Lived experiences of support for an eating disorder, with a focus on intensive community and day treatments

Background

In 2024, we published our report on intensive community and day services for eating disorders, called ‘There’s No Place Like Home’. 

Since then, we have been working on a campaign to see our recommendations implemented across the UK. 

Eating disorder treatment usually consists of one appointment a week, or inpatient treatment, where people spend their time in hospital. Intensive community and day services provide something in between, and can allow people to step up or step down as they need to. 

In our report, our evidence review found that these approaches support sustainable recovery, and are generally more preferable to patients and empowering to families when compared to inpatient care. We also found that these services are important in shifting care closer to home, and would minimise the number of patients that need inpatient treatment, whilst reducing the length of stay for those that do. 

The campaign 

We’ve been working alongside services to learn what works and what doesn’t in the development of an intensive community or day service. We’ll use these insights to develop a toolkit for areas looking to set up a service. 

Who we want to hear from 

It’s important that real-life experiences continue to shape this campaign. As part of this work, we want to hear from you if: 
  1. You have experience of an intensive community or day service 
  2. You have received inpatient or outpatient treatment and would have been/are interested in an intensive service in the community  
  3. You personally supported or support someone with experience of receiving eating disorder treatment as a family member, friend, colleague, or carer 
We want to make this as easy as possible to fill in so we’ve kept the questions as open as possible so you can tailor your answers to your experiences.  

The survey will remain open until Monday 20 October at 09:00.

It should take around 15 minutes to complete but please take as long as you need.

Data protection  

By submitting answers to questions in this survey, you give consent for your data to be used in line with our privacy statement.  

Direct quotes may be used by Beat with a pseudonym (false name), and we would only include quotes if they did not include any information that might identify you. If you would prefer for direct quotes not to be used, then there is an opportunity to opt-out of this before completing the survey.   

Support  

You can call the Beat Helpline on 0808 801 0677, or you can get in touch with a Beat advisor via email or webchat. The helpline is open from 3pm–8pm, Monday to Friday. Beat offers support and information to people with eating disorders, those who support them and professionals. For details of Beat's Helpline and other support services, please click here.  

For crisis support, the Samaritans telephone helpline is open 24/7 at 116 123. You can also text SHOUT on 85258, which is also open 24/7.   

In England, Scotland, and Wales you can call NHS 111 and select Option 2 for 24/7 mental health crisis support. In Northern Ireland you can call Lifeline for free on 0808 808 8000, which is also open 24/7.  

Before you start





Please remember that you do not have to answer any question that makes you uncomfortable. You may skip entire sections or select 'Prefer not to say' on specific questions.   

*e.g., Atypical Anorexia, Purging Disorder, Night Eating Syndrome, Bulimia Nervosa/Binge Eating Disorder of Low Frequency and/or Limited Duration
































*e.g., Atypical Anorexia, Purging Disorder, Night Eating Syndrome, Bulimia Nervosa/Binge Eating Disorder of Low Frequency and/or Limited Duration
















Unfortunately, your answer/s indicate that you are not eligible to complete this particular survey. If you are interested in participating in other eating disorder research you can find a range of opportunities here.

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