Eating Disorder Service for Children and Young People

If you are experiencing symptoms of an eating disorder, please make an appointment to see your GP or use the self-referral form at the bottom of this page.

Your GP will be able to talk through your symptoms with you and make a referral to our service for an assessment. We also accept referrals from teachers, school nurses, social workers, CAMHS teams and other health professionals. 

The specialist eating disorder team consists of:

• Psychiatrist
• Nurses
• Dietitians
• Junior Doctors
• Cognitive Behaviour Therapists
• Family Therapists
• Assistant Psychologist
• Assistant Practitioners
• Support Workers
• Administrative staff.

Eating disorders are treatable conditions. We need to work together with young people, their parents and families, GP colleagues, and schools, to offer early help and get them better as soon as possible.

Patients

“The staff were amazing. I couldn’t have asked for a better set of people to help me through a really hard time.” 

“My Mum and I cannot thank the team enough, especially Margie our ED nurse. The Family Therapy sessions helped my Mum however the CBT sessions helped me more. My Mum could always get hold of someone on the team and we never felt on our own. Margie did not just focus on food and my weight, she helped give advice on my self-harming and would also listen to what else was on my mind to do with my friends and family.” 

“In recovery I developed acne which really affected my mental health, and I would not go out or go to school, although I was getting to a healthy weight I remained in service and continued to get support from Margie. She even fast tracked a referral to the Dermatology department for me. If I hadn’t had this there was a real possibility I could have relapsed”

“I worked well together with my nurse Margie, and dietitian Jenny. At first, I was quite timid because I had never met them before but the more appointments I had, the more confident I became talking to them.

I was very honest with them about everything, and it might have been scary to do so, but it really benefitted me in return. It meant that Margie could support me and find ways to help me deal with stress or anxiety better or how to boost my self-confidence, and because I have kept a food dairy of what I ate, Jenny could help me gain weight healthily by eating the right foods and she supported me.

My appointments educated me a lot on the effects of anorexia and not eating, and how to have a healthy lifestyle and have a healthy mindset and much more. I’m very thankful for all the work that Margie, Jenny, Doctor Kumar, and I’m sure that there are many other people have done for me.” 

Parents

“I don’t know what I’d have done without all your help. I felt as though I was on my own trying to help my daughter. I now feel I have people around us who can help.” 

“We initially had a review with Dr Kumar who saw us at short notice despite his busy schedule. He promptly assigned us to a specialist nurse (Margie) who was extremely supportive, understanding and always there for us. My daughter developed an excellent rapport with Margie who was able to use her experience to gauge her mental state, body language and be able to help us understand and overcome every hurdle that ED threw at us. It took us a long time to get weight restored but I feel that the treatment we received was tailored to my daughter's condition, in response to her cooperation to treatment and a standard treatment plan was not just thrust upon us.” 

“According to me, apart from the excellent support we received from the team, the unique treatment option provided to us was to put us in touch with an anorexia survivor who following consent was able to share her experiences and answer our questions over video call. This was helpful as at various stages she provided us with reassurance and hope towards recovery.” 

“CEDS was amazing. The support, counseling and education received helped her gain weight. Soon her fear of food disappeared, and her confidence grew. She followed the meal plan literally and soon started to gain weight. The deep sadness soon disappeared, and she became our bubbly, bright enthusiastic girl again. CEDS gave her, her life back and gave us our little girl back. I will be forever grateful.” 

“We feel the involvement of the CED service has been critical in our daughter avoiding a catastrophic health event. We are very grateful for the professionalism knowledge and support that we have experienced from all members of the team. We are hugely appreciative of the involvement our lead nurse her direct input with our daughter has been one critical factor in her recovery. We are also finding family therapy invaluable. To know that we have a complete team supporting ourselves and our daughter including psychiatrist, lead nurse, family therapist and dietitian is of great comfort to ourselves and our daughter now and for her continued recovery.” 

“I would like to say a big thank you to Margie and Jenny and helping the whole family through this and I can finally say ‘I HAVE MY LITTLE GIRL BACK!’ And I wouldn’t have it any other way.” 

• Children and Young People's Mental Health Services (CYPMHS) Crisis Response Team are available 5pm to 9pm on weekdays and 9am to 9pm on weekends (for urgent phone advice) Telephone: 01744 527 618 
• BEAT – Eating Disorder Support Online 9am-midnight during the week, 4pm-midnight on weekends and bank holidays. Telephone: 0808 801 0677 Email: help@beateatingdisorders.org.uk 
• PAPYRUS (prevention of young suicide): 0800 0684 141 
• CHILDLINE: 0800 1111 
• CALM Helpline (males only): 0800 585 858
• Young People Crisis Number: 01744 527 618 
• KOOTH.com 
• Non-emergency police support: 101
• Knowsley Social Care: 0151 443 2600 Switchboard
• LGBT support: 0300 330 0630 
• National Domestic Violence Helpline: 0808 2000 247

We are situated on the Whiston Hospital site in the Knowsley Resource and Recovery Centre building, opposite the entrance to A&E.

We can be accessed via Dragon Lane. Once you reach our entrance (pictured), we have a video communication system next to the door where you can buzz and speak to one of our receptionists.

Once you are in, there is a flight of stairs which take you to our reception area.