Eating disorders Qld: Parents taught to identify warning signs

The Queensland government has backed a national program to help caregivers spot the warning signs of an eating disorder.

Kelly Robertson’s daughter suffered an eating disorder. Picture: Annette Dew

The Queensland government has backed a groundbreaking national program to help parents and carers spot the warning signs of destructive eating disorders among children and adolescents.

Amid increasingly high rates of disordered eating among young Australians, Eating Disorder Families Australia and The Embrace Collective have collaborated to create an Australian-first program – the Nourish, Nurture, Notice program – aimed at educating parents and caregivers.

The program is expected to help caregivers spot the warning signs of disordered eating before it can take hold, and will be funded by the Queensland government for a national rollout until June 2027.

EDFA executive director Jane Rowan said a prevention program of this kind was vital, with other early intervention work solely targeted at those who were likely to develop or already suffered an eating disorder.

“This is definitely the first time that we’re providing that sort of information to carers about what they should be looking out for,” Ms Rowan said.

“It is really, really crucial that parents are getting that education and understanding on what to look out for in order to prevent their own child from developing an eating disorder, and really reducing the number of eating disorders that we’ve got in Australia.”

For parents like Brisbane mother Kelley Robertson, knowing how to spot the signs of her daughter’s eating disorder could have saved them both years of suffering.

When she was just 14, her daughter developed an eating disorder after coming across a website called “Becoming Anna” where others who had anorexia were encouraging people to be their “Anna buddy”.

“I was actually told by the hospital that she was the worst case and to prepare for her to die ... and I nearly lost her multiple times,” Ms Robertson said.

“If I’d known what it was, I would have taken her to the doctor straight away.

“For parents to have an awareness of the illness and how it presents is what’s needed, because it is very sneaky, it is very manipulative, and often you can miss the signs.”

Ms Robertson said missing these signs had “destroyed her” and early prevention was vital, as it was not only a child that could lose their life, but the parents navigating the illness.

“When I heard about this program, I thought, I wish we had had that, because if I could stop one person from enduring what my child and myself went through ... it is horrific, it is absolutely horrific,” she said.

Set to be launched in Parliament on Wednesday, the program includes a 30-minute online masterclass and access to a subsequent 90-minute drop-in session with content delivered by pediatric dietitian Dr Lyza Norton and experienced carers.

Originally published as Eating disorders Qld: Parents taught to identify warning signs