Having fought for Gemma’s life during a 13-year eating disorder battle, Gemma’s parents founded SEED Eating Disorder Support Service 22 years ago.
The charity has received a lifeline from Ellesmere Counselling and Psychotherapy Training in the quest to find a new home for the service.
The specialist therapy resource centre on Beverley Road in Hull, operated by ECPT, now has space available.
A newly-opened resource room at SEED, in addition to access to specialist therapy facilities like 1-to-1 talking therapy rooms and group therapy rooms, will enable SEED to launch a face-to-face counselling service, in partnership with students from ECPT.
ECPT has been training and supporting counsellors and psychotherapists for over 15 years, and they provide resources to private practitioners and offer services through their partner company Space2BHeard CIC.
ECPT has trained and accredited numerous counsellors and psychotherapists in the area, many of whom progress to work locally in private practice or for the NHS.
ECPT Director Kathie Hostick said:
“We are delighted that we have been able to help SEED continue their valuable work by facilitating them at one of our centres. We hope to see them continue to grow and provide support to those experiencing eating disorders from across the region and the UK.”
“We are looking forward to working with them on developing their talking therapy service which in turn provides valuable frontline clinical experience for our counselling and psychotherapy students. It’s an exciting time for us.”
SEED will officially operate from their new base from April 2022 and is looking forward to welcoming those experiencing eating disorders to access support at the centre or remotely, and to working with ECPT students to develop their new talking therapy service.
Gemma Oaten said;
“We are relieved to have found somewhere to call home so we can carry on providing support to those in need, and we would like to say a huge thank you to those who have donated to our ongoing fundraiser which has provided valuable funds towards our work and will go towards securing our new Resource room.”
What we do is very labour intensive, and we are proud of our professional team, and we need to keep them in place for as long as possible. Our plans for the future include The Recovery After The Recovery a project we will begin to pilot in April 2022, along with our continued work in schools with our Eating Disorders Educational Toolkit Resource furthermore the vital day to day support of those affected by eating disorders. Early intervention is key and we at SEED are passionate about treating the person and not the eating disorder. The Resource Room is a vital hub to facilitate our life-saving work.”
