Eating Disorders

Working with young people who struggle with eating disorders or body image concerns, is a special interest of ours at The Wattle Tree Clinic. It can be a very scary time for families as they witness changes to their young person’s mood, body and behaviour. And it can be a tough road back to health, but we’re here to help, every step of the way.

For more information regarding our approach to different presentations in this area, have a browse of the drop-down menu. Our principal psychologist Courtney is a Credentialed Eating Disorder Clinician (CEDC) and regularly shares her expertise in this area on our blog.

Please note, in order to provide comprehensive care for young people with eating disorders, we have a special triage process to ensure a young person is safe to engage with our care. If this is relevant to you, our friendly client relations manager will discuss this with you upon contact.

  • Characterised by an obsessive focus on body weight and shape and marked by BIG changes in mood, physical health and behaviour, AN in a young person is a serious concern. Early intervention is vital to restore health and get a young person back on track. We strongly recommend reaching out for help, as soon as you notice things are off.

    For AN in under 17yrs:

    Our role is to work with the family to help restore a young person back to health. We work from Family Based Therapy (FBT) frameworks - meaning we generally don’t see the young person alone - always with parents/carers. For more information see our parent guides page for articles related to FBT.

    For AN in over 17yrs:

    Depending on the young persons circumstances and what is needed, we work from various different treatment models, including CBT-E, schema therapy, and DBT. Alongside our work in this area, regular medical monitoring and dietetics input is required.

  • An eating disorder that traps young people in a suffocating cycle of over eating (binging) followed by intensive drive to rid the body of the consumed food (purging, laxatives etc.). Like AN, Bulimia is also a very serious concern in young people. If left untreated these patterns can quickly take over a young person life, and have a rapid impact on the young persons physical health.

    For Bulimia in under 17yrs:

    Our role is to work with the family to help restore a young person back to health. We work from Family Based Therapy (FBT) frameworks - meaning we generally don’t see the young person alone - always with parents/carers. For more information see the resources section below or check out our parent guides page for articles related to FBT.

    For Bulimia in over 17yrs:

    Depending on the young persons circumstances and what is needed, we work from various different treatment models, including CBT-E, schema therapy, and DBT. Alongside our work in this area, regular medical monitoring and dietetics input is required.

  • An eating disorder characterised by regular episodes of binging, or eating past the point of fullness. Young people describe themselves as feeling out of control, and often will go to big lengths to hide their behaviours, due to shame. Parents, friends or partners normally notice something is off, but young people struggle to share the truth for fear of judgment. BED can be devastating on a young persons self esteem if left untreated. Amazingly though, BED generally responds incredibly well to treatment.

  • The newest diagnostic addition to the eating disorder world, ARFID is characterised by eating patterns that are restricted in variety and volume, which then cause physical and social impacts. These young people are normally named the “picky eaters” who also describe sensory aversions to certain foods i.e., “the texture feels weird”, or generally struggle to find pleasure in food/eating. These difficulties then causes BIG problems in other areas of life - failure to grow, nutritional deficits, social withdrawal etc.,

    For those under 17yrs, family involvement in treatment is required (although not as strictly as with other EDs).

Eating Disorder Resources for Young People & Families

When a parent or a carer reaches out to us concerned about eating behaviours in their young person, they have normally been worried for some time. They’ve been watching things unfold, unsure how worried they should be, what to say and then how to intervene.

Similarly, when young people themselves reach out for care in this space, they’ve normally been deliberating for a while, before they actually take the leap to see someone. It’s often hard to see things for what they are, when you’re experiencing it day-to-day.

Luckily, there are many amazing resources online to help parents and young people navigate decisions in this space. If this is you, we strongly recommend you browse the resources we have listed on the right.

Feed Your Instinct is an interactive tool put together by the Victorian Government to help parents/carers sift through their concerns.

How Far Is Too Far? A website designed to help people explore their own behaviours relating to food or exercise.

Butterfly Foundation As the leading eating disorder organisation in Australia, The Butterfly Foundations website contains so much helpful information. But two of their most valuable resources are their helpline, whereby anyone (families, parents, partners) can access advice quickly, and their referral database which lists clinicians who are proficient in eating disorder care, state-by-state.