SWEDAUK, for pro-recovery  help & support around anorexia & bulimia nervosa and compulsive (binge) eating in Somerset, England
Somerset and Wessex Eating Disorders Association
"Serving those affected by eating disorders"
Strode House, 10 Leigh Road, Street, Somerset, BA16 0HA, England, UK

Back to the Leaflets page
Autumn Issue 2002

In this Bulletin we will be looking at the new Low Cost Counselling and the Creative Arts Therapy Group both starting soon, we also have the new Drop-in Location as we hoped to be able to give you for Yeovil and lots of other information too!!

The Pen-Pal Scheme is working really well, thanks to the efforts of all those involved.

Latest update included in this issue.

I look forward to receiving your articles, poems, comments and views, so do send them to me here at SEDA.

My thanks to those who helped to get this edition to your door and hope that you find it interesting and informative.

Best wishes to you all from Sandra.

Tel: 01458 448600 for the helpline
Tel: 01458 448611 for admin calls only  (10-3 weekdays)
SEDA, Strode House, 10 Leigh Road, Street, BA16 0HA
E-mails: seda@ukonline.co.uk
Web site: http://web.ukonline.co.uk/seda/index.htm

SEDA House

We are all set to go, with a 3 bedroomed house in Street being made available through Mendip District Council and Transitional Housing Benefit / Supporting People Grants.

This means we can offer 3 tenancies, sharing the house (own bedroom) and provide 60+ hours of support each week. This would be in addition to any other services being used.

The house is nearly ready, and we can move people in from late October. If you are recovering from an eating disorder and need time to continue that progress while learning lifeskills and to manage finances, and your home, as steps towards living independently this could be right for you.

We are asking anyone interested in being a tenant with us to make contact now. Get in touch with Tricia here for a general confidential discussion, for more information and a chance to see the house.

This is an exiting new venture for SEDA - we hope it offers a real opportunity for someone (two,three) out there to have the backup they need to start an exiting venture in their lives.


Creative Arts Therapy Group

Starting Autumn 2002.

The group will meet weekly on a Tuesday Morning for 10 sessions, and will be run by our Community Support Workers
Anita Worcester (Drama Therapist)
and Dinah Mason (Art Therapist).

You don't need to be ‘artistic’ or ‘creative’ just willing to explore some of your feelings and situations. The group will offer support to do this, and to look at fears of change and recovery.

This will be a closed group for

  • people suffering a wide range of eating disorders
  • managing day to day life in the community
  • at the point of wanting to work with the emotional issues underlying their eating patterns

If you are interested please contact the helpline as soon as possible for more information and to get your application form. We are meeting people now but still have spare places.

Call the helpline on 01458 448600


Joint working with The Somerset Partnership (NHS) Trust NHS Somerset Eating Disorders Service Team ~ SEDA

Things have moved on several fronts over the Summer. I’m delighted to say that we expect our Nurse Specialist to join the Team in November. Duncan Churchill-Moss has experience of working with people affected by eating disorders as in-patients and in the community. He is also a CBT (Cognitive Behavioural Therapy) practitioner. We’ll get him to introduce himself in the next edition of the bulletin.

Alex Brosnan has already become part of the Team, as the Team’s Administrator / Co-ordinator. She has been based here at SEDA during the Summer, getting to know about us and about the plans for the service. The Team will be leaving SEDA to go to offices in Glastonbury. Joy (the Psychologist), Alex and Duncan will be based there, and I will work from there on the 2 days a week that I am seconded to the Team. So we will all continue to work closely together.

We also need to have a base somewhere in the other half of Somerset - or perhaps access points all over the place........ I can but dream. Contact details for the Team in Glastonbury will be circulated in the next bulletin - you will always be able to get in touch with the Team members via SEDA.

We also now have a network of Linkworkers - a great set of people working in various parts of the Trust across Somerset. They all have an interest in working with people affected by an eating disorder, are having training and support from myself and Joy, and others as required, and will act as local contacts to ensure that we get to hear about anyone that we might be able to help. This is a major part of our plan for improving services for inpatients and those using outpatient / local community mental health team services. So do make contact if you think we might be of help. Tricia.


SEDA “BODY IMAGE AND SELF-ESTEEM” GROUP

Would you be interested in a group that will be looking at “Body image and self-esteem”? We are going to run 10 sessions looking at how we use food, how we feel about our bodies and what might happen if we changed.

The group sessions will be held at The Balsam Centre, in Wincanton, Free for those referred £5 per session otherwise If you want more details, please ask for a leaflet via the helpline.


SEDA PENPAL SCHEME.

Would you like to write to someone in a similar situation to yourself, or with similar interests? Being a Pen-Pal gives you the opportunity to discuss ideas, share thoughts and feelings and give and receive support in your struggle with Eating Disorders.

If you would like to be involved in SEDA’s Pen-Pal Scheme, you will need to register with us. To do this you can write into SEDA, call the helpline or download the form from our web site. Once we have received and accepted your completed form you will be allocated a SEDA box number which you will need to include on the outside of all your Pen-Pal letters.

You will receive confirmation of your box number and the information you supplied about yourself will be placed in the SEDA Bulletin and the Pen-Pal updates and where requested on the Web Site. Replies will be sent on to you unopened. We would encourage you to reply to any letter received within a fortnight whenever possible.


A Heartfelt Plea

You know how much I value your friendship,
It's a source of pleasure reassurance and strength.
Friendship is a priceless gift that cannot be bought or sold.
We are all self destructive in some way or another.
We are rational people who appreciate
the dangers of such behaviour.
We are not looking for attention,
and suffer much embarrassment.
It is a private pain, it is not a cry for help.
All we want is support, comfort and understanding.
I really can't imagine life without a friend like you.
You understand my up and downs.
You share my smiles and tears.
I could never put a price on what your friendship brings.
People may say - "Give things a little time."
Keep believing in yourself.
Take the best care.
Search for the positive side.
The cloud has lost its silver lining,
Outside it is blue, the sky is bright,
But a fog creeps in and obscures my vision.
I have little strength left but I will keep praying,
And if you listen, all I pray for is an end in time;
For whatever anyone tells me, this is what I deserve.
"Better" is an enemy to me, for I can see no future.
I know you cannot change the things that trouble me,
Remember that my thoughts are
there with you, despite the way I feel.
For the darkness does not fade, binding me tight.

'I want to get better'- No you don't!

'I will try to get better' No you won't
The argument I listen inside my mind,
An ongoing battle its such a bind.
With whom do you argue so regularly?
I'll tell you whom, I argue with me.
So how can I ever hope to win
Or find salvation to the predicament I'm in?
One side has to give,
Which one will it be?
One winner, one loser and both of them me!

I'm behind a glass wall and I want to get out,
To discover what the outside world's all about.
The glass temps and taunts me to study the view,
But try as I might I just cannot get through.
The glass is too thick and I can't find a door,
I'm trapped in this terrible insular cell.
I'm locked in this prison and filled with despair,
For I can't find the pathway to getting out there.But if I can't get out maybe you can get in,
And perhaps you could share in the torment and terrors I see,
Maybe you'd understand how to help me get free.
My heart is in anguish within me,
The tremors of death assail me.
Fear and trembling have beset me
Oh that I had wings of a dove -
I would fly away and be at rest -
I would flee away and stay in the desert -
I would hurry to my place of shelter
Far from the tempest and storm!
       Anon.

SEDA AGM ~ A date for your diary

This years AGM will be on Wednesday 27th November, starting at 7.30pm. This will be held at The Bear Inn, Street. In the Sedgemoor Suite to the rear of the bar.

~~~~~~~~~~
Next years AGM will be held earlier in the year. We hope to be organising a special meeting in larger premises, as we have lots of new projects starting in this financial year to tell you about, and also we aim to have guest speakers.


Another date for your diary

Eating Disorders Awareness Week Conference
This will be held on Thursday 6th February 2003
at The Cleve Hotel, Wellington.

Speakers have yet to be confirmed - the last event included the experiences of those affected by a wide range of eating disorders, carers and those working in eating disorder services. We would hope to have a similar mix of views again, plus workshops etc. If you would like to speak, make a presentation, run a workshop please contact Alex via SEDA to register your interest.

Full details will be published, with booking information, in the next bulletin.


Volunteers News: Congratulations
from us all at SEDA to Paula
and family on the birth a son, Jack.


SEDA~ Low Cost Counselling Service.

This service is now available from SEDA. Our counsellors are students in their 2nd and 3rd years of ‘Diploma in Counselling’ training. All counsellors receive regular supervision from within SEDA together with support from their training colleges.

Our counselling service is available for all those affected by eating disorders. You may be experiencing anorexia, bulimia or compulsive overeating; you may have recovered from your eating disorder yet feel the need for support, or you may be a carer - a partner, relative or friend of someone with an eating disorder and feel you need support for yourself.

If you are interested in having some counselling or would like more information please contact the helpline, who will send you our information leaflet and an application form. After you have sent in your form you will be offered a meeting with an experienced therapist, so we can be sure to match your needs to the best level of service for you.

There is a £15 charge for your initial meeting
with a subsequent charge of £10 for each session.


Supported Self-Help Programme 2003/04 (SSH)

We’ve been talking about it and working on it for a long time. Finally - we are set to get going!

SSH is our way of offering support over a 15 - 18 month period for anyone willing to take part in group and 1-1 activities. We will look at issues including self esteem, relationships, setting and achieving life goals, motivation, and understanding and managing a healthy food/exercise lifestyle.

As well as group sessions (short blocks with breaks between topics) you will work at your pace on your chosen areas supported by a SEDA trained volunteer. A work book will be provided, and you can also use material from a range of self help books and manuals.

We are ‘recruiting now for the first group, which will then start in March next year, meeting in Wincanton. Provisionally we have set this as a daytime group, Thursday mornings, but if there is a need for an evening group we will arrange that.

Contact the helpline and leave an address we can send details to, if you then want to meet / talk further we can set up a time to do that with you.

The group will be facilitated by Tricia, SEDA’s Manager, and Lyn (Volunteer Link) who is acting as development worker for this project.

[We have some funding to support the programme so you may be eligible for a free place - any cost would be payable spread out over a two year period.]


Help needed with a research project:

Eating Disorders & Spirituality

Have you had experience of an eating disorder? Have you been involved in a faith community at all? If so, I’d be really interested to hear from you. I am currently doing a research project looking at the spiritual and pastoral issues around eating disorders, particularly anorexia and bulimia in relation to Christianity.

My name’s Claire. I’ve had anorexia myself and it’s out of that experience that I am doing this research. I am currently training to be a priest in the Church of England, at Queen’s College, Birmingham, and the aim of my research is to improve the practice of pastoral and spiritual care for people with eating disorders.

If you feel able to help me, please contact me via SEDA. I will send you a questionnaire in the first instance to help you think through some of the issues. If you feel able, do complete and return to me, I will then contact you to arrange a time to meet with you to chat about your experience.

Thank you, and look forward to hearing from you. Claire.

(Please call the helpline or drop us a line with your name address and phone number, which will then be passed on to Claire.)

 

The Obesity Awareness & Solutions Trust 

Sandra & Alex attended the
TOAST FUN DAY
held in London on 7th September 2002.
A range of activities from massage, make-overs, to a poem competition & a talent contest were on offer to those who wanted to take part, also a fashion show to watch and speakers to listen to.
www.toast-uk.org.uk


SEDA DROP-IN VENUES

1st Friday & 1st Sunday of the month in Street
held at SEDA, Strode House,
10 Leigh Road, Street
10.30am ~ 12.30

2nd Friday of the month in Taunton
held at Taunton library Meeting Room
Paul street, Taunton.
10.30am ~ 12.30

3rd Friday of the month in Frome
held at Frome Library Meeting Room,
Justice Lane, Frome.
10.30am ~ 12.30

4th Wednesday of the month in Yeovil
held at Penn House,
St Nicholas Close, Yeovil (off Penn Hill)
7.30pm - 9pm

 


© 2004 ~ 2011 Somerset and Wessex Eating Disorders Association