Eating & Feeding Disorders Support at Lakeside Rooms
Understanding Eating and Feeding Challenges with Compassionate Care
Eating and feeding challenges can affect people of all ages, from early childhood through to adulthood. These difficulties may include restrictive eating, emotional eating, sensory sensitivities, fear around food, changes in appetite, or difficulties with mealtimes. Often, these challenges are linked to anxiety, low mood, trauma, developmental differences, or health conditions.
At Lakeside Rooms, we provide a safe, non-judgemental space to explore the underlying causes of these difficulties. With gentle, individualised support, we work alongside you (or your child) to build a healthier, more balanced relationship with food, body and self.
Eating behaviours can be influenced by many physical, emotional, and social factors. For some people, changes in appetite, weight, or eating patterns are temporary and resolve naturally over time. For others, difficulties with eating can become more persistent and start affecting physical health, mood, and confidence. Eating and feeding disorders are varied and can include restrictive eating, binge eating, avoidance of certain foods, or anxiety and distress around meals.
Children may experience feeding concerns such as sensory sensitivities, limited food preferences, difficulties transitioning to new foods, or anxiety at mealtimes. Adolescents and adults may develop more complex patterns, including extreme dieting, intense focus on body image, guilt after eating, or secretive eating behaviours. These experiences can impact school, work, social engagement, and family routines - as well as overall well-being.
In Australia, eating disorders affect around 1 in 20 people each year, and many individuals live with symptoms for months or years before receiving support (Butterfly Foundation, 2023). Early recognition and access to specialised care can significantly improve recovery outcomes and quality of life.
How Lakeside Rooms Can Help
Lakeside Rooms provides evidence-based support for children, adolescents, and adults experiencing concerns around eating or feeding. Our psychologists and psychiatrists take a compassionate, non-judgemental approach to help individuals understand the thoughts, feelings, and experiences that influence their relationship with food and with themselves.
Therapeutic support may include:
Cognitive Behaviour Therapy – Enhanced (CBT-E) – the leading therapy for many eating disorders
Family-Based Treatment (FBT) – empowering caregivers to support recovery, particularly for young people
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) – promoting healthy coping and body acceptance
Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT) skills – improving emotional regulation and distress tolerance
Play or expressive therapy – supporting children with feeding-related anxieties
Nutritional and medical collaboration, when appropriate, to ensure physical health is monitored safely.
Support may include building confidence around food choices, learning to manage challenging thoughts, strengthening self-worth, and improving communication within families about health and wellbeing.
Lakeside Rooms welcomes individuals at different stages of their recovery journey and values a holistic approach that promotes both mental and physical health. We recognise that every person’s experience is unique - and support is tailored to meet those individual needs in a respectful, caring environment.
Take the first step toward feeling better. Contact us today to find out more.
