Clare and Rachael, the Clinical Directors and Co-founders of TEDS, are beyond excited to announce the launch of their new, unique eating disorder service.
Within this blog, Clare and Rachael share their joint reflections on how the service came to existence and what hopes they have for TEDS in the future.
What inspired you to develop The Eating Disorder Specialists (TEDS)?
We have always been passionate about working within the field of eating disorders, which has essentially underpinned our combined 22 years of clinical experience within both NHS and Private settings. The initial seeds started to be planted for the development of a new service when we both met in 2015, which was when Clare started a new role in a private service that Rachael was already working within. We immediately connected when we met, on both a professional and personal level.
We would spend huge amounts of time reflecting on our experiences of working within the field and would reflect on certain elements of healthcare provision which were, to be frank, failing individuals with eating disorders and their families. Whether it was a client not receiving treatment in a timely manner or another being rejected for intervention due to their BMI not being low enough, these were the difficult realities that we were working in, trying to find the best solutions in impossible circumstances.
These ongoing conversations and deliberations gradually led to us considering what a caring, warm and outstanding service may look like. We reflected on our own practice and realised our combined approach was effective in terms of supporting individuals towards recovery. This was evidenced in the clients we observed were benefitting from our approach. We realised very early on, that we as therapists, were offering clients a therapeutic space to explore their past, present and future states which was of great benefit to them as eating disorders are complex and there is no “gold standard” approach which works.
Hence, our combined years of clinical experience, our shared professional and personal morals and values, in amalgamation with our integrated, unique and effective therapeutic approach gradually fuelled TEDS into existence.
What hopes do you have for TEDS in the future?
We have huge aspirations for TEDS. Are hearts are embedded within the service and thus we firstly and fundamentally hope to reach as many individuals and their families as possible so we can get alongside them and make eating disorder recovery possible. We are also passionate about offering support to carers and we have an online carers support group available.
In addition, we aspire to continue to be passionate advocates for eating disorders and holding hope for recovery is at the crux of TEDS. We want to continue to raise awareness, understanding and hold hope for individuals with eating disorders through our workshops and webinars.
In essence, we want our service to ultimately help fill the void that currently exists in eating disorder treatment provision. We are aware that there is unfortunately a lack of accessible, affordable and integrated treatment options for individuals with eating disorders who are in the community and we hope to provide a highly specialist, warm and unique eating disorder service to those individuals and their families who are out there.
