Tag: carers

Caring for a loved one with an eating disorder is a huge responsibility, filled with emotional and psychological challenges. While much focus is placed on parents, it’s important to recognise that siblings can also play a crucial role in recovery. As a sibling carer, your role is invaluable, and your...

My son Joe developed anorexia at the age of 12 in 2002. He lost 25 per cent of his body weight in 12 weeks. Since that torrid time, I have known that caring for a loved one with an eating disorder is exhausting, distressing, disorientating, excruciating and terrifying. As with...

A new counselling service is providing education and support for those caring for someone with an eating disorder. Eating Disorders Families Australia’s (EDFA) new Fill The Gap counselling service is specifically designed to support eating disorder carers during the often long and exhausting years of supporting a loved one through...

Recovery from an eating disorder is an incredibly challenging journey – not only for the person experiencing the eating disorder, but also for those who are caring for them. When someone is recovering from an eating disorder, having a professional team around them is vital. A treatment team would typically...

The book My Kid is Back means a lot to me because my parents did not see their kid come back. When I developed anorexia nervosa (AN) at age 11 (shortly after this picture was taken) there was no help for my parents or me. I wish my parents had...

Families do not cause an eating disorder (ED). However, the family’s role in treatment and recovery is crucial. This is because the best place to heal from an ED is in the home. However, for this to happen, we need greater support in the home, to enable carers to practise...

The most important thing you can do when assisting someone with an eating disorder is to prepare by educating yourself as much as possible about eating disorders. You will need to constantly remind yourself that behind this illness is the person you are trying to reach and care for. The...

… for many carers, the experience of caring has changed their lives irrevocably and highlights the need for adequate and tailored support services for carers. – Butterfly Report Raising the Alarm: Carers Need Care Too, 2019 Australian research has revealed a critical need for support for not only people with eating...

Caring for somebody who has a mental illness is challenging, exhausting, worrying and life changing in equal measures; but when you care for a loved one suffering an eating disorder you must rise to the dual challenges of meeting the physical and emotional needs of a sick loved one. Louise Sezgin...