Building a Response to Eating Disorders in Child & Adolescent Mental Health Services: What could this Look Like?
Tracks
Ballroom 1 - In-Person Only
| Monday, March 24, 2025 |
| 3:05 PM - 4:05 PM |
Overview
Dr Sarah Trobe & Rachel Barbara-May, National Eating Disorders Collaboration
Presenter
Dr Sarah Trobe
NEDC National Director
National Eating Disorders Collaboration
Building a Response to Eating Disorders in Child & Adolescent Mental Health Services: What Could This Look Like?
Abstract
The prevalence of eating disorders is increasing, particularly amongst young people. Several evidence-based interventions for prevention and treatment exist, but policy, service and workforce limitations pose a barrier to people accessing care when and where they need it.
NEDC was funded by the Australian Government to develop the National Eating Disorder Strategy 2023-2033 to guide sector development, policy and decision-making. NEDC engaged in extensive consultations with people with lived experience, clinical, and research expertise to identify what is required to build and embed a system of care that meets the needs of people impacted by eating disorders. The Strategy brings together this depth and breadth of knowledge into a roadmap for meaningful change.
The Strategy provides standards and actions across six components of NEDC’s stepped system of care: prevention, identification, initial response, treatment, psychosocial and recovery support, and workforce, with targets at the national, regional and service-level.
Child and adolescent mental health services play a crucial role in responding to eating disorders, and the National Strategy and stepped system of care provide important frameworks from which services are able to identify their role and develop a plan for action to strengthen their response. Active engagement with the Strategy will improve access to an equitable and coordinated system of care for all people experiencing eating disorders.
The aim of the workshop is to support child and adolescent services to identify their role in the system of care and to devise strategies for driving systems-level change in eating disorders care. It draws upon NEDC’s stepped system of care framework, National Strategy, implementation science frameworks, and case studies to guide participants in developing actionable plans, with examples of system change provided by the Alfred Health team who have successfully developed and embedded eating disorder policy, expertise, and pathways in their service model.
NEDC was funded by the Australian Government to develop the National Eating Disorder Strategy 2023-2033 to guide sector development, policy and decision-making. NEDC engaged in extensive consultations with people with lived experience, clinical, and research expertise to identify what is required to build and embed a system of care that meets the needs of people impacted by eating disorders. The Strategy brings together this depth and breadth of knowledge into a roadmap for meaningful change.
The Strategy provides standards and actions across six components of NEDC’s stepped system of care: prevention, identification, initial response, treatment, psychosocial and recovery support, and workforce, with targets at the national, regional and service-level.
Child and adolescent mental health services play a crucial role in responding to eating disorders, and the National Strategy and stepped system of care provide important frameworks from which services are able to identify their role and develop a plan for action to strengthen their response. Active engagement with the Strategy will improve access to an equitable and coordinated system of care for all people experiencing eating disorders.
The aim of the workshop is to support child and adolescent services to identify their role in the system of care and to devise strategies for driving systems-level change in eating disorders care. It draws upon NEDC’s stepped system of care framework, National Strategy, implementation science frameworks, and case studies to guide participants in developing actionable plans, with examples of system change provided by the Alfred Health team who have successfully developed and embedded eating disorder policy, expertise, and pathways in their service model.
Biography
Dr Sarah Trobe is the National Director at the National Eating Disorders Collaboration and a Clinical Psychologist. Sarah played a key role in the development of the National Eating Disorders Strategy (2023-2033) (the Strategy) and drives continued implementation of the Strategy’s standards and actions through leadership, stakeholder engagement, training, and consultation across public and private services, government, clinicians, primary care, and service leaders.
Sarah is a Clinical Psychologist and has held clinical positions at the Royal Children’s Hospital and private practice and worked with CEED, focusing on service development, case consultation, multidisciplinary care coordination, and education & training provision.
