Support Workers and Team Administrators.

Referrals

The Adult Eating Disorder Service is for anyone experiencing difficulties with their eating over the age of 16. Information that we regularly need to support the referral is:

Weight, height and BMI
Blood tests
A history of the eating problems

Those who are 16 to 17.5 years old can make a choice about whether they would like to work with the Children’s eating disorder team or the Adult Eating Disorder team. For more information about the eating disorder team at our Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS), please click here.

If you are aged 16 and over and are registered with a GP practice within the county of Lincolnshire, you can also complete a self-referral form.

If you have any general questions or concerns, please email lpft.eatingdisorders@nhs.net or telephone the service on 01522 421632.

Information for carers

Caring for a loved one with an eating disorder can be exhausting and overwhelming. Many carers often tell us they feel they have tried everything and don’t know where to turn next.

The skills workshops are designed for anyone caring for a loved one with an eating disorder. They are based on the New Maudsley approach. They have helped so many families navigate their way through a seemingly impossible task, and they offer professional techniques for becoming a ‘Change Coach’ including:

• Dealing with challenging behaviour

• Specialised communication skills

• Avoiding traps that may maintain the disorder

• Supporting recovery

Please see the links below for more information to help you decide if this offer would be beneficial to you.

The New Maudsley approach

New Maudsley training courses

Get involved! Join our Adult Eating Disorders Involvement Group

We are inviting people with lived experience, families and carers to help us shape our Adult Eating Disorders Service.

The Adult Eating Disorders Involvement Group is a space for staff, people with lived experience of an eating disorder, carers and family members to work together to highlight areas of good practice and areas of development in the service. This space gives us the opportunity to develop the service based on people’s experience and feedback.

The group currently meets bi-monthly, remotely via MS Teams.

If you would like to join the Adult Eating Disorders Involvement Group or speak to a member of the team, please email lpft.involvement@nhs.net or call 07773 206341.

"We all work together to achieve the best outcomes for the service, patients, families and carers." - member of the Involvement Group

"This is a great, non-judgemental friendly group where everyone's opinions and ideas are discussed, considered and acted upon, with a joint goal of improving the lives of those with eating disorders." – member of the Involvement Group

Testimonials

"The Eating Disorders service has been an absolute lifeline on my journey to recovery... Thanks to their unwavering support, I've emerged stronger and have been able to rediscover the happier, healthier, fun-filled version of myself that I thought was lost forever." - Service user.

"I do still have my difficult days but the coping strategies that I have learned from LPFT mean that I can now live not just exist. So I would urge anyone in the grips of this terrible illness to just reach out your hand and I assure you that someone will be there to take it and wrap you up in your very own warm blanket." - Service user.

"If you are lucky enough to get the chance to work with the Adult Eating Disorders team, please do. They are caring and actually listen to what you have to say. I'm so grateful for my time with them and feel much stronger in myself." - Service user.

‘Through K’s recovery so far, I have to admit how hard it is from a parent's perspective to watch your child suffer with an eating disorder when you know their potential... But I knew she needed help and thankfully her treatment team gave her a lifeline when I didn’t know what to do. They’ve not only given her the best advice, but also helped me to understand more than I did." - Parent of a service user.

Jargon buster

You may come across many acronyms and unfamiliar phrases and terminology. Here's a guide to explain what they mean.

AMHS (Adult Mental Health Services) - If needed, when a young person reaches 18, their CAMHS team will help them prepare to move (transition) to Adult Mental Health Services. There may be some instances where this may be earlier than 18, or later than 18, depending on individual circumstance.

Behavioural Activation - Behavioural activation is an evidence-based treatment often used to treat depression/low mood. It encourages a person to develop or get back into activities which are meaningful to them.

CAMHS - CAMHS is an acronym for Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services

CAMHS EDS - The EDS Service is a separate service within CAMHS for young people who are experiencing an eating disorder, such as Anorexia Nervosa or Bulimia.

Care Plan - A Care Plan is a treatment plan that is tailored to suit individuals' specific needs, personal goals and symptoms. It specifies the care a person needs to develop socially, emotionally, physically, and intellectually. This Care Plan should be agreed on with both the Lead Professional and patient, and can be reviewed and changed if needed.

CBT (Cognitive Behavioural Therapy) - CBT is a talking therapy that helps manage problems by helping you challenge the way you think and behave. CBT is mainly used to treat anxiety and depression but it can also be used to treat a variety of other difficulties. There are also lots of variations of CBT including Trauma-focused CBT and CBT-E (Cognitive Behavioural Therapy for Eating Disorders)

EDE – Q - An Eating Disorder Examination Questionnaire is a questionnaire all about how an Eating Disorder affects you day-to-day. By completing it at the start of therapy, and then every 28 days, it tracks your recovery.

Formulation - A formulation aims to help a person understand and make sense of their difficulties and symptoms, considering their environment, relationships, social relationships and past life events. A formulation can then be used to develop a care plan and treatment.

Graded Exposure - Graded Exposure may be recommended as a part of CBT if people are struggling with issues such as anxiety or phobias. Graded exposure may start with writing down a ‘ladder’ of feared situations /objects/activities that a person might be avoiding (least feared at the bottom, most feared at the top). The clinician will then help the person work up the ladder, helping expose them to these feared situation in a safe way in order to overcome anxiety.

Initial Assessment - An Initial Assessment is usually the first appointment a young person will have with a service. For more information, visit our website page 'my first appointment' detailing what sorts of things you may be asked in that appointment.

MDT - An MDT is a group of different professionals (e.g. nurses, social worker, psychiatrists) who discuss and make decisions on recommended treatment together.

Pathway - In Lincolnshire treatment 'pathways' help a clinician build or guide a person’s care plan and are based on recommended treatment and medical guidelines. There are a number of different pathways depending on what a person is struggling with e.g. low mood pathway, social anxiety pathway and eating disorder pathway.

PSW (Peer Support Worker) - PSWs are members of staff with lived experience of mental health difficulties, who use their personal experiences and insight to support people in mental health services. Because of their lived experience, some describe PSWs as ’bridging the gap’ between the clinician and patient. A PSW may help plan and deliver care, help people attend groups or go out in your community to help promote recovery.

Referral - A referral is a formal process that happens when a person asks a service for help. People may get referred to mental health services by a doctor, or other health professional. To do this, paperwork needs to be completed describing the issues a person is experiencing and what they need help with.