Eating Disorders Awareness Week 2024
Eating Disorders Awareness Week 2024 takes place from Monday, 26th February to Sunday, 3rd March inclusive. The College of Psychiatrists of Ireland, Eating Disorders Special Interest Group (EDSIG) produces this newsletter annually in order to update members on our work, share information and advise people of events that are taking place across the country during this time.
This year the newsletter has been collated by Dr Ana Moreira. Dr Moreira is a Consultant Psychiatrist with the recently established STREAM, Regional Adult Eating Disorders Service, in Cork and Kerry. STREAM is part of the HSE National Clinical Programme for Eating Disorders (NCP-ED) network.
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Welcome to the EDSIG Newsletter 2024
It was with great enthusiasm that I accepted the invitation to put together this years’ 4th edition of the CPsychI Eating Disorders Special Interest Group (EDSIG) newsletter for the National Eating Disorder Awareness Week 2024.
As a Consultant Psychiatrist, having previous background in Portugal, the US, and Ireland, I took up my current eating disorder post in the last year. For me, the College EDSIG has been a great way to be involved with the College and to connect with colleagues working in this field nationally. There are several questions that many of us have about training, research opportunities, teaching, clinical leadership, among others, and having such a peer network is an essential support for both trainees and consultants.
The College EDSIG is open to all members. You don’t have to work specifically in an eating disorder service. People with eating disorders present commonly to child, adult, and liaison psychiatry in addition to many other medical specialities. All members of the College with an interest in eating disorders are welcome, and we invite you to join our online meetings listed below. Each meeting participation confers a CPD point, an added bonus.
In this year’s newsletter, I have included a selection of articles that reflect a breadth of perspectives from a range of professionals working with people with eating disorders alongside psychiatry. We will consider the eating disorder landscape from Student Health / Primary Care, paediatric, and support organisation perspectives. I wish to acknowledge the support of Senior Clinical Psychologist, Dr Martina O’Riordan, Dr Aoife O Sullivan, Dr Jay Venketramen and BodyWhys.
I hope that you enjoy it.
Dr Ana Moreira
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Meeting dates for the College of Psychiatrists EDSIG 2024 (online):
1-2 pm on the following Wednesdays
29th May
25th September
11th December
Please contact Helen Murray at the College if you wish to join EDSIG
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An Update from the College EDSIG Co-Chairs
Welcome to the College EDSIG Newsletter for Eating Disorder Awareness Week 2024, and our sincere thanks to Dr. Ana Moreira for curating this year’s newsletter.
Since last year, much has happened across the eating disorder landscape in Ireland. With approximately 14 Consultant Psychiatry posts now involving full time or part time dedicated eating disorder sessions, and a growing number of basic and higher specialist eating disorder training placements, it is evident that our area of specialism is developing rapidly in Ireland. Coupled with the existing eating disorder care provided by colleagues, particularly in Liaison psychiatry, Child and Adult Psychiatry, this means that training, CPD and research in eating disorders have never been more important. Academic and clinical networking opportunities are essential. The EDSIG is in a unique position to advise and support the College in this work.
Such changes and opportunities have been central to discussions at our 4 EDSIG meetings that took place over the last year. One key EDSIG aim is to develop and grow our EDSIG and our specialism within the College by developing excellent educational content to align closely with College educational strategy. We have discussed the importance of such support to Consultants, trainees and NCHD’s on the CPD-SS scheme with their unique educational needs around eating disorders care and research. We also aim to enhance our work as a College resource and to provide leadership around eating disorder care in the wider public domain. This work commenced in 2023 and will continue through 2024.
Our highlight of 2023 was the EDSIG workshop at the Spring Meeting in Johnstown house in March, chaired by Dr Art Malone, on Implementation Science. Guest speaker, Prof Catherine Hayes, Professor in Public Health in TCD, provided a fascinating introduction to implementation science and its methodology. Dr Michelle Clifford, HSE National Clinical Lead for Eating Disorders, updated us on the big new service developments that are happening in HSE National Clinical Programme for Eating Disorders, and reflected on highs and challenges of the NCPED Model of Care implementation journey so far. It was also fantastic to meet other EDSIG members in person at last, which really boosted the EDSIG spirit!
Throughout the year, several individual EDSIG members have also provided education and training to other professional disciplines and bodies, and we are so grateful to them for doing this work. It both enhances understanding of eating disorders in the wider public, and promotes the important leadership of psychiatry and the EDSIG, when our members engage in this work, usually voluntarily and in their own time. We were also delighted to see Dr David O Driscoll, a past Senior Registrar at CAREDS Cork who had continued his research interest with the NCPED, win the John Dunne Prize at the Autumn Conference, for his research paper in IJPM entitled ‘National Clinical Programme for Eating Disorders: a pragmatic review of a new national eating disorder service in Ireland’
With a theme of ‘Eating Disorder Recovery and Beyond: Respecting individuality and identity’, the national conferences and meetings for this year’s EDAW promise to be rich in content and learning. Several events are listed in this newsletter, if you haven’t signed up already. If you are running your own local event, we wish you the very best in this. We look forward to discussing it all at our next EDSIG meeting on 17 May 2024.
We hope you can join us then.
Sara and Art.
Eating Disorder Awareness Week 2024- an update from Bodywhys
Bodywhys is the national voluntary organisation in Ireland supporting people affected by eating disorders and their carers.
More articles to follow from the EDSIG newsletter in our blog throughout this week.