Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Now, last week I received a letter from a family
raising concerns about a lack of support in Darwin for
their teenage daughter who's battling and eating disorder. They claim
that mental health services at top end hospitals do not
treat teenagers with anorexia and that the community Youth Psychiatry
team doesn't accept referrals for it either. Now the family
(00:21):
says they've been left with no specialist services for their
fourteen year old daughter. But we've done some digging and
found that Headspace does offer some support. Now joining us
on the line is Headspace Darwin acting Clinical operations Manager
Jessica Cheers Well and as well as that clinical psychologist Teaganholtham.
(00:44):
Good morning to you both.
Speaker 2 (00:46):
Good morning Katie.
Speaker 1 (00:47):
Now I might go to you first, Jessica. What support
does Headspace provide when it comes to eating disorders?
Speaker 2 (00:55):
Thanks Katie. So, Headspace is a free service for young
people twelve to twenty five. We've got an office up
in Darwin and one down in Palmerston. Part of the
services that we do have two dedicated eating disorder clinicians
a part of our staff and group who support young
people in the community and their families with disordered eating.
Speaker 1 (01:17):
And so in terms of I guess the demand for
those two staff members, have you got quite you know,
quite a few people wanting their services?
Speaker 3 (01:30):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (01:30):
Absolutely, I think since the program started we do find
that the team are under demand quite a bit. At
the moment, we're supporting about twenty young people across those
two clinicians who both are part time clinicians, And yeah,
we do certainly see the demand and we're in our
(01:51):
community for young people with disordered eating and their families
and the.
Speaker 1 (01:56):
Doctor's referrals needed or who you know, can families get
in what like? What can people do if they need
that support? Yeah?
Speaker 2 (02:04):
Absolute, great question. So certainly if there's any young people
or families in the community that are wanting to link
up with support, it is about just getting in touch
with Headspace as a first step. So we can certainly
accept referrals. There's an online referral form or even just
giving us a call and having a chat to a
clinician on the phone. When a young person's referred, they're
(02:26):
seeing generally within two weeks of receiving that referral. We
don't need a doctor letter with that or anything like that.
And it's just about having a chat to the young
person and family and finding out what the needs are
and kind of going from there.
Speaker 1 (02:40):
Jessica, I'm not sure whether it's something you know, whether
it's information that you can provide or not. But you know,
are we seeing an increase in, you know, in the
numbers around eating disorders across Australia. You know, we know
that's sort of social media and kids being or young
people being exposed to you know, perfect body and perfect
(03:01):
people and you know, or what they maybe perceive as being.
That is really prevalent with the rise of social media.
So I guess I'm just interested to know whether you
know we've seen an increase in the numbers around eating disorders.
Speaker 2 (03:15):
Yeah, certainly, I think from the evidence out there at
the moment does indicate that we are seeing a rise
and needing disorder presentations. I think as mental health to
to see within the community also thickens for young people
and families. We are seeing more and more young people
presenting with disordered eating at headspace. We really value that
(03:36):
early intervention space and thinking about getting in early before
things really escalate for young people and their families. I
think since COVID we've seen about a twenty five percent increase,
so it's quite significant. And what we understand about disordered
eating for young people and families is it's such an
impactful situation for young people and their families beyond the
(04:01):
young person themselves, but the impact that it has is
felt for the family and those around them quite significant.
Speaker 1 (04:08):
Now, my next questions might be for clinical psychologists. Teagan Holtham,
who I know is they're with you as well, so
I might I might get Teagan if.
Speaker 3 (04:18):
I if I may, Hi Katie, I'm here.
Speaker 1 (04:22):
Hi Teagan, thanks so much. I really appreciate you both
having a chat with us this morning. Now, Teagan, as
a clinical psychologist, what support do the clinicians and the
specialists provide for conditions like anarexia because obviously we look
at it as needing disorder. But I know that you know,
a lot, like a lot of these theories, I would
(04:42):
imagine assistants needed, you know when it comes to you know,
to that mental support as well.
Speaker 3 (04:50):
Yeah, definitely, And eating is a really complex so it's
actually quite important to have a team of clinicians, including
a medical specialist so a GP or a pediatrician or
a psychiatrist, as well as a mental health clinician and
where possible having dietetics and sometimes other allied health involvement
as well, such as OT because it does impact individuals
(05:14):
and families in so many varied ways, certainly from the
mental health aspect. The way that we work with young
people is very family inclusive. The most research and evidence
based approach for young people with a arexia in family
based treatment. So it's quite an intensive treatment where we
provide weekly support to the young person and their family
(05:38):
and then also between session support sometimes in terms of
meal support or some guidance and connecting with the other
the other allied health sort of professionals within the team.
So it is quite resource intensive to support these family
but definitely incredibly important work.
Speaker 1 (05:57):
Give us a little bit of context, you know when
you talk about some of the complexities in treating eating
disorders among young people.
Speaker 3 (06:06):
Well, I guess.
Speaker 1 (06:09):
I mean, like you said, involving her family as well. Yeah,
go for it.
Speaker 3 (06:14):
Yeah, A few different things come to mind. One thing
is that in adolescence, young people's bodies are doing so
much work and requiring so much nutrition. So the medical
complexity and risk is really quite heightened for young people,
so it's important to act really quickly. But part of
the difficulty with that is that eating disorders are often
something that are told quite shamefully or in secret, and
(06:37):
young people engaged have a lot of ambivalence. Partially they
want to get back to normal and want to be
healthy again, but there's a really significant amount of fear
that presents as a barrier to that, which makes things
incredibly complicated for families because they want to support a
young person to get well, but oftentimes the young person
finds that really challenging and might even fight back against that.
(06:58):
So it's a really really hard process for families to
go through.
Speaker 1 (07:03):
And is that why it's so important that you know
that when they do come to headspace, that it's sort
of the family and everybody's involved.
Speaker 3 (07:12):
Definitely. We know very very clearly from the research that
most young people, once in eating disorder is ingrained, cannot
recover on their own. We know that's actually true for
all individuals with an eating disorder, and it's one reason
why utilizing the family when we see adolescents has a
much greater efficacy rate. Our prognosis for treating young people
early in their journey is up to sort of eighty
(07:35):
five to ninety percent recovery if we can see them
within the first twelve months eating disorder treatment beyond that
time point, and in adults our efficacy is about fifty percent.
So it's really important that families, if they are concerned,
you know, act on those concerns as quickly as they can.
That's not a scare families, but really wanting to empower
(07:57):
families and parents out there. If you have got a concern,
trust your gut. You know you're a young person, there
is help available here in Darwin. Go to your GP,
reach out to Headspace and then we can connect with
the appropriate level of support if we can.
Speaker 1 (08:11):
And in terms of services provided in Darwin as a whole,
is Headspace the only place supporting young people with eating disorders?
Do you know?
Speaker 3 (08:19):
Heads based not the only service supporting people with eating disorders,
but we are limited in our scope. There is some
private options so in the community sector, which are fee
paying options, and there's a couple of dedicated clinics here
in the NT. We don't have sort of that wider
reaching supporters as families identified that did a little bit
(08:41):
of a gap, but there are definitely well trained and
experienced clinicians who are really dedicated working in this space.
Speaker 1 (08:49):
So to anybody listening this morning, whose family you know
I may be going through this situation, what is your
advice to them?
Speaker 3 (09:00):
Talk with you a young person, try to get a
handle on sort of what's happening, express your concerns, and
really try to listen. It might be the first time
that you guys approach the subject, or it might be
something that's just a little bit of an inkling. I
definitely find if parents are concerned, it's worth being concerned
and reaching out from that point, making an appointment with
(09:20):
a GP, and if you don't have a family GP,
requesting a GP that has experience in eating disorders, because
sometimes it is a little bit of a specialized area
and it's worth looking around connect with headspace, particularly if
you're a young persons between the ages of twelve to
twenty five, and if not, there are some really wonderful
national organizations on them too. Butterfly Foundation is a Body
(09:44):
Image and Eating disorders national organization that provides a huge
amount of training, has a national support a support line
that you can talk to just to sort of seek
some further information and eating disorders families. There earlier also
a national online organization that are dedicated to supporting the
cares of young people and adults within eating disorder.
Speaker 1 (10:07):
Well, Tagan, I really appreciate your time this morning, and
also Jessicas, thank you both so very much for joining
us on the show. You know, we think it's really
important when you know, we have a family like the
one that did reach out to us to hopefully be
able to you know, provide them with some information to
be able to help their young person. And I know
(10:28):
that there will be others listening this morning who may
be in a similar situation, and knowing that the services
are there that Headspace provides I think is an enormous
help to those families impacted.
Speaker 3 (10:39):
Thank you so much for having us. We really appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (10:42):
Thank you, thanks so much for your time this morning.
Now, last week I received a letter from a family
raising concerns about a lack of support in Darwin for
their teenage daughter who's battling and eating disorder. They claim
that mental health services at top end hospitals do not
treat teenagers with anorexia and that the community Youth Psychiatry
team doesn't accept referrals for it either. Now the family
(00:21):
says they've been left with no specialist services for their
fourteen year old daughter. But we've done some digging and
found that Headspace does offer some support. Now joining us
on the line is Headspace Darwin acting Clinical operations Manager
Jessica Cheers Well and as well as that clinical psychologist Teaganholtham.
(00:44):
Good morning to you both.
Speaker 2 (00:46):
Good morning Katie.
Speaker 1 (00:47):
Now I might go to you first, Jessica. What support
does Headspace provide when it comes to eating disorders?
Speaker 2 (00:55):
Thanks Katie. So, Headspace is a free service for young
people twelve to twenty five. We've got an office up
in Darwin and one down in Palmerston. Part of the
services that we do have two dedicated eating disorder clinicians
a part of our staff and group who support young
people in the community and their families with disordered eating.
Speaker 1 (01:17):
And so in terms of I guess the demand for
those two staff members, have you got quite you know,
quite a few people wanting their services?
Speaker 3 (01:30):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (01:30):
Absolutely, I think since the program started we do find
that the team are under demand quite a bit. At
the moment, we're supporting about twenty young people across those
two clinicians who both are part time clinicians, And yeah,
we do certainly see the demand and we're in our
(01:51):
community for young people with disordered eating and their families
and the.
Speaker 1 (01:56):
Doctor's referrals needed or who you know, can families get
in what like? What can people do if they need
that support? Yeah?
Speaker 2 (02:04):
Absolute, great question. So certainly if there's any young people
or families in the community that are wanting to link
up with support, it is about just getting in touch
with Headspace as a first step. So we can certainly
accept referrals. There's an online referral form or even just
giving us a call and having a chat to a
clinician on the phone. When a young person's referred, they're
(02:26):
seeing generally within two weeks of receiving that referral. We
don't need a doctor letter with that or anything like that.
And it's just about having a chat to the young
person and family and finding out what the needs are
and kind of going from there.
Speaker 1 (02:40):
Jessica, I'm not sure whether it's something you know, whether
it's information that you can provide or not. But you know,
are we seeing an increase in, you know, in the
numbers around eating disorders across Australia. You know, we know
that's sort of social media and kids being or young
people being exposed to you know, perfect body and perfect
(03:01):
people and you know, or what they maybe perceive as being.
That is really prevalent with the rise of social media.
So I guess I'm just interested to know whether you
know we've seen an increase in the numbers around eating disorders.
Speaker 2 (03:15):
Yeah, certainly, I think from the evidence out there at
the moment does indicate that we are seeing a rise
and needing disorder presentations. I think as mental health to
to see within the community also thickens for young people
and families. We are seeing more and more young people
presenting with disordered eating at headspace. We really value that
(03:36):
early intervention space and thinking about getting in early before
things really escalate for young people and their families. I
think since COVID we've seen about a twenty five percent increase,
so it's quite significant. And what we understand about disordered
eating for young people and families is it's such an
impactful situation for young people and their families beyond the
(04:01):
young person themselves, but the impact that it has is
felt for the family and those around them quite significant.
Speaker 1 (04:08):
Now, my next questions might be for clinical psychologists. Teagan Holtham,
who I know is they're with you as well, so
I might I might get Teagan if.
Speaker 3 (04:18):
I if I may, Hi Katie, I'm here.
Speaker 1 (04:22):
Hi Teagan, thanks so much. I really appreciate you both
having a chat with us this morning. Now, Teagan, as
a clinical psychologist, what support do the clinicians and the
specialists provide for conditions like anarexia because obviously we look
at it as needing disorder. But I know that you know,
a lot, like a lot of these theories, I would
(04:42):
imagine assistants needed, you know when it comes to you know,
to that mental support as well.
Speaker 3 (04:50):
Yeah, definitely, And eating is a really complex so it's
actually quite important to have a team of clinicians, including
a medical specialist so a GP or a pediatrician or
a psychiatrist, as well as a mental health clinician and
where possible having dietetics and sometimes other allied health involvement
as well, such as OT because it does impact individuals
(05:14):
and families in so many varied ways, certainly from the
mental health aspect. The way that we work with young
people is very family inclusive. The most research and evidence
based approach for young people with a arexia in family
based treatment. So it's quite an intensive treatment where we
provide weekly support to the young person and their family
(05:38):
and then also between session support sometimes in terms of
meal support or some guidance and connecting with the other
the other allied health sort of professionals within the team.
So it is quite resource intensive to support these family
but definitely incredibly important work.
Speaker 1 (05:57):
Give us a little bit of context, you know when
you talk about some of the complexities in treating eating
disorders among young people.
Speaker 3 (06:06):
Well, I guess.
Speaker 1 (06:09):
I mean, like you said, involving her family as well. Yeah,
go for it.
Speaker 3 (06:14):
Yeah, A few different things come to mind. One thing
is that in adolescence, young people's bodies are doing so
much work and requiring so much nutrition. So the medical
complexity and risk is really quite heightened for young people,
so it's important to act really quickly. But part of
the difficulty with that is that eating disorders are often
something that are told quite shamefully or in secret, and
(06:37):
young people engaged have a lot of ambivalence. Partially they
want to get back to normal and want to be
healthy again, but there's a really significant amount of fear
that presents as a barrier to that, which makes things
incredibly complicated for families because they want to support a
young person to get well, but oftentimes the young person
finds that really challenging and might even fight back against that.
(06:58):
So it's a really really hard process for families to
go through.
Speaker 1 (07:03):
And is that why it's so important that you know
that when they do come to headspace, that it's sort
of the family and everybody's involved.
Speaker 3 (07:12):
Definitely. We know very very clearly from the research that
most young people, once in eating disorder is ingrained, cannot
recover on their own. We know that's actually true for
all individuals with an eating disorder, and it's one reason
why utilizing the family when we see adolescents has a
much greater efficacy rate. Our prognosis for treating young people
early in their journey is up to sort of eighty
(07:35):
five to ninety percent recovery if we can see them
within the first twelve months eating disorder treatment beyond that
time point, and in adults our efficacy is about fifty percent.
So it's really important that families, if they are concerned,
you know, act on those concerns as quickly as they can.
That's not a scare families, but really wanting to empower
(07:57):
families and parents out there. If you have got a concern,
trust your gut. You know you're a young person, there
is help available here in Darwin. Go to your GP,
reach out to Headspace and then we can connect with
the appropriate level of support if we can.
Speaker 1 (08:11):
And in terms of services provided in Darwin as a whole,
is Headspace the only place supporting young people with eating disorders?
Do you know?
Speaker 3 (08:19):
Heads based not the only service supporting people with eating disorders,
but we are limited in our scope. There is some
private options so in the community sector, which are fee
paying options, and there's a couple of dedicated clinics here
in the NT. We don't have sort of that wider
reaching supporters as families identified that did a little bit
(08:41):
of a gap, but there are definitely well trained and
experienced clinicians who are really dedicated working in this space.
Speaker 1 (08:49):
So to anybody listening this morning, whose family you know
I may be going through this situation, what is your
advice to them?
Speaker 3 (09:00):
Talk with you a young person, try to get a
handle on sort of what's happening, express your concerns, and
really try to listen. It might be the first time
that you guys approach the subject, or it might be
something that's just a little bit of an inkling. I
definitely find if parents are concerned, it's worth being concerned
and reaching out from that point, making an appointment with
(09:20):
a GP, and if you don't have a family GP,
requesting a GP that has experience in eating disorders, because
sometimes it is a little bit of a specialized area
and it's worth looking around connect with headspace, particularly if
you're a young persons between the ages of twelve to
twenty five, and if not, there are some really wonderful
national organizations on them too. Butterfly Foundation is a Body
(09:44):
Image and Eating disorders national organization that provides a huge
amount of training, has a national support a support line
that you can talk to just to sort of seek
some further information and eating disorders families. There earlier also
a national online organization that are dedicated to supporting the
cares of young people and adults within eating disorder.
Speaker 1 (10:07):
Well, Tagan, I really appreciate your time this morning, and
also Jessicas, thank you both so very much for joining
us on the show. You know, we think it's really
important when you know, we have a family like the
one that did reach out to us to hopefully be
able to you know, provide them with some information to
be able to help their young person. And I know
(10:28):
that there will be others listening this morning who may
be in a similar situation, and knowing that the services
are there that Headspace provides I think is an enormous
help to those families impacted.
Speaker 3 (10:39):
Thank you so much for having us. We really appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (10:42):
Thank you, thanks so much for your time this morning.
Popular Podcasts
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.
Cardiac Cowboys
The heart was always off-limits to surgeons. Cutting into it spelled instant death for the patient. That is, until a ragtag group of doctors scattered across the Midwest and Texas decided to throw out the rule book. Working in makeshift laboratories and home garages, using medical devices made from scavenged machine parts and beer tubes, these men and women invented the field of open heart surgery. Odds are, someone you know is alive because of them. So why has history left them behind? Presented by Chris Pine, CARDIAC COWBOYS tells the gripping true story behind the birth of heart surgery, and the young, Greatest Generation doctors who made it happen. For years, they competed and feuded, racing to be the first, the best, and the most prolific. Some appeared on the cover of Time Magazine, operated on kings and advised presidents. Others ended up disgraced, penniless, and convicted of felonies. Together, they ignited a revolution in medicine, and changed the world.