• Helping everyone

    Helping everyone

    We engage with people affected by eating disorders, offering hope and enabling access to support services that empower recovery.

  • Supporting young people

    Supporting young people

    We support students across the region with our College Support Service, providing expert guidance and advice about body image issues and problems with eating.

  • Helping family & friends

    Helping family & friends

    We offer support to anyone affected by eating disorders and provide a Friends & Family Support Group for those helping someone close to them who has an eating disorder.

  • Guiding professionals

    Guiding professionals

    We provide expert eating disorders training for professionals, enabling healthcare workers and therapists to deliver pro-recovery services.

Supporting people affected by eating disorders

SWEDA has been pro-recovery and supporting those affected by eating disorders since 1992. Discover how we can help you take control of your life.

Our Vision

At SWEDA, we are committed to promoting equal access to our services and recognise that experiences of eating disorders may vary across different groups and communities.

We want our team to represent the diversity of the people and communities we support.
We aim for SWEDA to be a place where different experiences, expertise and perspectives are valued and everyone is encouraged to develop and grow.

Care & Support

Having an eating disorder, or supporting someone who has, can be a distressing and bewildering experience. Somerset and Wessex Eating Disorders Association (SWEDA) offers a range of services throughout Somerset and the surrounding area.

Our Services
SWEDA UK
Sweda UK

Visiting SWEDA in Shepton Mallet

Find your way to our premises with a helpful video that provides directions from the nearby car park and introduces you to the surrounding area.

SWEDA UK

Guidance & Resources

Based at Shepton Mallet in Somerset, in the Southwest of England (UK), we provide support to anyone affected by eating disorders, including anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, compulsive eating, binge eating disorder and all related conditions.

Our Resources
  • “I can’t emphasise enough what a massive part SWEDA have played in my journey to finding myself again. They are an incredible charity and are brilliant at their job. Over the past two years I have really started to understand myself and I have addressed issues that I had hid away in the past and with my counsellor’s amazing listening, non-judgmental and supportive skills I have been able to take back control of myself and rationally look at my emotions in day to day life."

    Service User

  • “During the time I accessed the SWEDA Services I used both the Support Group and one to one counselling sessions. Both services used together offer the life raft that is so desperately needed to bring balance, stability and empowered choice."

    Service User

  • “I saw a SWEDA support worker on campus at university. I had been struggling with binge eating disorder and compulsive exercise for about ten years. The SWEDA support worker was able to help me look at my relationship with food and my body in a different way. I have learned to be kinder to myself and they taught me techniques which helped me to slow down my thinking. Now I can go out and have fun without worrying all the time.”

    Student Service User

  • “Whenever I have contacted SWEDA, I have always received a very quick response, and have felt completely safe to ask for help when I have needed it. There have been periods of time when I have not needed a lot of contact, and times when I have asked for frequent contact. Talking to the same person over a long period of time has meant I have had a consistent place to go for support, and this has been invaluable."

    Sasha, 23

  • “I had consistently been losing weight for more than 8 months and had become accustomed to eating very little. This triggered a return of my anorexia, after a 20-year period of recovery. SWEDA were able to offer me an appointment the very next day. When we met I was feeling very ill and frightened.I spoke to them about my fears, but then took the decision to go to my doctor on the way home. I was admitted to hospital within a few days.”

    Adam, 56

  • I began working with my therapist very shortly after being referred and I really believe it's her support that kept me from ever reaching the point I was once aiming for. Right from the start, I felt comfortable to talk about my struggles, behaviours and anxieties, knowing I would always receive a non-judgemental and empathetic response.

    *Sophia, 18

  • I can't thank you enough for how you have helped me through the worst time of my daughter's young adulthood. I know this is a long road ahead and I'm thankful for your support. And I know you're there if I need you.

    Client

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