Somerset
and Wessex Eating Disorders Association "Serving
those affected by eating disorders"
Strode House, 10 Leigh Road, Street,
Somerset, England, UK
We have news and updates from the various projects that SEDA is involved in, including a new Carers Group and a change of day for our Yeovil Drop-in. There is also the opportunity for you to have your say in the researches we have been asked to advertise. If you would like to contribute a poem, article or book review perhaps, then do contact me here at SEDA.
My thanks to those who have contributed in the production of this bulletin from the workers to the volunteers for all their hard work.
We all hope you are enjoying the Summer weather where ever you are, take good care of yourselves. Best Wishes, Sandra
Thursday 11 September 2003 at 6.30pm Sedgemoor Suite, Bear Inn, Street
Comic Relief Grant
18 to 25 year olds service
We have had a delay in getting this project off the ground but will be interviewing for a halftime worker at the end of July.
This funding, over three years, will enable the development of a programme for 18-25 year olds, support for families, and look at how we can improve access to all our services for people who are trying to further their education and/or employment while working on recovering from an eating disorder.
As ever, we are grateful to Comic Relief for funding us and look forward to working with them.
If you would like information about the programme or to find out about volunteer opportunities under this grant then please do contact us.
CARERS GROUP Held on the first Tuesday of the Month at SEDA, 7.00pm - 8.00pm
This group will offer carers the opportunity to meet with others who have similar experiences and to gain support.
If you are a parent, partner, relative or friend, this will be a chance to share knowledge and understanding from a carers point of view.
Topics covered will be suggested by group members
SEDA~Low Cost Counselling Service.
If you are affected by an eating disorder or caring for someone who is and you are interested in having some counselling or would like more information, please contact the helpline who will send you our information leaflet and an application form.
£15 for initial interview, £10 for each counselling session therafter.
Poem
page
Back to the drawing
board Born into
an outline
this paper doll girl
Her scribbled wings
with no room to unfurl
The hand behind the pen
as steady as a rock
but the mind that designed her
ran out of stock
Now she's all cut out
Pasted into her own Wonderland
Her paper cuts sever threads
But she'll never understand
"Oh Daddy I've messed it up
She's all outside the lines"
For a doll as beautiful as she should be
That's just too big a crime
She wasn't good enough
Too big for her throne
She had made the little girl cry
and so, was cast alone
Today she entered the looking glass
It sealed her deep inside
Stood in this hall of mirrors
she had no place to hide
It was then she decided
she was to do something about it
Into the pleased eyes of the girl
she would neatly fit
She rubbed her excess lines away
She felt better than before
Still, she couldn't help the craving
She just HAD to loose some more
Soon she started exploring
what lay just inside the lines
There was no one to be concerned
and she felt just fine
The story remains the same
for what must seem like years
her silent disappearing act
creeping into our tears
One day she went too far
Erased the very last section
Drawing on wont bring her back
there is no room for a correction
She strived to be accepted
But the girl never did and never will
She is one of the many blank pages
Paperweighted on the window sill
Melt She's wishing upon
your star
reaching out
falling so far
blink and stare
the girl you saw just before
is no longer there
You let it linger
and now she's gone
a snowflake on your finger
faery lost her song
She melted behind your back
Trying to stab her way through
for all the care you lacked
you made up in colouring her blue
Bluebell fades into the sky now
fades the way only you knew how
your hand on her trigger
After
Tastes Close ups breed imperfections
like breathing the injection of shame you claimed
for me
Staring at stars wont bring them
closer to you
But it'll give me a chance to slip away
Away with the whispers you stole
My lips are so dry now
Cornered under your control
Centred around and through your soul
I wasn't yours to take
Not then
Not now
So why do you insist on this
Your invading mist burns and sits
on my tongue
Aftertastes are a forever's waste
Sweat on your aura
Blood red on my face
Blood said I'd be chased
but I didn't believe
her
"Nothing
we ever imagined
is beyond our powers, only
beyond our present self-knowledge"
(Theodore
Roszak)
"What
lies behind us
And what lies before us
Are tiny matters
Compared to what lies within us"
(Ralph Waldo
Emerson)
"Life
is what it is.
You cannot change it
But you can change yourself."
(Hazrat Inayat Khan)
New Volunteer Training
SEDA will be running Volunteer Training for anybody interested in becoming a SEDA Volunteer.
The initial induction training will provide an insight into the workings of SEDA and information about eating disorders. The training will take place on the evenings of the 18th and 25th of September from 6:30pm - 9:00pm. Further service specific training will then become available enabling volunteers to work in their chosen areas within SEDA.
If you are interested in becoming a SEDA Volunteer please contact Lyn Southway at SEDA for a Volunteer Pack and an application form (you can also download these from the SEDA web site).
Eating Disorders Research Opportunities
HAVE YOUR SAY
....a call for parents to get involoved in some research....
Are you a parent whose child has received or is receiving treatment for anorexia? If you are, you might be able to help me. I run an Eating Disorders Association support group at Exeter University, and I am currently studying for a PhD. My research will focus on parents' views of any treatment their child has received for anorexia. Your child may still be receiving treatment, or they may have been discharged several years ago. Either way, I would be very interested in talking to you. I feel this is an important area to explore because it has been overlooked in the past.
It is necessary for professionals providing treatment to be aware of parents' opinions and for parents to be able to voice their views about what they felt did or did not work, and about what they would have liked to have changed about treatment. If you decide to get involved in this study, I will arrange to come and interview you at a place and time to suit you. I would like to speak to both parents, although I am happy to speak to either childs's (the child may now be grown up) mother or father. The interview should take about one hour.
If you would like to take part, please contact me via email: s.j.tierney@exeter.ac.ukor telephone me on 01392 262862.
I look forward to hearing from you.
S J Tierney
Existential Anxiety and Eating Disorders
Introduction This is research being conducted by myself, Andy Fox, and Dr Newman Leung, Consultant Clinical Psychologist at the Queen Elizabeth Psychiatric Hospital. I’m currently a postgraduate research student at the University of Birmingham, and over recent years have worked directly with people who suffer from a variety of eating disorders.
What is the research about? We’re interested in the nature of ‘existential anxiety’ and its role in people who suffer from anorexia nervosa - one of the three major types of eating disorders.
What is ‘existential anxiety’? Well, existential anxiety is thought to arise when an individual realises that there is no meaning in the world other than that which they themselves impose. So, for example, if we asked a person who they are, they may answer that they are an astronaut. They themselves chose to take this role, and are now using it to define who they are. But it does not answer the bigger question of ‘why we are here?’, and unfortunately, there is no answer to this one - we create our own answers.
If you have any questions about any of the study, then you can contact me at the address below or e-mail me at aof221@bham.ac.uk
Andy Fox, Postgraduate Research Student Psychology Department, Frankland Building University of Birmingham Edgbaston,B15 2TT
Joint working with
The NHS Somerset Eating Disorders Service Team
Duncan, Joy and Alex are now based in Glastonbury. Tricia is part of the team, working there two days a week. It was good to have them all with us and for us to get to know each other but we do all feel we can breathe with the space left over since they moved!
While both Duncan and Joy will be seeing some clients for therapy (accessed via referral from Community Mental Health Teams) the priority is to develop services generally. Use of facilities in Bridgwater and Taunton for respite and supported in-patient stay, and development of day services in Yeovil are currently being organised. These will become available to people from across Somerset.
Specialist in-patient services are now being provided through the Dorset Eating Disorders Unit. This excellent NHS provision is well known to us at SEDA and we are pleased that it will be available to Somerset residents
Training and supervision of NHS staff, especially the Eating Disorders Linkworkers is already happening, and this will raise awareness and service standards in all areas of the Mental Health Trust. Closer working between SEDA and the Linkworkers will make a wider choice of support more easily available for people with eating disorders and their families.
By the next Bulletin we should be able to report in detail about new NHS services available.
ADVERT
Especially for those with an eating disorder. Are you interested in coming to an evening group run
by Ali Simmons and Hannah Carter?
Starting Thursday October 2nd at 6pm-9pm in Wells.
This is to include a supported meal.
For more information and to find out the costs involved please phone Ali on 01275 472264
PENPAL SCHEME.
Would you like to write to someone in a similar situation to yourself, or with similar interests? Being a Pen-Pal gives you the opportunity to discuss ideas, share thoughts and feelings and give and receive support in your struggle with Eating Disorders.
If you would like to be involved in SEDA's Pen-Pal Scheme, you will need to register with us. To do this you can write into SEDA, call the helpline or download the form from our web site.
Once we have received and accepted your completed form you will be allocated a SEDA box number which you will need to include on the outside of all your Pen-Pal letters. You will receive confirmation of your box number and the information you supplied about yourself will be placed in the SEDA Bulletin and the Pen-Pal updates and where requested on the Web Site.
Replies will be sent on to you unopened. We would encourage you to reply to any letter received within a fortnight whenever possible.
SEDA House Update
The Somerset Eating Disorders Association Supported House has been running now for 4 months.
The house provides an opportunity for individuals from 18 to 65 years of age who are committed to furthering their recovery from an eating disorder, to live independently whilst drawing on a personalised support package of twenty-one hours each week.
Tenants of the SEDA House are able to decide for themselves what support they feel they need to live independently and further their recoveries, and work with their support workers to produce a support package to enable them to do so. The SEDA House is situated in Street. We currently have 2 tenants in residence and are actively looking for a 3rd.
If you feel that the SEDA House might be for you and would be interested in finding out more, contact Estelle Davenport--SEDA House Project Manager-- to find out more.
The house has a large garden and we are currently looking for anyone who would feel able to donate some garden furniture to enable our tenants to make the most of the fine weather. Some stair carpet would also be useful.
If you feel that you could help with either of these please let Estelle know via SEDA.
Supported Self-Help Programme Starting on 6th October 2003
SSH is our way of offering support over a 15 - 18 month period for anyone willing to take part in group and 1-1 activities. We will look at issues including self esteem, relationships, setting and achieving life goals, motivation, and understanding and managing a healthy food/exercise lifestyle. You can chose to just sign up for the first block of 12 sessions without committing to the whole programme.
As well as group sessions (short blocks with breaks between topics) you will work at your own pace on your chosen areas supported by a SEDA trained volunteer. A workbook will be provided, and you can also use material from a range of self-help books and manuals.
We are recruiting now for the first group, which will be starting in October, meeting at Sydenham Schools Complex, Bridgwater. Provisionally we are starting this as a daytime group, but if there is a need for an evening group we will arrange that.
Contact the helpline and leave your name and address, we will then send you a leaflet and an application form, and make an arrangement to meet with you to talk further.
The group will be facilitated by Tricia, SEDA's Manager, and Lyn Southway who is acting as development worker for this project.
We have some funding to support the programme so you may be eligible for a free place - any costs payable could be spread out over a two year period.
Drop-In Venues
1st
Friday & 3rd Sunday of the month 10.30am ~ 12.30pm
held at SEDA, Strode House,
10 Leigh Road, Street
2nd Friday of the month,
10.30am ~ 12.30pm
held at Taunton library Meeting Room,
Paul street, Taunton
3rd Friday of the month,
10.30am ~ 12.30pm
held at Frome Library Meeting Room,
Justice Lane, Frome
4th Thursday* of the month, 7pm - 8.30pm
held at Penn House,
St Nicholas Close, Yeovil *From August, July meeting is on Wednesday 23rd
PENPAL SCHEME.
SEDA House Update
Drop-In Venues
Monday 4pm - 7pm
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