In most cases, eating disorders start in adolescence, but they are often not picked up until adulthood. However, the earlier treatment starts, the better the long-term outcomes. The 2021 Judy Dunn Conference brings together some of the leading players in the field of eating disorders, and will focus on the latest evidence-based research, and implementing proven interventions that deliver results.

About the event
Key takeaways
Who should attend
Prices and booking
Programme
About the speakers

About the event

This conference, held online, over two 2.5 hour sessions, will investigate the mix of social, biological, psychological and interpersonal causes, and deliver you the most effective interventions and practices.

Speakers include; Professor Nadia Micali, Dr. Tina Rae, Dr. Rachel Bryant-Waugh, Dr. Dasha Nicholls, Professor Phillipa Diedrichs, and Dr. Jennifer Thomas.

The conference will be staged as a webinar format, with a series of presentations followed by a Q & A session for each. Delegates will have access to recordings for 28 days after the sessions.

Key takeaways

• Learn about the key insights into the latest evidence-based practices to put in place to prevent eating disorders.
• Find out what epidemiology can tell us about the clinical presentation of eating disorders, the long-term impact on mental health, and how you can implement effective interventions.
• Gain a comprehensive understanding of Avoidant/Restrictive Food Intake Disorder (ARFID), the influence this can have on child development, and the actions to take.
• Discover the latest research on a range of eating disorders, together with effective, practical interventions.

Who should attend

This day would be particularly beneficial to clinicians and other health professionals working with children with eating disorders.

Programme

Thursday 18 November

13:15 Welcome by ACAMH Chair Dr. Gordana Milavić 

13:20 Professor Nadia Micali – ‘Epidemiology and clinical presentation of eating disorders’
13:40 Q&A

13:50 Dr. Tina Rae – ‘Eating disorders in schools’
14:10 Q&A

14:20 Break

14:40 Dr. Rachel Bryant-Waugh – ‘ARFID: diagnosis and management’
15:20 Q&A

15:40 Closing comments from ACAMH Chair Dr. Gordana Milavić

Friday 19 November

13:15 Welcome by ACAMH Academic Secretary, Professor Samuele Cortese 

13:20 Dr. Dasha Nicholls – ‘Managing medical emergencies in eating disorders’
13:50 Q&A

14:05-14:35 Professor Phillipa Diedrichs – ‘Prevention of eating disorders’
14:35 Q&A

14:50 Break

15:10-15:30 Dr. Jennifer Thomas  – ‘Future clinical and research perspectives’
15:30 Q&A

15:40 Closing comments from ACAMH Academic Secretary, Professor Samuele Cortese 

About the speakers

Professor Nadia Micali

After graduating with a doctorate in medicine from the University of Messina in 1998, Nadia Micali trained in child and adolescent psychiatry, specialising in eating disorders (Eating Disorders). She holds a PhD from King’s College London (2009) and an MSc in Epidemiology. In 2011 she will join University College London as Senior Lecturer and Great Ormond Street Hospital as Unit Head. From 2015 to 2017, she is Associate Professor of Psychiatry and Co-Director of the CAW Department at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York.

Her research focuses on the biological and intergenerational risks associated with eating disorders, the epidemiology of eating disorders in adolescent girls and their neurobiological risk factors, and she has been involved in the development of a master’s degree at University College London, the only degree of its kind in the world. She has also worked on the links between perinatality and CAT in mothers. In addition, she has authored more than 100 articles published in editorial policy journals and has given more than 50 lectures. She is an elected executive member of several scientific societies, including the Eating Disorders Research Society, which she chaired in 2015, and is also an active member of the Academy of Eating Disorders. Arriving in Geneva in October 2017, she was appointed Full Professor at the Department of Psychiatry of the Faculty of Medicine and Head of the Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Department of the HUG. Bio via University Geneva

Dr Tina Rae has more thirty years’ experience working with children, adults and families in both clinical and educational contexts within local authorities and specialist educational services. She currently works as a consultant educational and child psychologist in a range of SEMH and mainstream contexts and for a range of Fostering agencies as a consultant psychologist supporting foster carers, social workers and looked-after children. From 2010 to 2016 she was an academic and professional tutor for the Doctorate in Educational and Child Psychology at the University of East London. Tina is a registered member of the Health and Care Professions Council and a full member of the British Psychological Society. She is also a member of ENSEC (European Network for Social and Emotional Competence) and a former trustee of the Nurture Group Network (NGN) now NurtureUK.

Tina has published more than 100 titles on topics including well-being, attachment, emotional literacy, behavioural problems, anger and stress management, critical incidents, cognitive behavioural therapy, motivational interviewing, solution-focused brief therapy, loss and bereavement in young people, youth offending and social skills development.

Among her most recent publications are

• Rae, T. & D’Amario, A. (2021) A Recovery Toolbox of Wellbeing in the Early years for children aged 3-6 Buckingham: Hinton House Publishers
• Rae, T. & D’Amario, A. (2021) A Recovery Toolbox of Wellbeing for primary aged children 7-11 Buckingham: Hinton House Publishers
• Rae, T. & D’Amario, A. (2021) A Recovery Toolbox of Wellbeing for Adolescents and Teenagers aged 12-16 Buckingham: Hinton House Publishers
• Rae, T. (2021) My Toolbox of Wellbeing Journal – creative, inspiring activities and strategies Buckingham: Hinton House Publishers
• Rae, T. (2020) Supporting Children and Young People with Emotionally Based School Avoidance Buckingham: Hinton House Publishers
• Rae, T., Middleton, T. & Walshe, J. (2020) Nurturing Peer Supervision: Supporting the Wellbeing of those who Nurture Glasgow: Nurture UK
• Rae, T. (2020) It’s OK not to be OK: A Guide to Wellbeing London: QED Publishing
• Rae, T. (2020) A Toolbox of Wellbeing Helpful strategies and activities for children, teens, their carers and teachers Buckingham: Hinton House Publishers
• Rae, T., Such, A. & Wood, J. (2020) The Well Being Tool Kit for Mental health leads in schools A comprehensive Training Resource to Support Emotional Wellbeing in Education and Social Care Buckingham: Hinton House Publishers

Tina is a regular speaker at both national and international conferences and events and provides training courses and supervision for school-based staff in both special and mainstream contexts and educational psychology services across the UK and internationally. Email tinarae@hotmail.co.uk Twitter @DrTinarae

Rachel is a Clinical Psychologist with over 30 years’ experience, specialising in the study and treatment of feeding and eating disorders in children and young people. She has maintained a high level of clinical and research activity throughout this period, most recently focussing on ARFID. She served on the DSM-5 and the ICD-11 workgroups reviewing diagnostic criteria for feeding and eating disorders, and was National Clinical Adviser for NHS England’s Children and Young People’s Evidence Based Treatment Pathway for Eating Disorders.

Rachel has won national and international awards for her work, in recognition of her contribution to the field of feeding and eating disorders. She has published widely, trains colleagues, and teaches in many countries. She is passionate about ensuring that the voices and experiences of children, young people, parents, carers and other family members are heard, respected and included in efforts to further knowledge and improve treatment. For more information about MCCAED, please see their dedicated website. Bio and image via SLaM NHS.

Dr. Dasha Nicholls

I lead the Child and Adolescent Mental Health research team in the Division of Psychiatry and also the Multimorbidity and Mental Health theme in Northwest London Applied Research Collaboration. I am also Clinical and Strategic Director for National Audits and Research at the Royal College of Psychiatrists, and a practising Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist in CNWL Children and Young People’s Eating Disorders Service. My research aims to improve understanding and interventions for children and young people (CYP) with feeding and eating disorders and obesity. In particular my research focuses on risk factors and early intervention for disordered eating behaviour, and seeks practical and scale-able solutions, from parent training to policy change, that directly influence outcomes. Increasingly I am working in CYP population mental health, working through schools and with CYP presenting in mental health crisis at emergency departments to support supported self-care through digital technology.  I lead a cross Faculty network for Mental Health Research at Imperial College, bringing together scientists from a range of disciplines to collaborate on mental health research.

I am past chair of the Eating Disorders Faculty of the Royal College of Psychiatrists (RCPsych) and led development of the Junior MARSIPAN guidelines for the management of seriously ill patients with anorexia nervosa. I served on the NICE guideline committee for eating disorders, the NICE quality standards committee, and helped develop the commissioning guidance, training curriculum and quality standards for CYP EDS. In partnership with South London and Maudsley, I co-led the National Whole Team training for CYP EDS. I am Past President of the Academy of Eating Disorders and instigated development of the British Eating Disorders Society. I was co-founder of the Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Surveillance System (CAPSS) for research into rare disorders and events in child mental health. Bio via Imperial College London.

Professor Phillippa Diedrichs is a research psychologist known internationally for creating evidence-based strategies to improve body image and mental health in community, business, and policy settings. With a PhD in Health Psychology, she is passionate about creating environments that accept diversity in appearance and support people, particularly girls and women, to live free from the constraint of appearance concerns.

At the Centre for Appearance Research, she leads a team of researchers investigating psychological and social influences on body image (social media, advertising, friends, family), and the development and evaluation of digital and face-to-face body image interventions. Her research is published in over 60 peer-reviewed papers and book chapters, and has featured in the New York Times, BBC, Time, Forbes, and teaching case studies at Harvard’s Business School and School of Public Health. The evidence-based programmes that Professor Diedrichs has co-created and evaluated have been delivered to over 40 million young people in partnership with global youth organisations and business, including a long-standing academic partnership with the Dove Self-Esteem Project. Notably, she helped develop the first evidence-based girl scouts global badge programme, Free Being Me, implemented in 136 countries.

Skilled in science communication, Phillippa regularly works with media, brands, agencies, and non-profit organisations. She has worked alongside Unilever, UNICEF, NHS England, Cartoon Network, Getty Images, YMCA, World Association for Girl Guides and Girl Scouts, Edelman, Ogilvy and Girl Effect. Her industry consultancy projects have transformed media landscapes to promote appearance diversity and improve mental health. Recent highlights include the Cannes Lion award-winning Project #ShowUs – a ground-breaking library of 5000+ photographs of female-identifying and non-binary individuals shattering beauty stereotypes; Tribeca Film Festival award-winning Girls Room, a scripted series highlighting the growing pains of female adolescence; and a Clio award-winning series of Steven Universe cartoons promoting body confidence among children. Phillippa has served as an advisor to the British Government Equalities Office, Transport for London, and parliamentary select committees. She is a Fellow of the Academy for Eating Disorders and serves on the Editorial Board for Body Image: An International Journal of Research. For more information, please visit www.phillippadiedrichs.com Bio and image via UWE.

Dr. Jennifer Thomas is the Co-director of the Eating Disorders Clinical and Research Program at Massachusetts General Hospital, and an Associate Professor of Psychology in the Department of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. Dr. Thomas’s research focuses on avoidant/restrictive food intake disorder and other atypical eating disorders, as described in her books Almost Anorexic: Is My (or My Loved One’s) Relationship with Food a Problem?; Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy for Avoidant/Restrictive Food Intake Disorder: Children, Adolescents, and Adults; and The Picky Eater’s Recovery Book: Overcoming Avoidant/Restrictive Food Intake Disorder. She is currently principal investigator on several studies investigating the neurobiology and treatment of avoidant/restrictive food intake disorder, funded by the U.S. National Institute of Mental Health and private foundations. She is the author or co-author of more than 150 scientific publications. She is the President-Elect of the Academy for Eating Disorders and recently completed a 5-year term as Associate Editor for the International Journal of Eating Disorders.