Eating Disorders: Supporting people in the local church

It can seem daunting to support someone with an eating disorder but there are plenty of things that people like you and I can do:

Supporting sufferers/families:

Don’t

• Think you’re unqualified to help because you’re not an eating disorders expert. By all means involve the professionals, but remember that praying and listening is vital
• Think you know ‘the answers’ because you’ve read a book or know another sufferer. Each case is unique, be curious about the person.
• Treat eating disorders as a purely medical disorder. Matters of the heart are at least as important.
• Ignore how important the physical side is – body and mind are very linked.
• Focus upon weight or how the person looks.
• Assume that weight gain means the sufferer is better – this is when they will need more support rather than less.
• Get drawn into their world. It’s very easy for emotional turmoil to be normalized.

Do

• Make sure that you are grounded in Christ and supported by His people. Your spiritual buoyancy is vital both for you and the sufferer
• Read up-to-date information on eating disorders
• Allow families to make their own choices about treatment
• Be there for the long haul. Recovery can take months, or more usually, years: and relapse can be a part of it
• Be sensitive: don’t base all your activities around food
• Provide extra help during times of transition, (e.g; from hospital to home)
• Offer to stay with the sufferer so parents/carers can take a much needed break
• Help out with other children in the family, as they will need more attention during this time
• Treat the person with an eating disorder as you did before they got sick. They’re still in there and will come back as they recover
• Speak of Jesus and His grace – the gospel really is the best medicine.
• Pray, pray and pray again
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• Remember you are not the Saviour: Jesus is. He comes for the lost (Luke 19:10) – and no-one is beyond his help.

Emma Scrivener was born in Belfast, but now lives with her husband in the south east of England. She suffered from life-threatening anorexia as a child and as an adult. She now speaks and writes about her experiences at www.emmascrivener.net. Her book A New Name is available now.