Australia’s first ever residential eating disorder clinic — The Wandi Nerida facility — opens in Queensland

Over a million Australians have eating disorders but there has been no specialised facility to treat them – until now.

Exclusive: Serena Riley remembers vividly the moment her relationship with food changed.

Barely 10 years of age and still at primary school, she went on her first diet.

“When I was 10 my mum went on a diet using WeightWatchers and so did her peer group and they all went on it with their daughters who were 16, 15, 17 and so I went on it with mum as well,” the Queensland nurse said.

The diet sparked a fixation on measuring, weighing, planning and restricting that would live with her for the next decade.

Serena Riley battled eating disorders for years and is now working as a nurse at Australia's first eating disorders clinic, Wandi Nerida. Picture: Lachie Millard

First anorexia nervosa, then later, bulimia — her obsession with food was unrelenting, personal and very private.

Like so many with crippling eating disorders, her BMI did not dip below 20, meaning she never looked skeletal. There were no warning signs for her friends and family.

“A lot of people don’t really realise that you don’t have to look very underweight, to be unwell and have an eating disorder. The reality is that most people will have normal weight or will be slightly overweight,” she said.

It took nine years for Riley to admit she had a problem — and her fruitless search for a treatment saw her try to take her life at the age of 19.

Finally recovered, the now 29-year-old’s journey comes full circle next month as she starts work in Australia’s first ever specialised residential eating disorder clinic — The Wandi Nerida facility — on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast.

“As I was rushed into the emergency department, I will never forget the glimmer of hope the nurse was able to offer me: ‘I’ve been where you are, and I promise it gets better’,” she said of the dedicated recovery clinic she had eventually found.

“I’m determined to show participants at Wandi Nerida that you can recover from an eating disorder. I’m living proof.”

Wandi Nerida is a state-of-the-art, 13-bed residential treatment facility that will operate under the Butterfly Foundation Residential Eating Disorders Treatment (B-FREEDT) Model of Care.

The centre has already received over 680 enquiries and 101 people have been referred for treatment.

The guest building for patients at Wandi Nerida on the Sunshine Coast. Picture: Lachie Millard

One third of the enquiries (33 per cent) have come from NSW, 26 per cent from Queensland, 20 per cent from Victoria and 7 per cent from Western Australia.

It’s the first of seven specialist clinics that will be established with $63 million in federal government funding assistance.

Assistant Minister to the Prime Minister for Mental Health David Coleman said every state will have one in the future.

“Wandi Nerida is the culmination of six years of hard work and collaboration by the federal government, the sector, those with lived experience and the local community,” he said.

Patients will be admitted for around 60 days and have access to evidence-based complementary therapies such as permaculture (studies have shown the benefits of time spent in nature) and equine-assisted psychotherapy.

The facility will be staffed by psychiatrists, psychologists and a team of experts, many of whom have lived experience.

A psychologist consult room at Wandi Nerida. Picture: Lachie Millard

Since 2019, there have been Medicare rebates for eating disorder treatments allowing anorexia nervosa and other eating disorders with complex needs to access up to 40 psychological and 20 dietetic services a year.

More than one million Australians suffer from eating disorders and isolation.

Covid-19 lockdown measures have seen a 57 per cent spike in demand for eating disorder support via the Butterfly Foundation helpline in the past 12 months.

It’s estimated only one in four sufferers gets access to any treatment.

For many the condition begins in puberty or just before.

When a lot of things felt out of control and difficult during puberty Riley said being able to rigidly manage her food intake “played that key role I needed in battling to over focus on and create some kind of structure and control within my life”.

A GP consult room at Wandi Nerida. Picture: Lachie Millard

“From a recent calculation I’ve realised over the years I would have made myself throw up around 8000 times,” she said.

Her mother was shocked when she told her she had a problem.

“She really wasn’t aware and honestly no one was really very aware,” Riley, who trained as a nurse after recovering from her eating disorder, said.

Wandi Nerida Residential Executive Director Jodie Ashworth also knows first-hand how difficult it can be for a parent to learn their child has an eating disorder.

After three decades working as a nurse and midwife she had become a senior executive nurse in NSW and caring for others “was my business”.

“But when my daughter told me she was bulimic and I don’t know how I missed it, the guilt, the guilt associated with missing that as a parent is something that you never reconcile with, ever,” she said.

Jodie Ashworth, the Director of Wandi Nerida, and Serena Riley. Picture: Lachie Millard

Ashworth’s daughter is now fully recovered and has just graduated from Monash University, with a double degree in law and international relations. She has helped advise on the program and set-up at Wandi Nerida.

“Even today, if we go out for a meal and she leaves the table after the meal, I literally feel so anxious and feel like I need to follow her into the toilet,” Ashworth said.

Ashworth said her daughter was a high achiever academically and was a competitive dancer but one day she realised as she was vomiting into the toilet, “I didn’t have control of this anymore, but it has control of me”.

Wandi Nerida, located on 25 acres of bushland, will provide a much-needed bridge between hospital admission and outpatient care. It is set to open its doors to its first cohort of participants on July 12, 2021.

If you need help please call the Butterfly Foundation’s helpline

Phone 1800 ED HOPE

(1800 33 4673)

Or go to their website: butterfly.org.au/get-support/helpline/