Eating Disorder Consultation Service - Penrith

Details

About us

This service provides free eating disorders treatment for people living in the Penrith area of Nepean Blue Mountains LHD. Key eligibility criteria are:

• aged 18 years and over
• willing to have medical monitoring by your regular GP throughout the treatment
• live within the catchment area of the Penrith Community Mental Health Centre.

If you're not sure if you have an eating disorder, call the Mental Health Line on 1800 011 511 and they can do a brief assessment. We also have a chat upfront about what you hope to get out of the service. This helps us work out if what we offer is a good fit for your needs.

Referral information

If you're looking for support with an eating disorder, call the Mental Health Line on 1800 011 511. You don’t need a formal diagnosis. You can reach out even if you're just worried you might have an eating disorder.

You'll be asked some questions to better understand what’s going on and help figure out the next steps.

If you’re a GP wanting to refer a patient to our service, they’ll still need to go through the Mental Health Line first. GPs can call together with their patient if that helps them feel more supported.

Clinic services, specialists and hours

This service offers one to one psychological counselling for eating disorders.

The clinic runs on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday 8:30am to 4:30pm.

What to bring

Your current blood test results, including heart rate and blood pressure as assessed by your GP. This must have been taken within 2 weeks of your appointment.

Support services and resources

Inside Out Clinic

The Inside Out Institute has a range of free, online, evidence-based eTherapies which may be helpful for some people, particularly if you sometimes feel out of control around food (binge eating).

We encourage people to try out some of these sessions even if they would still like to attend the Eating Disorder Service in-person.

Visit the website for more information.

Butterfly Foundation

The Butterfly Foundation has some online eating disorder support groups, and a free helpline/chatline. Anyone can call 1800 ED HOPE (1800 334 673).

Eating Disorders Families Australia (EDFA)

EDFA provides free phone counselling to parents, carers, friends, partners, or siblings of a person with an eating disorder via their “Fill The Gap” program.

Other resources

If you think you or someone you care about might have an eating disorder and would like more information, we recommend the evidence-based information on the following sites:

• National Eating Disorder Collaboration
• The Inside Out Institute GP Hub and Practice Management Toolkit for health professionals contains information on eating disorder safe monitoring and health advice.

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