Can anyone recommend a good child therapist please, please, please?

[BloodyHellKen]

Hello All,

I am unfortunately very new to the nightmare that is eating disorders and am just starting out helping our young teen. Can anyone in the Hampshire/Berkshire/Surrey are recommend a good child psychologist/psychiatrist who specialises in eating disorders.

We have been referred to CAMHS but have been warned the wait time could be up to a year so are planning to go private.

Any recommendations will be very gratefully received.

www.monahansen.co.uk/. This lady is based in London but it was worth the travel. She was very good for my daughter

No recommendations but you really should seek psychiatry input before pursuing a psychologist. A specialist psychiatrist in the area will be able to recommend a psychiatrist

Oops sorry, will be able to recommend a psychologist

@Shouldertocryon1 thank you that is very helpful x

I had an ED as a teen
Very tough lasted around four years
All I can say is good talks with lots of understanding, it wasn't seen as a MH problem back then I had nobody
Shame made me feel worse and the problem worse
I overcame it, alone somehow but looking back if I had different support I could have had less miserable years and memories of 'non existence'.
Sending you lots of love.
Please reply if you have any questions for me, I remember feeling trapped and never being able to escape from it. Even though I wanted to, it was just torture x

Thank you @snowbellsxox , that's a very kind offer 😊

I am pleased to say that we found a therapist through CAMHS and DD has made really, really good progress so far and her weight has been restored.

It has been tremendous hard work for all of us but we now see the old DD back again although she still has quite a way to go before full recovery.

One question I do have is ' Do you know what triggered your ED?' Our DD was triggered by anxiety rather than a desire to lose weight which I hadn't heard of before.

No problem, it's so hard. The best thing to try do is nip it in the bud when it 'starts' I felt like it became some sort of addiction.
I think mine was triggered by worrying, feeling a sense of control when I did it.
And it made me feel nothing, sort of made my mind numb so I didn't have any feelings or thoughts as such and didn't have to deal with things.
I hope that helps.
I remember once just breaking down on my bed wanting to get better but didn't know how or if I ever would. I should have spoken to someone but I was so ashamed.
You are such an amazing parent going down the professional route too. It's so complex. I really hope things get better. You can do this even if it doesn't feel like it at the time. X

Thank you for your reply :)

As far as I can tell we got it in the early stages, just 2-3 months in as far as I can tell which is good, although it has been, and is, still difficult to manage because feelings of anxiety seem to trigger food worries again. Of course none of this is helped by the raging teenage hormones!!

It sounds like our DDs issue was triggered in a similar way to yours, worry, anxiety and a feeling of loss of control. She did exhibit anxious behaviour just before the eating became a problem. Fortunately our DD is very interested in health so we have been able to structure the re-feeding around health rather than weight which has worked very well.

I'm so sorry that you had to go through it all on your own, that must have been a horrible experience. If you don't mind me asking what finally helped you starting (and continuing) to overcome it?