How can we provide compassionate, individualised care to provide the best possible outcomes for people with an eating disorder? NSW Eating Disorders Forum 2025 recap.

Health professionals from across NSW gathered to collaborate and share solutions for eating disorders care at the NSW Eating Disorders Forum on the traditional land of the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation at The Charles Perkins Centre, University of Sydney on Friday, 25th July 2025.

Hosted by InsideOut Institute and the NSW Ministry of Health, Mental Health Branch, the Forum delivered a united message – “How to navigate care with lived experience at the heart of everything we do.”

Uncle Michael West welcomed participants to country and Dr Murray Wright, Chief Psychiatrist officially opened the day on behalf of The Hon Emily Suvaal MLC. 

“Today we will be challenged to think about how we can provide compassionate, individualised care to provide the best possible outcomes for people with an eating disorder, particularly those with longstanding illness,” said InsideOut Institute Statewide Service Development and Policy Implementation Lead Caroline Hill. 

Keynote speaker Dr Jennifer Gaudiani from The Gaudiani Clinic in Colorado delivered a moving address on best practice considerations, leaving a message of hope that people can recover even from very longstanding eating disorders. 

Delegates were inspired by the solution sessions where Districts presented their local innovations for providing care for a person with an eating disorder and their families. The scene was set by the first solutions session which considered data on presentation to an emergency department, and this was followed by local models of care which enabled direct admissions to hospital by Eating Disorder coordinators from Mid North Coast, Southern NSW, and Central Coast Local Health Districts. These offered alternative pathways to the emergency department, which can be a traumatic experience for a person with an eating disorder. The solution session that followed opened with a video of people with lived experience explaining why it is so important for them to be supported at home. The final solutions session presented different models of care that enable step up and step-down options - such as utilising a Rapid access clinics and Hospital in the Home, and local service supports across MLHD, NSLHD and SLHD which enable people living with an eating disorder to receive care at home. 

Dr Jonathan Chandran from Westmead Hospital set the scene on understanding adolescent development and best practice for eating disorders in young people, with Northern Sydney Local Health District and John Hunter Children’s Hospital representatives sharing service innovations for this age group.

Rachel, a dietitian in Hunter New England Local Health District, highlighted the importance of upskilling in eating disorders for clinicians, with Dr Deanna Bowen from Northern New South Wales Local Health District sharing innovative ways to embed training for nurses. Mel Hart and Leonnie Moore from Hunter New England Local Health District presented successful core learnings that have led to success, and Jo Williams from South Eastern Sydney LHD spoke about how they have supported upskilling in general mental health setting before Sydney Children’s Hospital Network Eating Disorder Service’s Andrew Wallis and Jo Titterton shared their experience of building a foundation of learning in their tertiary service. 

Emeritus Professor Stephen Touyz from InsideOut institute recalled a rich history of treatment services across the globe and shared his excitement in moving to a more personalised approach to care.

“There is hope, we are looking at new treatments for eating disorders, especially for those who don’t respond to conventional treatments,” said Professor Touyz. 

Emma Bryant and Bronny Carroll from InsideOut Institute shared their lived experience, leaving a powerful message of hope to attendees in the afternoon

“I advocate for teams in the community that work together, communicate often and include carers and supports in that process,” said InsideOut Institute’s Lived Experience Lead, Bronny Carroll.

“When a clinician is interested, aware and determined in their approach to care, it can change the whole treatment approach for the better.”

Emma Bryant, a researcher at InsideOut Institute with a lived experience of an eating disorder, said that time and time again she’s seen people she was in treatment with, colleagues and research participants with long, complex journeys, completely recover their lives.

Ms Bryant charged clinicians with the importance of holding the hope: “If you can hold hope, even when they don’t have it themselves, that is the most powerful thing you can do”.

The day concluded with a panel discussion with real world examples of clinical best practice in longstanding eating disorders. In addition to Prof Stephen Touyz, Emma Bryant, and Bronny Carroll, we had our valued colleagues from the state tertiary services -baiyangbaiyaang and Peter Beaumont Outreach Services - as well as key service representatives and Dr Karen Spielman, engage in thoughtful discussion in what we can do better in this space. 

Ministry of Health and InsideOut Institute closed the event. “There has been a wealth of knowledge and ideas shared today to enable us to learn from one another and think differently to innovate the services we provide to people with an eating disorder and I hope you all have a few ideas to take back to your teams and services.” said Caroline Hill  

Thank you to everyone involved in the making of this event and for everyone who travelled from across NSW to attend. We look forward to continuing to work with services across NSW to progress the NSW Service plan for people with an eating disorder, further opportunities to develop new models of care, be innovative in our thinking and, as always, keep the experiences of the people we care for and their families at the heart of all we do while holding the hope for recovery.