ANZAED 2024 Auckland conference-oral & poster abstracts

Eating disorders are serious, complex mental illnesses, often accompanied by significant physical and mental health complications.Whilst access to evidence-based treatment for eating disorders is extremely important, community members with lived experience often face many barriers in accessing support, including but not limited to: financial constraints, long waitlists, limited clinician availability, and few services available -particularly in rural locations.Whilst clinical parameters consistently point to the need for a stepped system of care, historically, there have been limited options for lived experience community members in accessing appropriate supports, particularly when discharging from hospital.As a result, the Butterfly Foundation has recently launched Australia's first virtual, intensive outpatient program -Next Steps, a step-down support for individuals with a primary diagnosis of an eating disorder, who have recently been discharged from a residential, hospital, or inpatient admission.The program is free to eligible Australians and provides a minimum of 3 h of support per day, 3 days a week, over an 8-week period, including: weekly individual psychology, dietetic, and peer work sessions; structured meal support, weekly psycho-educational sessions, support groups for carers, and regular case conferencing with participants external care team.Since its launch in February, the program has seen a significant volume of referrals, and has received promising feedback in relation to its effectiveness in managing ongoing eating disorder symptomatology and pathology.It is our hope that this program will continue to service a previous gap in the area, in turn reducing the incidence of relapse and readmission to hospital, supporting participants long term recovery.