Adult Eating Disorders Service
A warm welcome from us!
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 we offer
- Specialist eating disorder assessment
- Evidence-based treatment for eating disorders
- Advice and consultation (for professionals)
- Access to different professionals with diverse backgrounds and specialities
What an appointment involves
A printable version of the below information can be found here.
Your assessment
Your initial assessment is a chance for us to hear what’s happening for you, but also a chance for you to hear about our service, how we work and what sorts of things we offer. It is a two-way conversation – we will have questions for you, but it is equally important that you feel able to ask us questions.
You will be meeting with (usually) no more than two of our clinicians. You will have up to 2-hours together, to explore your current and past experience, and for us to gain a greater understanding of how things are for you right now.
As part of your assessment, your height and weight will be recorded, alongside other physical health observations such as your blood pressure and temperature. It is likely that you will have been asked to have a blood test, prior to the day of your assessment.
We appreciate how difficult and scary these things can be, but you will be supported with this by our experienced staff.
What will we talk about?
In the conversation, we will talk about your current eating and related behaviours and experiences, your physical health and your life and wellbeing in general. We understand that some things can be difficult to speak about, but the more information you are able to share, the more we can understand your experiences and current situation.
We won’t share this information with anyone who doesn’t need to know. People we do talk to include your GP, and any other services involved in your team will have been in touch with you about this before the day of your assessment)
Do I have to attend?
No, it is a voluntary assessment. However, we would really encourage you to meet with us! Doing so will allow us to think jointly about whether engaging in our service may be useful for you, or if there are any other appropriate services you may wish to work with. The first step is often difficult, but many people report feeling relieved after speaking about what is happening for them.
What if I require reasonable adjustments or have sensory needs?
Please contact us if you have any specific needs that would potentially be a barrier to you attending your assessment. Equally, you can speak to us about this when you arrive for assessment. We will endeavour to meet your needs whenever possible.
Is there parking?
Parking at any of our assessment sites can be limited, so we recommend you arrive with plenty of time before your appointment. There are disabled bays available, but please note these are also limited.
If you have any other questions about attending, or would like to speak with someone from our service, please do let us know. Our contact details can be found on the back page.
What happens if I am already receiving a form of treatment elsewhere?
We work across a range of healthcare settings—both community and inpatient-based—and would liaise with you and any current treatment providers if an assessment with our team was appropriate.
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.
What happens after your appointment
A printable version of the below information can be found here.
What happens next?
We will contact you as soon as possible, to discuss the outcome of your assessment. Contact will be made via the preferred method of communication you indicated at assessment (for example, telephone or email)
During this conversation, we will discuss the options that we feel would be most helpful for you. If support from the adult eating disorders service is appropriate, and you agree, then we will add you to our waiting list for the recommended treatment.
If the adult eating disorders service is not the most beneficial service for you at this time, we will discuss this with you and explore together the ‘next steps’. This could include recommendations about where might be the best place for you to receive treatment.
When will I start treatment?
Unfortunately, we are unable to give a timescale for this due to factors such as service demand and length of waiting lists (which can—and do—vary).
Is there any support available whilst I am waiting for treatment to start?
We appreciate that being on a waiting list for treatment can feel frustrating and worrying. As such, we will endeavour to support you as best we can during this time. To monitor your physical health, you may be asked to attend your GP or local hospital for blood tests whilst you are on our waiting list. A clinician from our team would liaise with you about this and any results.
Whilst on our waiting list, you may also be offered ‘check in’ appointments with a member of staff in our team. If there is availability to offer this, someone from the team would be in touch after your assessment, to discuss this with you.
If we are unable to offer any form of regular support for you whilst you are on our waiting list, you will be encouraged to contact us at any time, should you want/need to speak with a member of staff from our team.
What treatments does the Adult Eating Disorders Service offer?
What does LPFT AEDS offer?
People working with our service are offered one of the following evidence-based treatments:
- Individual eating-disorder-focused cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT-E)
- Maudsley Anorexia Nervosa Treatment for Adults (MANTRA)
- Specialist Supportive Clinical Management (SSCM)
- Bulimia-nervosa-focused guided self-help programmes (including group treatment)
Alongside this, and across treatment, you might meet with our:
- Specialist Dietitian
- Occupational Therapist (OT) or OT assistant
- Senior Peer Support Worker
- Assistant Practitioner
We also provide a range of community-based and practical support with eating, where appropriate.
Where can I find further information about the treatments offered to me?
Recommended treatments for eating disorders include a range of psychological therapies, as outlined in the NICE (National Institute for health and Care Excellence) guidelines.
Psychological therapy involves meeting with a clinician (individually or with a group) to work on the factors that are keeping an eating disorder going, for you. It is, primarily, “talking therapy”, with an emphasis on practical changes you will be supported to make to your behaviours around eating and weight/shape concerns.
Your Clinician will discuss with you why they have recommended certain treatments. They will also give you an overview of how the treatment works and what to expect in the sessions. Please feel free to ask them questions if you have any.
You can find further details on NICE recommended treatments here.
BEAT
BEAT are a UK-based charity which offers lots of support for both those experiencing an eating disorder and their families. You can find more information and get support on their website here.
Lincolnshire Partnership Foundation Trust
You might also like to visit the LPFT website here for more information.
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.
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.
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.
Our contact details
LPFT Adult Eating Disorders Service
Unit 4
St George's Site
Long Leys Road
Lincoln LN1 1FS
Telephone: 01522 421632
Email: lpft.
Self-referral form
Please use the form below to complete a self-referral to the service.
Download leaflet: What an appointment involves
Download the leaflet containing information on what an appointment involves here.
Download leaflet: What happens after your appointment
Download the leaflet outlining what happens after your appointment here.
Who you might see if you're supported by our team
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.
Below are videos that will tell you more about the people from the team that you might meet.
Our Administrators might be one of the first people that you talk to, either on the phone or in person.
Larger embedded versions of these videos are available here.
