Aussies At Home with Eating Disorder Care

Aussies At Home with Eating Disorder Care

Professor Janet Treasure and Professor Daniel Le Grange will deliver keynote speeches at Australia’s first conference for carers of people with eating disorders. Titled At Home with Eating Disorders, the conference will take place on 24^th and 25^th May, 2013 in Brisbane, Queensland. (See  flyer).

Professor Treasure is noted for her amazing work on the ‘New Maudsley’, providing families and sufferers, of every age, with coping skills to aid recovery.

Professor Le Grange is noted for his pioneering work in establishing evidence-based Family-Based Treatment for early intervention of eating disorders in children and adolescents.

I recommend our two keynote speakers with all my heart. The knowledge that they will impart and share with you was not around when I was a kid. More than four decades of my life were ‘lost in a tormented wilderness’ as a prisoner of an eating disorder (anorexia, followed by bulimia) and the co-morbid illnesses of depression and anxiety. Six years ago, at the age of 55, I broke free of this bully illness. Every day since, I exalt in the beauty of life, of being free to be ‘me’.

Wonderful researchers and experts like Professor Treasure and Professor Le Grange are one big reason why I enjoy this freedom, happiness, contentment and a full life. Learning about their research outcomes has helped me to understand my illness, my suffering, and to accept that I had an illness. I was not ‘weak’, I simply had an illness that yes, can be treated and overcome. To have these wonderful people believe in and respect me, yes, me, as a worthwhile human being – when others dear to me had given up long ago – has helped enormously in regaining my life, in developing self-belief, and in maintaining an insatiable lust for and love of leading a productive and meaningful life.  Knowledge is the best weapon in fighting an eating disorder. You will find it in loads at our ‘At Home with Eating Disorders’ conference.

Our keynote speakers perfectly complement our conference theme ‘At Home with Eating Disorders’. When an eating disorder develops, the home turns into a treatment centre, a haven, a battleground, and everything between. Research outcomes reveal the close involvement of families and carers in the care of their loved ones is the key to improving early detection, restoration to a healthy weight and maintaining long term wellbeing. For parents and carers, however – as indeed for the sufferer – the journey can be confusing, challenging and difficult to navigate. Our conference will provide information and knowledge to help carers and recovery guides cope with the many antics of the illness and give tips on how you can help your loved one show it the door.

Collaboration between the treatment provider, the carer and the sufferer is the most effective way to fight an eating disorder, and we are applying the same approach in organising this conference. Our conference committee comprises parents, sufferers, clinicians and advocates who have gathered together from our various eating disorder support organisations. This way, we are ensuring coverage of all angles – from recognising early symptoms and knowing what to do, right through to approaching recovery after decades of suffering.

Our conference committee comprises representatives of F.E.A.S.T , the Butterfly Foundation, EDOS  and ANZAED. As a representative of F.E.A.S.T. on the committee, I can assure you that we are working together to make sure the conference provides you with a life-enhancing experience.

Our primary aim is to provide access to a range of expert knowledge and skills for families and caregivers of people with eating disorders, so that you can go home at the end of the conference feeling empowered, better informed and more able to assist in the recovery of the person with the eating disorder.

The secondary aim of the conference is to provide families and carers of people with eating disorders with opportunities to network and meet other people in a safe and supported environment. There will be emphasis on the role of families in helping loved ones recover from eating disorders and identifying the support, knowledge and strategies that families and carers require to facilitate recovery.

Eating disorders like to isolate their victims and their families. Fight this urge at all times. Reach out. Connect with others who understand. Connecting and sharing with others will help you build a safety net to sustain you when the inevitable misunderstandings, slips and relapses occur. At Home with Eating Disorders will open doors to friendships, skills and resources that right now you maybe cannot even dream of. I experienced this bottomless well of acceptance, love, commitment and laughter – yes, laughter, for a sense of humour is essential when fighting an eating disorder – a year ago at the first FEAST conference for families and carers (Virginia, USA). Rather than feel sad that I lost much of my life to an eating disorder, today I feel blessed, for becoming an advocate in raising awareness of this horrid illness brings me in touch with the cream of humanity – the most beautiful people one can ever wish to meet. Come along to Brisbane, and find out for yourself.

All those caring for someone with an eating disorder will find something of inspiration in the At Home with Eating Disorders program, whether you are just starting out on this journey or are well on your way and want to contribute to better treatment for others. Sufferers who are working on recovery and come along in the company of a trusted carer, friend or recovery guide, will find the content immensely inspirational.

This conference also is a ‘must’ for clinicians wanting to learn more about and be inspired by the role of families and carers in supporting recovery.

Help us promote the conference and reach families and sufferers who are in need of support

Download the flyer on the Latest News page and share the link!

Make plans to join us on May 24 and 25, 2013 in beautiful sunny Brisbane at the:

Royal Brisbane Women’s and Children’s Hospital Education Centre
Cnr Butterfield St and Bowen Bridge Rd, Herston, Queensland, Australia 4029

The event:
1st Australian Eating Disorder Conference for Families and Carers – At Home with Eating Disorders. Keynote speakers:

Professor Daniel Le Grange
Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neuroscience and Director of the Eating Disorders Center at the University of Chicago Medical Center.

Professor Janet Treasure
Professor of Psychiatry at King’s College London and Head of the Eating Disorders Unit at the South London and Maudsley NHS Trust.

Watch for regular updates!