If you are in immediate danger

If you or somebody with you is in immediate physical danger, contact your country's emergency services now, or go to your nearest emergency department. That is the right thing to do and it is what the service is for. This page is for everything that is not that.

Eating disorder support

Most countries have at least one national eating-disorder charity that runs a helpline, an email service and often a webchat, staffed by people trained for exactly this conversation. They will talk to you whether or not you have a diagnosis, whether or not you think you are "bad enough", and whether or not you are taking any medication. They also talk to family members and partners, which is a service people forget exists.

These organisations are findable by searching for "eating disorder charity" or "eating disorder helpline" plus your country. In the UK and Ireland, in most EU countries, in the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, the main national charity is the first or second result and has been for years.

What they can do: talk it through now, explain what treatment looks like where you live, help you work out what to say to a GP, and tell you what the waiting lists actually are. What they cannot do: prescribe, diagnose, or make it stop today.

Getting into specialist eating disorder treatment

In most systems the route is through primary care — a GP or family doctor — who refers you to a specialist eating disorder service. This is frustrating and it is still the route. Two things make it go better: going with something written down, and being specific about behaviour rather than about how you feel about your body.

You are entitled to ask for weight-blind appointments, to ask not to be told a number, and to ask to be weighed backwards or not at all. Members here have done all three and have written about how they asked. It is a reasonable request and a good service will not argue.

Mental health crisis support

Separately from eating disorder services, most countries run a crisis line or text service for anybody in distress, free and available at night, and you do not need to be suicidal to use one. Search for "crisis line" or "crisis text line" plus your country, or ask any clinician — they will know the local one immediately.

In the UK, out-of-hours NHS advice and local crisis teams are reachable through the NHS non-emergency service and through many GP practices' out-of-hours message. In Ireland the HSE publishes the equivalent. Most EU countries, Canada, Australia and New Zealand have a national line; the United States has a national three-digit line for suicide and crisis.

Talking to a clinician about your medication

If what has become hard is specifically about the medication — appetite that has gone too far, eating that has stopped, a mood change, or a growing feeling that this is not safe for you — the person to tell is whoever prescribes it, and the sooner the better. It is a normal conversation and it happens often. Nobody will be cross with you, and a good prescriber would much rather know now.

Members find it helps to write two sentences down first. What has changed, and how long it has been going on. That is enough to start.

Support for family, partners and carers

Almost every eating-disorder charity and most mental health charities run a separate service for the people around somebody who is struggling, and it is usually underused. If you are the worried one, that service is for you and using it is not a betrayal.

Our own carers circle and partners and family circle exist for the same reason, and neither expects you to be on any medication yourself.

What we can offer, and what we cannot

What we can offer is company, other people's experience, help finding the words for an appointment, and a room where nobody will ask you what you weigh. What we cannot offer is treatment, diagnosis, crisis support, or anybody available at three in the morning. Please do not wait for a circle to meet if today is the day.