With Christmas just around the corner, we wanted to reach out to ask if you can help children and young people through one of the most challenging times of their year.

One of our former clients wanted to share their story of getting through the Christmas period, and how they reached out to SWEDA for support:

“Looking back, I think my eating disorder started during my GCSEs. I was 16. It was the height of COVID and I felt extremely anxious because of everything that was happening in the world around me and also felt huge pressure to do well in my exams. I began eating very little. I was worried about what I ate and started over-exercising. I now understand I was looking for something, anything, in my life that I could control. 

Christmas made me feel so afraid and isolated. The fear of binge eating and the amount of food all around me. Seeing family I hadn’t seen in a while who didn’t know about the eating disorder. The fear of people judging the food I was eating or making comments on it. It was all just exhausting. Christmas made everything harder, but then it almost forced me into a situation where I had the opportunity to push against the eating disorder.

I turned to SWEDA. When I met my counsellor Zoe everything changed. Just by talking about it and feeling comfortable thinking about it made things so much easier. The eating disorder made me feel safe and in control and SWEDA helped me understand this mental health condition and develop strategies which still made me feel that safety and control without turning to eating disorder behaviours. 

Zoe helped me navigate the guilt, learning to ignore those thoughts even if they were still there. SWEDA helped me to recover before it took hold of me completely.

There’s still a little bit of anxiety lingering about Christmas. Eating disorder thoughts pop into my head, but now I have coping strategies to avoid or answer these thoughts from a place of strength. Now I can just focus on creating memories and spending time with family, on the things I used to love about Christmas. 

SWEDA made me feel less alone, truly seen and listened to, with absolutely no judgement. I’m now at university and feel excited about my future. Recovery is absolutely possible."

Eating disorders are disruptive even at the best of times, and Christmas can make everything harder. But as this young person’s story shows, it is absolutely possible to make a full recovery. The earlier we can get support to young people, the more likely serious illness can be prevented, and the more likely they are to fully recover.

Please donate to SWEDA’s Christmas Appeal so we can speed up support and help more children and young people next year. We simply can’t do what we do without support from people like you.