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Connect: West Yorkshire Adult Eating Disorders Service – Peer Support

Connect: West Yorkshire Adult Eating Disorders Service – Peer Support

Unit 3
Northwest Business Park
Servia Hill
Leeds

LS6 2QH

07809 300539

beth.noel@commlinks.co.uk

About the Service

Community Links has peer support workers embedded in Connect in partnership with LYPFT. Connect is a service that operates across West Yorkshire offering early intervention, outpatient and inpatient services for adults with eating disorders. The service aims to increase the level of support to clients in the community close to their homes, so reducing the need for lengthy hospital admissions. They offer a range of multi-disciplinary support including dietetics, psychological interventions, nursing as well as the peer support that Community Links provides.

Our peer support workers use their lived experience to support Connect clients through an empathetic, non-judgemental approach.  They run a group work program as well as having a caseload of clients with whom they work on a 1:1 basis to offer tailored client-centred support. They use their personal recovery stories to help clients to navigate the challenging road of recovery and relapse that is all too common for those who struggle with eating disorders. The peer support workers use a range of strategies including weekly Instagram Live sessions, socially-focussed group work and the wellbeing wheel, to support clients to identify their strengths and skills, reduce isolation, and encourage greater integration into the community, factors that are so key for recovery from eating disorders.

Current clients of the Connect service are eligible to self-refer to both the 1:1 and group work, or professional referrals can be made by any member of the Connect team.

More information on the Connect service can be found by following the link below:

Leeds and York Partnership NHS Foundation Trust -CONNECT: The West Yorkshire Adult Eating Disorders Service (leedsandyorkpft.nhs.uk)

The Hub

The Connect Service is a Specialist Eating Disorder Service. The Link-ED team work with individuals with Disordered Eating alongside a primary Mental Health Diagnosis.  Together the services offer a weekly virtual support group providing specialist eating disorder support to those who, for various reasons, do not meet their referral criterion but are in need of help. No formal eating disorder diagnosis is needed.  You are welcome to come along and join; you can speak as much or as little as you choose, and you don’t have to share any personal data. The group runs weekly for 90 minutes online and offers a safe warm and supportive group environment.

Information, advice and support for anyone struggling with an eating disorder, their friends and families can be found on the Beat website: The UK’s Eating Disorder Charity – Beat (beateatingdisorders.org.uk)