Updates from the National Center of Excellence for Eating Disorders

Since our last update, the National Center of Excellence for Eating Disorders (NCEED) has continued to make progress on several exciting initiatives. The Screening, Brief Intervention, and Referral to Treatment for Eating Disorders (SBIRT-ED) tool is now fully developed and undergoing initial testing to provide iterative feedback. Dr. Peat provided an introduction and overview of SBIRT-ED during the December NCEED webinar which you can view here. Additionally, during National Eating Disorders Awareness (NEDA) Week 2022, she was asked to present SBIRT-ED as part of a panel discussion organized by the Office on Women’s Health and the Office of Population Affairs (within the US Department of Health and Human Services). Admiral Rachel Levine gave opening comments for this session and discussed the importance of providers being equipped to detect eating disorders, intervene early, and refer to specialty care—a great way to kick off a discussion on SBIRT-ED! With these recent opportunities increasing interest in SBIRT-ED, we are that much more enthusiastic about the upcoming launch. Stay tuned for more information soon! 

In addition to our work on SBIRT-ED, NCEED has collaborated with the African American Behavioral Health Center of Excellence (AABH CoE), the Center of Excellence for LGBTQ+ Behavioral Health Equity (LGBTQ+ CoE), the National Family Support Technical Assistance Center (NFSTAC), and the National AHEC Organization to develop educational infographics focused on eating disorders in specific populations/communities. These infographics also share information on how to prevent the development of eating disorders and provide information on appropriate treatment services for underrepresented populations. The list of infographics include: Eating Disorders in Black Americans, Eating Disorders in LGBTQ+ Populations, Family Support for Eating Disorder Recovery, and Eating Disorders in Underrepresented Communities. These educational infographics were shared during NEDA Week 2022 via social media and included in the NCEED Resource Library. Be sure to check them out!  

NCEED also continues to host its monthly webinar series as we remain committed to providing education and training to both primary care providers and clinicians within the field of eating disorders alike. The webinar series features each of NCEED’s Content Experts who provide training within their areas of expertise on a wide variety of topics related to eating disorders. Since our last blog post, our webinars include a presentation by Dr. Peat titled, “Eating Disorders in Primary Care: A Novel Tool for Screening and Referral” (as highlighted above) and one by Dr. Anna Bardone-Cone on Eating Disorders in Males, a highly sought after topic within the medical community. Each of these webinars are available on demand in the Training Center and offer free continuing education credit. Providing these webinars in an online format has allowed us to educate and share evidenced-based information with providers across disciplines both here in the US and also around the world. To date, we have trained over 23,000 healthcare providers, with just over 7,000 of those attending our live trainings. We are committed to further expanding our reach and ensuring that healthcare providers, individuals affected by eating disorders, and their families receive the education and training needed to ensure no one with an eating disorder slips through the cracks. With that in mind, NCEED has several webinars and events in collaboration with our partners (listed above) to help increase our reach to audiences and populations who might benefit most.

• On March 3^rd at 1:30pm, NCEED partnered with the NFSTAC for a Family Connections session titled “Every Body: What Families Need to Know about Eating Disorders
• On March 22^nd at 2:30pm, NCEED partnered with the LGBTQ+ CoE on a webinar and panel discussion titled, “Disordered Eating within Transgender Populations” co-facilitated by Dr. Martha Perry
• On April 20^th at 1:30pm, NCEED partnered with the AABH CoE on a webinar titled, “No More Secrets”: Shedding Light on Eating Disorders in the African American Community conducted by Dr. Rachel Goode

Positive feedback from attendees and the collaborative centers indicate that future webinars expanding on these topics would be helpful to both healthcare providers and mental health clinicians.

Follow us on social media (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn) or sign up for our newsletter to register for these (and future) events!  

Now in its 4^th year, NCEED continues to fulfill its mission of providing evidence-based eating disorders education and training to a variety of audiences. With SBIRT-ED serving as the cornerstone product for the organization, NCEED will improve the landscape for eating disorders treatment by increasing the number of trained healthcare providers and improving eating disorder literacy among the public. We are confident that the collective efforts of NCEED, healthcare providers, individuals affected by eating disorders will have a profound impact on the lives of those struggling. Click here to learn more about NCEED, and sign up for our newsletter at www.nceedus.org!