Eating Disorders Health Integration Team (EDHIT) inspires hope in recovery 

The Eating Disorders Health Integration Team (EDHIT) held a successful Patient & Public Involvement (PPI) event at the Arnolfini, on the evening of Thursday 9 February.

‘Words that inspire’ was the theme of the event, centring on sharing positive messages of hope and recovery.

There was representation of a range of ages (between age 24-74), sexual identities and ethnicities at the event. Most participants were from Bristol, but there was also representation from South Gloucestershire .

Of those who attended:

• five had present lived experience of eating difficulties or an eating disorder
• two had past lived experience of eating difficulties or an eating disorder
• six stated that they were a friend, family member or supporter of a loved one with eating difficulties or an eating disorder
• one was a healthcare professional

Prior to the event, participants were encouraged to submit materials that they felt had uplifted and encouraged them towards or within recovery. 16 submissions were received via Padlet, which included spoken words, poems, and quotes. These submissions were displayed around the room on the evening, for everyone to read.

Christine Ramsey-Wade, EDHIT Co-Director and Senior Lecturer in Counselling Psychology at UWE Bristol, welcomed everyone to the event with an insightful talk about the power of words, language, and poetry. She also shared her own research.

This led on to small group discussions, based on the event theme and materials displayed around the room. Participants selected and shared the words that they felt a connection with.  This allowed participants to share common understanding, as well as develop new understanding and insight into eating disorder recovery and hope from other perspectives.

The event closed with a reflective group writing activity, during which a collaborative poem entitled ‘Transformation Conversation’ was created.

Transformation Conversation

Sharing
Personal experiences

Being vulnerable
Is hard

But at least I’m not alone

A chance to connect with others
And myself

The recently updated Eating Disorder Support and Resources Guide (PDF) was provided to all participants. When asked, participants identified the following venues for distribution of the guide within the community: Off The Record, University libraries and cafes, children’s centres, community centres, schools, GPs and in pub/restaurant bathrooms.

Overall feedback from the event was extremely positive and there was a keen interest in similar future events being held:

“Supportive atmosphere. Good to share with others who understand what it’s like. Thank you”.

“Totally new to me, but I feel inspired to use poetry as an outlet. I used to read a lot of poetry when I was younger, but never really thought of it in terms of therapy. Great evening, thank you.”

“Lovely to connect with people. Moving poetry that feels real. Fascinating to see collaborative poetry – writing in action! I’m going to look up Jo Dolby’s poetry.”

Carolyn Trippick, EDHIT Patient & Public Involvement Lead, said:

“It was fantastic to see so many people with lived experience coming together and sharing words that had inspired them. The event provided a real sense of connection and hope. The collaborative poem brought us together as a group, and in that moment, we all became poets.”

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