This week marks Eating Disorders Awareness Week, and this year’s theme is Community.

After speaking with former service users from our All Age Eating Disorders Service in Kent and Medway, one thing is clear: eating disorders do not discriminate, and no two experiences are the same.

These illnesses are complex, personal, and far more than “just” about food. Each person’s journey is unique. There is no one-size-fits-all story of illness or recovery.

For Deborah, her eating disorder began more than 50 years ago at the age of 19. Now 72, she reflects on a lifetime shaped by the illness.

At a time when understanding of eating disorders was limited, Deborah built what felt like a ‘normal’ life, but it was built by her eating disorder.

For over five decades, she never owned a cooking pan or cutlery, keeping only minimal utensils in her home. That was the reality her illness created.

She shared: ‘My life was an eating disorder, and I was so scared to let go of it. I spent 50 years letting the illness create my life. I didn’t know life without it.’

Her story highlights not only the nature of eating disorders, but also how far services and communities have come in recognising and treating them.

When Deborah made the brave decision to seek help again later in life, she was referred to NELFT’s All Age Eating Disorders Service in Kent and Medway and began therapy.

At first, she was reluctant, but with the support of her therapist, her voice got stronger, her confidence reappeared, and she started to take back control of her life.

Today, she attends art classes, socialises more, and uses her experience to support others, rediscovering a life beyond the illness.

Tiffany’s experience shows how quickly an eating disorder can take hold. What began as a diet after returning from holiday gradually became something much more consuming.

Tiffany said: ‘This diet quickly became a disorder, and I became addicted to my eating disorder.’

In 2019, Tiffany reached out to NELFT for support and received both inpatient and outpatient treatment with the Kent and Medway Eating Disorders Service. For her, community became a turning point. Through volunteering, she rebuilt her confidence, reconnected socially, and began to see herself outside of her illness.

Today, she is completing her psychology degree and undertaking a placement on a residential anxiety disorders ward, transforming her lived experience into something that now helps others.

Across the very different journeys we are sharing this week, spanning decades, life stages and experiences, one message remains the same: recovery is not a solo effort.

Community can mean many things. It can be colleagues who notice something isn’t right. A therapist who helps rebuild a voice silenced by illness. A volunteer group that restores confidence. A family willing to learn and understand. A baby who becomes a powerful reason to stay well.

Eating disorders can be isolating illnesses. But as Deborah and Tiffany show us, healing happens in connection, in being seen, supported and understood.

Dr Chantelle McKenzie, Senior Clinical Psychologist, pictured above with Assistant Psychologists Sophie Minns and Jess White, shares: “Working with people with eating disorders is such a rewarding job and being able to share the stories of those we work with has been such an incredible privilege, we hope that these stories will help others reach out for support and realise that recovery is possible for all.”

This Eating Disorders Awareness Week, we celebrate the power of community and the courage it takes to reach out, to accept help, and to believe that life beyond an eating disorder is possible.

To mark Eating Disorders Awareness Week, we will be sharing another service user’s journey later this week.