Oxford Centre for Eating Disorders

12/02/2025

The Oxford Centre for Eating Disorders has temporarily moved offices to 13 Beaumont Street, Oxford, due to renovation work in our usual location. We look forward to welcoming you to our new office space 💙

16/10/2024

Dr Julia Bouska talking all things eating disorders on Nest Egypt. Thank you for the invite to discuss this important topic with your audience.

Eating disorders are treatable conditions, when someone has the right support - we need to change the narrative around this and let people know that they can recover.

هل سبق وسمعت عن اضطرابات الأكل؟ هل بتلاحظ إن طفلك عنده علاقة غير صحية مع الأكل؟ في الحلقة الثانية عشرة من نست بودكاست "اضطرابات الأكل"، داليا الجندي وأمينة ر...

15/08/2024

The Oxford Centre for Eating Disorders is closed until the 16th September. If you leave us a message we will get back to you as soon as possible upon our return. Thank you, The OCED Team.

02/07/2024

Gentle reminder 💙

18/06/2024

Avoidant/Restrictive Food Intake Disorder (ARFID) is a less frequently discussed but increasingly common eating disorder, that can affect both children and adults.

People with ARFID often avoid certain foods or food groups entirely, or they reduce the amount of food that they eat.

ARFID does not occur as a result of body image concerns, as is often the case with other eating disorders. Restricted eating in ARFID may be due to sensory sensitivity or a lack of interest in eating. Some people with ARFID are sensitive to certain textures or tastes of foods, or they may have experienced a previously distressing incident with food, such as an episode of choking, which leads them to be fearful of eating.

ARFID is a treatable condition, and therapy may involve exposure work, nutritional support, Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing Therapy (EMDR) and/or Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT).

13/06/2024

SESSIONS FOR FAMILY, FRIENDS AND CARERS: please share with anyone looking for advice and guidance to better support a loved one with an eating disorder. These sessions include:

- Information about eating disorders

- Information about treatment options

- Advice on how to support someone with an eating disorder

- An opportunity to talk about your own feelings and experiences of supporting a loved one with an eating disorder

- Advice on what to say/not say

- Information and guidance about different styles/approaches of caring for someone with an eating disorder

- Guidance on how to support someone who is resistant to change

- Guidance on how to manage mealtimes

- Guidance on how to create a calmer atmosphere at home and minimise conflict

- Guidance on how to manage challenging situations at home regarding food and body image

- An opportunity to ask any questions/speak about specific challenges

Contact us at admin@oced.co.uk

11/06/2024

Dr Julia Bouska answers the common question "can I fully recover from an eating disorder?"

Spoiler alert: YES YOU CAN!

03/06/2024

Meet our Senior Specialist Counselling Psychologist and Co-Founder of the Oxford Centre for Eating Disorders (OCED), Dr Camille Poirier.

Camille is one of the most positive and cheerful people you will meet. With an eye for detail, she has a passion for delivering high quality evidence-based CBT-E, and is a marvel at supporting patients to remain motivated and to stay on track with their recovery. She particularly enjoys working with the student population and has close links with Oxford University. She has provided training and workshops with the university’s student mental health and welfare services.

Camille has extensive experience of working within specialist eating disorder services as well as general mental health settings. Having lived in both the U.S. and France, she moved to the U.K. to complete her Psychology Degree at Durham University, followed by a Doctorate in Counselling Psychology from the University of East London. She received training and supervision in CBT-E from the Centre for Research on Eating Disorders (CREDO) at Oxford University.

Camille has treated patients in both inpatient and outpatient NHS multidisciplinary settings and is passionate about supporting and empowering individuals with fully overcoming their eating disorder.

28/05/2024

The key to recovery is to keep going even when difficulties arise.

During recovery from an eating disorder, ups and downs are totally normal and expected. It's very common to feel as though you're taking one step forward and two steps back. It's normal to feel anxious, stuck, resistant about making changes and to be confused about what you want. When you feel this way, it's tempting to feel that something has gone wrong, but it hasn't, you are on the right path.

Our advice is to KEEP GOING and trust the process; it will get much easier in time. If you keep working on your recovery, you will eventually turn a corner and see light at the end of the tunnel 💙

20/05/2024

Three days, two fantastic conferences! Thank you to the wonderful speakers at the International Food Addiction Consensus Conference (IFACC) and the Public Health Collaboration (PHC) conference . Very grateful to hear from some inspiring speakers on a range of topics including food addiction, metabolic health, the role of nutrition in mental health, weight loss drugs, type 2 diabetes and eating disorders.

13/05/2024

Meet our Specialist Clinical Psychologist, Dr Roshan Jones.

Roshan is one of the most dedicated therapists working in the field of eating disorders that you will ever meet. She rapidly rose to a senior position after qualifying as a Clinical Psychologist, which is a reflection of her talent and palpable devotion to helping people with eating disorders. Roshan is extremely warm and approachable, whilst also being driven and ambitious. Her dedication to delivering truly evidence-based therapy is second to none.

Roshan works both privately at OCED and also as a senior Psychologist within the local NHS eating disorder service. She has worked in community and inpatient eating disorder services across the UK. She is also currently working with Olympic athletes with eating disorders, in collaboration with the UK Sports Institute.

Roshan has a BSc in Psychology and a doctorate in Clinical Psychology. She trained in Enhanced Cognitive Behavioural Therapy for Eating Disorders (CBT-E) at the Centre for Research on Eating Disorders (CREDO) at Oxford University.

Roshan prides herself on adjusting her approach to reflect an individual's unique experience, whilst also following evidence-based treatment. Her priority is to create a safe and trusting space, and to work collaboratively with the individual to achieve their therapeutic goals.

06/05/2024

What we focus on tends to grow. So, a fruitful way to approach recovery is to focus on building up the positive aspects of your life, rather than placing your focus on getting rid of or fighting the eating disorder. As our lives expand and become more varied and fulfilling, the eating disorder thoughts, feelings and behaviours will naturally tend to soften.

Building up positive aspects of life will look different for each individual, for example, it may be getting in touch with friends, spending time in nature, picking up old hobbies or starting new ones - practical action steps and consistency is important here. 'Building health' may also involve the daily practice of a mindset shift, such as actively noticing and focusing on aspects of your life that you already appreciate, even if these seem very small at present 💙

29/04/2024

Meet our Specialist CBT Therapist, Joel Hawkins.

Joel has worked in the field of eating disorders for over 25 years. It's accurate to say that Joel is the Oracle and Jedi Master of eating disorders; his depth of knowledge and experience is profound. As a person Joel is extremely funny and straight talking, whilst also being gentle and warm hearted. He has a wonderful way of combining a compassionate and motivational stance into his therapy sessions, whilst also using a touch of humour where appropriate.

With far too many qualifications to mention, here are a few highlights:

* Seventeen years experience of delivering Cognitive Behaviour Therapy-Enhanced (CBT-E).

* Trained in both Systemic Family Therapy (SFT) and Interpersonal Psychotherapy (IPT).

* Trained in Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) and accredited with the British Association for Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapies (BABCP).

* Diploma of Higher Education in Mental Health Nursing.

* Trained in Motivational Enhancement Therapy (MET) for Eating Disorders.

* Trained in the Maudsley Model of Anorexia Nervosa Treatment for Adults (MANTRA).

If you'd like to work with Joel then please contact us at admin@oced.co.uk

24/04/2024

Some thoughts about thoughts from Dr Julia Bouska this morning:

* Our thoughts are not facts.

* Do not believe everything that you think.

* Our thoughts are often biased towards negativity, as the brain attempts to alert us to danger and keep us safe.

* You are NOT your thoughts.

* You are the OBSERVER of your thoughts.

* By observing our thoughts we can experience much greater freedom from them.

* With practice it becomes possible to choose what you would like to think about 💙

20/04/2024

At the start of recovery our patients feel as though they have no choice in how they act or think; it can feel as though the eating disorder has taken them over. In time however, as awareness grows, there is a larger decision space and a greater distance between the feared stimuli (for example, particular foods) and the person's response. It is in this space and in choosing different responses, that recovery happens, little by little.

15/04/2024

We really couldn't have said it any better ourselves. "Why do you have to be perfect, there's no fun in being perfect". "Practice makes you better but not perfect". Thank you for the excellent advice babymihira 💙

11/04/2024

MYTH vs FACT: Many people are given the message by society, or sometimes by friends, family or even healthcare professionals, that they are not thin enough to have an eating disorder. This is one of the most common worries that we hear from our patients.

This message is completely false and can be extremely damaging. The fact is that most people with an eating disorder fall within the healthy weight range, with some falling below and some above. People present with eating disorders at any weight, shape or size.

If you are fearful about your eating or about your body weight or shape, then you may have an eating disorder and you are justified in reaching out for help.

09/04/2024

Recovery from an eating disorder happens when someone chooses to take many small steps/makes many small choices in the direction of wellness. These small steps/choices compound over time, and add up to more significant changes.

The only step that matters is the one that you are making right now. Focusing only on the step/choice that you are taking in the present moment will make your journey feel easier and more manageable. When you look back, you will see how far you've come.