Don't fit the criterion for any NSFT service
Despite Beat telling me that I am seriously ill and being diagnosed with Bulimia Nervosa, Depression, Anxiety and OCD I do not fit the criterion for any services offered by NSFT. I have been assessed by Wellbeing who don't treat eating disorders and my questionnaire scores were too high for their service for my other mental health problems. I was also referred to the IDT in crisis when I was suicidal and was told that I was not high enough risk and that I was too chronic and untreatable for a service despite being in recovery for 8 years prior to my relapse nearly 2 years ago. I have only once in over 20 years had a CPN briefly so have never really fitted criterion for any services in this area. I will never fit the criteria for the eating disorder service in Suffolk as my diagnosis means that my BMI will never be low enough. I have friends who have accessed it and funding means that it is purely a service to fatten people up and as soon as a target BMI is reached they are discharged with no follow up which then just leads to relapse. My only saviour has been the Eating Disorder Recovery Group run by Suffolk Mind but now that is at risk of losing its funding and our extra funding to help us through the covid period ended some time ago so our first week without a group was eating disorder awareness week. It was so good to be able to meet weekly and now we're back to fortnightly on zoom. Does Suffolk want more deaths from eating disorders before they are prepared to address this unmet need? If I hadn't have been able to afford private treatment in the past I would be dead now and being self employed covid has meant that this is no longer an option so if it hadn't been for charities it is highly probable that I would no longer be here. I deserve an NHS service as do other people who suffer from eating disorders in Suffolk.