SWEDA Annual Review &
Impact report 2022/23

A Message From Our Chair

Hello and welcome to this year’s annual review of SWEDA. My name is Karen Prosser. I recently became the Chair of SWEDA following the decision of Barbara Clift to stand down.

I joined SWEDA as a trustee in April 2023 having worked with them extensively when I worked for Somerset NHS Foundation Trust. I have always been impressed with the support they provide across Somerset for people with eating disorders. This support has increased significantly, with SWEDA increasingly providing support beyond the boundary of Somerset. Such growth and success have been recognised both regionally and nationally where our approach, especially in working in partnership with the NHS and other voluntary sector partners, is seen as best practice.

2023 has been a key year in the history of SWEDA with the expansion of services both in terms of geography and range of support we provide. In addition, we see the future growth for SWEDA building on what we have achieved in 2023. This means we need to change in a number of ways with the first major change being to rename our charity as South & West Eating Disorders Association. This change of name is not only important in maintaining the link with our history, but it also allows us to reflect our growth and wider service delivery whilst maintaining the link to the SWEDA brand which we know is trusted by both professional colleagues and clients.

As always, our success is driven by our people and leadership and I am proud to be the new chair of SWEDA leading the board of trustees in supporting the CEO and senior leadership team and colleagues who provide support to those that need it. Our successful outcomes which are outlined within this report speak for themselves, but we are not complacent and realise the importance of recruiting new people but also making sure we encourage our brilliant people to stay and work with us into the future.

This is an exciting time for all at SWEDA and we are all looking forward to what 2024 and the future holds.

We will be working hard to continue to deliver excellence in our services, whilst meeting the extended geography across the South & West.

Karen Prosser

Chairperson

Karen Prosser

Chairperson

National Key message on eating disorders and why our service is so important

SWEDA is the ONLY charity in Somerset addressing the issues below

Eating disorders are a serious mental health condition

Anorexia Nervosa has the highest mortality rate of any mental illness

People identified by national statistics as having a possible eating disorder may not reach the thresholds required for a formal clinical diagnosis of an eating disorder or the thresholds for NHS, private or charity support and services. (NHS Digital 2021)

Unmet and escalating need has a significant cost impact on the individual, families and wider society. The estimated total cost of anorexia and bulimia in England by EY in 2020 is said to be £8bn (health care approx. £1.3bn; carer costs approx. £0.1bn). (The Heart Mind and Genes Coalition for Eating Disorders EY 2021)

An analysis of UK GP records showed that since March 2020, eating disorders were 42% higher than would be expected based on previous trends for females aged 13-16, and 32% higher for those aged 17-19 (Keele and Exeter Universities, 2023)

GSK Awards

Challenges We Faced During This Year

1 Continual high demand for all SWEDA therapeutic services
2 Managing our growing waiting list, to minimise risk of clients getting sicker whilst they wait.
3 Cost of living crisis impact on our staff salaries
4 Current accommodation is not fit for purpose
5 Demand for our advice and services from national NHS Health Trusts following the roll out of Mental Health Transformation

“We as a family want to thank you so very much for everything you have done for us and being the ONLY people to give us help and support - it means so much.”

Service User

Our Impact

therapeutic sessions delivered, 14% increase on last year.

individual clients received 1-2-1 support; 18% increase on last year.

Individuals attended our monthly support group.

counselling sessions were delivered to 60 Children and Young People: 178% increase on last year’s sessions and 88% increase in number of clients.

calls made to our SWEDA Mindline

people reached (approximately) via fresher fairs and mental health wellbeing events, to raise awareness of eating disorders and SWEDA’s services

training sessions delivered to over 350 professionals supporting people who may be affected by an eating disorder including school staff, college staff, GP surgeries and generic mental health workers.

Received 19,266 hits to our website.

volunteer hours contributed by our wonderful volunteers valued at £42,750 (based on minimum living wage)

In 2021 we commissioned the Children’s Outcome Research Consortium (CORC), who are affiliated to the Anna Freud Centre to undertake a review of how we measure our impact. In 2022/23 we rolled out CORE OM for adults and CORE YP for children and young people (CYP) outcome measures framework to measure our client’s wellbeing at the start of their treatment with SWEDA and at the end. We also introduced another outcome measure framework called EDEQ (for adults) and EDEA (for CYP), to measure the progress made in a client’s eating disorder and their eating disorder behaviours at the start of treatment and at the end.

Results were very positive with 77% of adults reporting an improvement in their wellbeing and 81% reporting and improvement in their eating disorder/eating disorder behaviours. CYP results were equally positive with 82% of children and young people reporting an improvement in their wellbeing and 76% showing an improvement in their eating disorder and eating disorder behaviours.

We also measure our impact by asking all clients to complete an experience of service questionnaire, key highlights are:

of family and friends who received support from SWEDA, said they feel able to function more effectively in their role of caring for their loved one with an eating disorder.

of those who received a support and guidance session said they felt less isolated and more supported after their initial session with us.

said they had full confidence in the therapeutic worker they worked with and their knowledge, skills and techniques.

Income 2022/23

Charitable activities £510,062

Income investment £3491

Donations & Grants £194,935

Expenditure 2022/23

Charitable activities £533,172

Raising funds £37,145

Developed and expanded our services into Bristol, North Somerset & South Gloucester (BNSSG)
Developed and rolled out a new pathway with CAMHS Community eating disorder service in Somerset, offering a therapeutic service to children and young people identified by the CAMHS service.
Recruited a new Head of Fundraising to develop funding strategy and help diversify our income.
Launched our new outcome measures framework, for all therapeutic services to help measure our impact.
Expanded our opening hours to 5 days per week 8am to 8pm
We launched REDCAN (Regional Eating Disorders Charities Alliance Network), bringing together an alliance of 9 UK regional eating disorder charities, during Eating Disorders Awareness Week in 2023.
Carried out a survey on how body image affects Boys and Men, click here for results
Re-designed and re-launched the SWEDA website, refreshing our digital offer
Strengthened our infrastructure by recruiting our new Therapeutic Services Manager

Roll out our services to all 6 localities within the BNSSG area.
Recruit a further 4 Therapeutic Support Workers in the BNSSG area.
Increase our counselling service by a further 15%
Increase our Children’s services by 25%
Expand our fundraising team to diversify income and ensure future sustainability of SWEDA services.
Recruit 12 new Trainee Counsellors to join the counselling team.
Expand our counselling service into Bristol.
Carry out research to better understand how eating disorders present in minoritized communities.
Explore expanding our services into new geographical areas.
Gain accreditation for our counselling service through the BACP
Work towards gaining an accreditation for all our training packages.
Further enhance our infrastructure to ensure sustainability

Our Vision

Our vision is to support everyone affected by eating disorders across Somerset & Wessex.

Mission Statement

We engage with people affected by eating disorders, including family, friends and carers, by offering hope and enabling access to support services to empower recovery

9 Core Values

Safe

Respecting boundaries and confidentiality

Flexible

Providing family friendly services and workplace environment

Professional

Being an exemplar of good practice in all aspects of our work

User Influence

Listening to our clients to ensure they are at the heart of all we do

Ambitious

Motivated and aspirational in our work

Collaborative

Working in partnership with our clients, their families, statutory and voluntary organisations

Pro-recovery

Supporting our clients to remain hopeful that recovery is possible

Compassionate

To our clients, staff, and volunteers in time of need.

Holistic

Responding to the complexity of our clients’ needs

“It's been a total delight and pleasure to work with you. I've found our sessions inspiring, thought-provoking, and whilst painful at times, hugely hugely beneficial. You've been so supportive, and 'pro-me', and I appreciate it more than you will ever know.”

Service User
“Your sessions make such a positive difference... You're like a safe island in the middle of the stormy seas.”

Service User
“We as a family want to thank you so very much for everything you have done for us and being the ONLY people to give us help and support - it means so much.”

Service User

There are lots of ways to support SWEDA’s work, you can;

Donate to us online
Fundraise for us. There are lots of fun ways to get people involved
Nominate us for your workplace’s Charity of the Year, or to benefit from your club or organisation’s fundraising activity
Share your story. Tell us what SWEDA means to you so we can show everyone how important our work is
Sign up for newsletters and updates, so we can keep you informed and let you know when we need help
Become a trustee. Our trustees are crucial to SWEDA, we are particularly looking for people who have lived experience and / or the skills to help us continue to grow and thrive

For more details please visit www.swedauk.org

Donate Now

A huge thank you

Thank you to all the people and organisations who have made our work possible this year including;

Our major funders who have helped us to grow and expand our services
Community organisations and businesses who have chosen to fundraise for us
Parents and clients in recovery who have donated to us because they want other people to be able to benefit from SWEDA’s support.

You make our life transforming (sometimes life saving) services possible. Thanks for being part of the SWEDA family.

SWEDA Annual Review & Impact report 2022/23