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Posted on 26 Feb 2024

Eating Disorders Awareness Week runs from 26 February to 3 March and aims to raise awareness and understanding of eating disorders.

The theme this year is ARFID, which stands for avoidant/restrictive food intake disorder. 

We’re sharing a story from a parent of a child with ARFID, who talks about their experience and the positive support from the CAMHS Eating Disorder team.

“My teenage daughter, previously a reasonable eater in terms of variety and volume, quite quickly lost all interest in food, complained of feeling sick before and during eating and became an anxious child. She lost a lot of weight rapidly and became listless and had little energy for the things she loved to do - we felt she was fading before our very eyes, and we had no idea what to do about it.  Where was our happy, adventurous and cheeky girl? Her life ground to a halt and ours did too as most of our time was spent trying to coax her to eat something, just anything at all.  

“After all the potential physical causes were ruled out, we were referred to the ARFID team at CAMHS and they have been our saviour. They were so warm and supportive from the start and spent time to truly understand our daughter and her ARFID, whilst also taking the time to learn about our family. They have worked with her tirelessly, firstly to ensure she restored her weight and her physical and mental states, using high energy drinks to supplement the little she did eat and then we have worked on expanding her range of foods, quantity and the environments where she is able to eat.  

“It has taken a lot of time, patience and support from the team, especially as it has not always been a straight road. We have had plenty of u-turns and detours along the way, but the team keeps adjusting their approach, bringing in new ideas to keep her moving forward and guiding us on how to implement and support her recovery. They have not only worked on her eating but her anxiety too. Her treatment is very much bespoke to her and never have I felt it has been a “one size fits all” approach. 

“We are now beginning to reap the benefits, her eating is much improved, the angry outbursts around food have subsided and she is regaining a lot of her life and her spark is coming back too. Her treatment is on-going for now and I have so much faith in the team.

“They have helped so much, holding our hands in the depth of our despair and celebrating all of her victories with us, however small or large.  She is now in a phase where she is learning strategies which I feel will help her throughout her life to manage her ARFID. They are a brilliant team and well worth their weight in gold.“