Changing the future of eating disorder care
The King’s Maudsley Partnership aims to improve the lives of children and young people with eating disorders. We focus on treatment, training, and research, listening to the voices of those with lived experience. Our team includes world-renowned and respected clinicians and researchers.
We aim to change the future of eating disorder care together. This will give more young people the chance to recover and thrive.
Understanding eating disorders
About 1.25 million people in the UK have an eating disorder. And over 17,000 children show symptoms before they start secondary school. These illnesses can affect anyone - no matter their age, gender, background, or culture. They often have a strong impact on both physical and mental health.
There are several types of eating disorders, these include anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, binge eating disorder, and Avoidant Restrictive Food Intake Disorder (ARFID). These conditions are different, but they all cause distress about food and eating. This impacts both physical and mental wellbeing.
Demand for specialist support is growing quickly. Beat, the UK's charity for eating disorders, reported that helpline sessions for 18 to 22-year-olds more than doubled in five years. They increased from about 6,600 in 2019–20 to over 15,000 in 2023–24.
ARFID is one of the most recently recognised eating disorders. Unlike anorexia nervosa, it is not driven by concerns about weight or body shape. Children and young people with ARFID might avoid food due to sensory sensitivities, fear of choking or vomiting, or a lack of interest in eating.
These conditions rarely occur on their own.
Many young people also face anxiety, depression, obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), or neurodivergence like autism or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). It's important for us to respond to the full complexity, not just the eating disorder alone. This is central to our work.
A global leader in eating disorder research
The work within the King's Maudsley Partnership for treating and researching eating disorders is known around the world.
The Maudsley Centre for Child and Adolescent Eating Disorders (MCCAED) leads the way in community care for children and young people. They also helped set national waiting time standards, so families can get support faster.
Family therapy for anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa, often known as Maudsley Family Therapy, is recommended by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE). It is used in many countries worldwide. It has changed many young lives by helping families take an active part in treatment and recovery.
The MCCAED team works closely with the NIHR Biomedical Research Centre: Maudsley to help us turn scientific advances into new ways to screen, detect, treat, and prevent eating disorders. We can also track young people over time to understand how these conditions develop and change.
Read more about King’s College London’s Centre for Research in Eating And Weight Disorders (CREW)
The PEACE Pathway: eating disorder care designed for neurodivergent young people
Research shows that about one in three people with eating disorders might be neurodivergent. However, most existing treatments are designed for neurotypical patients. The PEACE Pathway (Pathway for Eating disorders and Autism developed from Clinical Experience) was developed by Professor Kate Tchanturia to address this gap. It offers care informed by neurodivergence, training for clinicians, adapted therapies, and support for individuals and their families.
The results have been significant. Patients on the PEACE Pathway experience better outcomes and shorter hospital stays, saving South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust around £275,000 per year. It is the only eating disorder specialist service in the world that's autism-friendly.
One patient described what it meant to be seen as a whole person:
I had been unwell with anorexia for 12 years and spent most of that time in hospital. I was resigned to never recovering. The autism lead spent time listening to my story and helped me separate behaviours linked to autism from those linked to anorexia. For the first time, I could see a clear path forward. Within six months, I was discharged, and a year later, I was working on peer support projects. This pathway changed my life.
We are now seeking to expand the PEACE Pathway to reach more neurodivergent children and young people - including those with ADHD, who are also disproportionately affected by eating disorders - and to develop new, tailored approaches that meet their specific needs.
Developing a Modular Intervention for ARFID
There are no current best-practice guidelines for supporting people with ARFID. With support from the Rosetrees Trust, the team at MCCAED have been developing a novel, modular intervention to improve care for young people with ARFID and their family members in a targeted, individualised way.
Building Bridges: tackling inequality in eating disorder care
Not everyone has the same access to eating disorder care. Young people from global majority backgrounds (a collective term for people of African, Asian, indigenous, Latin American, or mixed-heritage backgrounds) are often not referred to specialist services. But evidence shows that disordered eating is common in all communities.
Our Building Bridges programme connects with families, schools, faith groups, and community organisations. It aims to improve understanding of eating disorders and make it easier for people to seek help. We listen, learn, and work with communities. This way, we want every young person to get support when they need it, no matter their background.
EDIFY: building the evidence for early intervention
Many young people gain from talking therapies, but about one in four young people with an eating disorder do not improve with current treatments alone. Our researchers and clinicians are finding new ways to help young people. They are adapting treatments for neurodivergent youth. They focus on early intervention and prevention in schools. They are also exploring new biological and digital methods.
One example is EDIFY. It’s a major research programme that combines science, technology, psychology, and the arts. EDIFY looks at eating disorders from various angles. This helps us understand why these illnesses develop and what supports long-term recovery.
Meet the team
- Dr Julian Baudinet, Joint Head of MCCAED/Consultant Clinical Psychologist & Adjunct Senior Lecturer (KCL)
- Dr Mima Simic, Joint Head of MCCAED/Consultant Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist
- Dr Pippa Hugo, Consultant Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist
- Dr Jane McNicholas, Consultant Clinical Psychologist
- Dr Lucinda Gledhill, Principal Clinical Psychologist
- Dr Cliona Brennan, Dietitian and START Team Leader & Lecturer (KCL)
- Dr Sophie Bennett, Reader (KCL)
- Professor Ivan Eisler OBE, Professor Emeritus of Family Psychology
- Professor Kate Tchanturia OBE, Professor of Psychology in Eating Disorders
- Professor Ulrike Schmidt OBE, Professor of Eating Disorder
- Professor Janet Treasure OBE, Professor