Voluntary Bodies and Eating Disorders

Eating disorder charities and self-help organizations have a unique role in public health, as organizations which have a close relationship with the communities they support. For the most part, eating disorder charities are spaces run by, and for, people whose lives have been touched by eating disorders, often through personal experience as a family member, peer, or carer. They seek to support, listen to, advocate for, and empower people with eating disorders and their families, directing lived experience toward meaningful action. This chapter discusses how these voluntary bodies are founded and details the early movements of one of the first eating disorder self-help groups in the United Kingdom. Case studies of two national eating disorder charities, Beat (in the United Kingdom) and the National Eating Disorders Association, or NEDA (in the United States), are presented, and their similarities and differences are explored (many of which lie in the charities’ distinct contexts and healthcare systems, and the resulting variations in the needs of the communities they support). The crucial need for international collaboration and alignment between eating disorder charities is discussed, in exchanging ideas to confront shared challenges and in highlighting global disparities in eating disorder provision worldwide.