About EDQ
Through individual and group therapy, peer mentoring and community building, we aim to alleviate the impact of eating disorders for everyone concerned.
What is an eating disorder?
For many people, eating disorders are not about food or their body image, but instead develop as a way of coping with other influences in their life.
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Family members and carers play a key role in supporting a loved one’s recovery journey.
A ‘carer’ is anyone supporting an individual with an eating disorder.
Family Coaching Sessions provide an opportunity for a carer and their loved one to collaboratively discuss practical strategies and action plans to enhance the individual’s recovery.
This online training is about helping you gain knowledge and skills and improving your confidence around meal support.
Position Available: Title: Mental Health Social Worker/Psychologist/Clinical Psychologist/Dietitian (Eating Disorders) Hours: 30- 38 hours per week Award: Social, Community,
Structured Psychological Therapy
Up to 20 sessions (once these sessions have been used, Medicare and NDIS avenues can be accessed).
Supporting those recovering from eating disorders with a skilled practitioner in a safe environment.
Practitioners at EDQ are experienced and qualified, and are generally matched with clients on a next-available basis. Staff qualifications include Counselling, Mental Health Social Work, Social Work and Psychology.
Structured Psychological Therapy is available to individuals across Queensland (age 16 and over), either in person or via telehealth. This support option allows people to explore their underlying issues with skilled practitioners in a safe, therapeutic, and confidential environment.
Appointments are scheduled at a time that suits you and are generally booked for 60 minutes. Up to 20 fully funded sessions are available for anyone determined eligible, with no out-of-pocket expenses.
There is a waitlist to access individual Structured Psychological Therapy services. The length of this waitlist varies throughout the year. Since early 2020, we have experienced an unprecedented level of enquiries and new clients, and waiting lengths are unfortunately longer than usual. We are still accepting new clients and offering alternative support options during this waiting time for individual sessions.
10-week Therapeutic Group
The EDQ 10-week Groups support individuals with eating disorders. The sense of community created in these groups and the story sharing by participants offers support and those suffering can often find the groups help to counter the sense of shame, guilt and isolation they feel.
The groups are held in a safe and supportive environment. These groups are open to people of all genders from age 16 years.
The 10-week group aims to create a safe and supportive environment. This allows people to explore some of the underlying reasons why we might be struggling with eating disorders. We look at a range of topics including feelings and needs, relationships and communication. Also how body image and how gender roles, cultural and family expectations might play a factor in eating disorders.
The group explores these different topics through discussions and expressively based therapeutic activities. These serve to increase our insight and build our support networks, skills and resources in our recovery journey.
Community Table Meal Support Group
For those who are recovering from eating disorders. We provide a safe, supportive environment where you can work through the challenges associated with eating.
The Community Table is facilitated by qualified Eating Disorder Practitioners. It is designed for those with a variety of eating disorders. As part of each session, the group shares a meal, which is provided by Eating Disorders Queensland. The Community Table uses a semi-structure approach, allowing time for pre- and post-meal activities, as well as the flexibility to explore a variety of different topics and skills that may be beneficial to recovery.
The Community Table is a closed group of 6-8 individuals, who meet once a week for 5 weeks. The group sessions are three hours in length and currently run over the lunch period.
There are many reasons to join The Community Table:
Trauma Informed Yoga
A six-week yoga group which aims to give people a foundation around yoga, the important philosophical elements that guide practice and how yoga can support recovery from eating disorders.
Recovery from an eating disorder often involves a process of reconnection to body. A yoga practice can be a way for people to make peace with the body, reclaim the body, and learn that the body can be reliable and safe again. Each week we connect with our body through practices of movement, breathing, meditation and relaxation. Compassion and kindness for self are key underlying principles for the practice.
This is all facilitated through gentleness, with varying options and choice provided that enable people to go at their own pace and comfort level. The practice of yoga enhances other recovery tools such as talk therapy and other treatment modalities. These yoga classes are taught from a trauma informed and mental health perspective. All are welcome. No prior yoga experience required.
Plug-In Connection Group
We want to offer a you chance to ‘Plug-In’ to EDQ by connecting with peers while you donate your time, skills, and energy of your choice to EDQ.
We welcome people who are curious about the services we offer at Eating Disorders QLD, those who are currently in treatment and those who have finished their treatment. All volunteers / participants will be asked to undertake a phone assessment with EDQ if they haven’t already. Plug-In activities will be planned according to both participants and EDQ suggestions.
Projects underway at EDQ are EDQ song composing; creating artwork to be hung around the communal areas of EDQ; and creating a small sensory garden. In the pilot phase of this group, we are scheduling Plug-In sessions once a month, and participants will need to RSVP to each session they wish to attend (so that we can ensure we are in compliance with COVID-19 regulations).
Peer Support Sessions
The Peer Support Sessions provide a non-therapeutic, practical adjunct to those accessing individual therapeutic support. It gives hopes to give clients and the opportunity to practice the skills learnt in therapy in a safe and supportive space.
Importantly, peer support workers assist clients normalise the experience of having an eating disorder which can greatly contribute to their overall recovery goals.
Clients are offered 5 sessions which can take place either face to face or via telehealth. All clients who wish to connect with a Peer Support Worker need to also be engaged with an Eating Disorder Practitioner or external treatment team for Structured Psychological Therapy.
The Eating Disorder Practitioner will work closely with the Peer Support Worker and the client to guide the focus of the sessions.
Through a client-led and strengths focused approach, Peer Support Workers share their personal lived experiences, can answer questions, and offer practical suggestions while enabling them to make a strong connection with those who are going through similar experiences.
The goal of an interpersonal approach is to encourage, inspire and educate their clients. They assist in building confidence and resilience, inspiring them with examples from their life and showing them that their personal challenges can be overcome. This personal connection can help to break down a client’s barriers and is an essential component in building trust. This trusted relationship is often a challenge to achieve but is an important aspect of encouraging a client’s recovery.
Peer Support Group
The Peer Support Group aims to provide those in recovery with an opportunity to connect with other peers who have shared similar experiences.
Peer Mentor Program (PMP)
This program supports people who are recovering from an eating disorder by partnering mentees with mentors who have recovered from an eating disorder.
All donations over $2 to Eating Disorders Queensland are tax deductible and give real people access to counselling, practical assistance to support recovery, groups, equipment for the centre and books for our library. You can make a one-off or regular monthly donation. We would love to acknowledge your generosity and support. Please let us know if you would like to be listed as one of our supporters on either our website or in our annual report.
Volunteers support our valuable work and goals. We offer a range of volunteering opportunities across a broad range of interest areas, such as event planning, administration tasks, cooking, and gardening. Join our volunteer team or keep an eye out for specific volunteer opportunities via our social media.
Eating Disorders Queensland
We support a vibrant community of individuals recovering from an eating disorder, including people with lived experiences, carers and family members.
LOCATION:
51 Edmondstone Street,
Yuggera Country,
South Brisbane, QLD 4101
CALL: (07) 3844 6055
Partners
Estimated completion time is 10-15 minutes.
Hello, this will be your first step of engaging with Eating Disorders Qld. We acknowledge that it can be difficult to discuss your experiences with eating disorder/s and body image issues, particularly at first.
To make it a bit easier, we have developed this form that you can complete and send back to us before we call you.
You will receive a call to discuss the information provided, or we are happy to complete the form with you. During this call we can discuss any questions or touch on issues pertaining to the questions on the form. If you prefer not to complete the form online, please use the ‘Contact Us section of the website and we will call you to arrange a discussion instead.
After this assessment has been completed and we both feel that EDQ is a good fit one of our practitioners will arrange a more comprehensive ‘intake’ session.
During an intake session, you and the practitioner will review your needs, recovery goals and expectations of therapy.
We will also go through Confidentiality and our shared Rights & Responsibilities. Looking forward to meeting you!
Due to the high demand for EDQ’s funded services, and allowing for fair equitable distribution of therapeutic resources to the community:
• EDQ requires 48 working hours’ notice of cancellation for all appointments
• In the event of 3 late cancellations or no-shows, your practitioner will discuss other support options with you before booking another appointment
EDQ acknowledges recovery and the therapeutic process is not linear. Please discuss any changing needs or barriers with your practitioner so EDQ can best support you and the greater community.
To access services with EDQ, we require that you engage regularly with a GP to monitor your medical stability. Medical monitoring is required for all clients, no matter what kind of eating disorder behaviour is present. Eating disorders have significant impacts on physical health.
If you do not currently have a suitable GP, please let us know and we can assist you to find one. I will engage regularly with a GP for the purposes of monitoring my medical stability.