Eating Disorder Awareness

Two parents have revealed how they resorted to contacting their Local MP, Anne Main, Conservative for St Albans, Hertfordshire to say: “My daughter is dying, can someone help me?” as they struggled to find held for her eating disorder.

Jane and Len Tompsett from Hertfordshire, spoke movingly about how their daughter, Kathryn, developed anorexia after noticing changes in her eating habits.

Yet despite getting the correct diagnosis from doctors, they then had “great difficulty” finding help for Kathryn – resulting in Mr Tompsett writing to MP Anne Main, out of desperation.

Thankfully within 12 hours of the letter being received, Kathryn was referred to a clinic.

During a talk at a HuddlUP meetings on Friday, May 3 – organised by Huddl and Suffolk Mind to give mental health advice to parents – they described finally getting support as a “huge sense of relief that we had someone to lift some of the weight from our shoulders”.

Mrs Tompsett added: “We had to put our lives on hold to save our daughters life, but with the right help, you have hope.”

Many parents feel a sense of guilt towards their child’s eatin disorder but Mrs Tompsett said her message was: “parents are not to blame and often need their own support.”

The talk at Quay Place in Ipswich also heard from Charlie Green, from Suffolk Mind and clinical nurse Penny smith.

Ms Smith said anorexia is common in under-18s but that it can be difficult to spot the signs as some people show different symptoms to others.

The events also highlighted how people are 50% more likely to be diagnosed with an eating disorder if a family member has one.

A stigma around weight and body image is also a contributory factor, the talk heard.

EB