The team offer a range of eating disorder support and monitoring such as talking therapies to assist with patient’s return to independent living as soon as possible. It offers a range of therapeutic interventions including one to one sessions, psycho educational groups and therapy groups around body image and binge eating disorder.

It takes community referrals from a range of services, mainly GP’s but also from mental health services, community mental health liaison service at general hospitals, intensive services and CAMHs teams. They are based at Savernake Hospital in Marlborough.

One recent reviewer said the support they received was invaluable and explained that their “sessions were amazing. I was very resistant at first however the OT really encouraged me to give the sessions a go and it’s the best decision I have made during my recovery.

“She listened and tailored the whole experience to my personal situation. She made me feel important and valued and cared for. She gave me support with all aspects of my eating disorder from food ideas, exercise suggestions and personal relationship advice. I wouldn’t be where I am now without the support. I truly miss my sessions with her.”

The team consists of a team manager, deputy team manager, a consultant psychologist, psychologists and assistants, a nurse therapist and associate, occupational therapists, a team dietician, a community support worker, a family therapist, a technical instructor and administrators.

They cover all of Wiltshire and Swindon and in non COVID-19 times would normally be visiting community based sites supporting patients. More recently these sessions have moved over to digital and telephone where they are continuing to assess, monitor and support patients through this difficult time.

Sarah Macnab, deputy team manager for the team has said: “It has been a challenging but very rewarding team to be in and there has not been a dull moment. It has been a pleasure to see staff grow and develop and apply for new roles within the service as they develop their careers.

“The team always has a good atmosphere and we manage to have a laugh and joke and maintain a good sense of humour even in more difficult times recently, where we are working more remotely. I think a good supply of tea and biscuits in the office and the bake-off competition that we run each year goes a long way to helping things run smoothly!”

With Covid-19 it has meant that new challenges have arisen but with this reviewer they offered support in another way, “I received hour phone calls weekly. The psychology assistant has been amazing, kind and supportive. I have already been able to make lots of changes with my eating disorder.”

A further service user has said, “I was treated with fantastic care and respect by the whole team especially the help I got after COVID-19 hit. I can only thank them with everything they supported me with, I wouldn’t know where I would be without the help I received.”

Find out more about the service here.