FAQ

👉🏽How do we make it safe to deliver on-line?

In order to deliver a safe programme on-line, we ask schools and parents to complete our initial safe-guarding and GDPR assessment forms, to establish a safe set up. One staff member or parent is need to be present for each workshop in the next room as we deliver our animation workshops with a live coach, online. We assess for a safe space and recommend a small cohort of no more than 10 pupils at each time (cameras can be turned off for privacy if a young person is struggling with group work or to be seen).

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Before each pupil starts their workshops, we ensure that pupils are feeling mentally well enough to take part in our programme. This can be carried out by schools or ‘body image coach’, providing we have consent to do so. Our assessment form will tell us if schools and parents have knowledge of local services if needed: (Gp’s, CAMHS, next of kin). If this isn’t in place, we would work with them to put this in place first. We also ask if there is capacity to attend A&E with a participant, if someone does not feel safe within themselves. Once this is verified and safeguarding measures are met, we feel confident in our delivery. We also offer 1-1’s for those seeking further support and can assess their needs from this. If someone is presenting as high risk, we have a duty of care, to NOT go ahead with their programme and would liaise with their school and parents, to seek further support with the right channels. 

 

👉🏽Why aren’t we HCPC registered?

Most counsellors and psychotherapists working outside of the NHS are not HCPC registered. We are registered and regulated with other governing bodies such as NCIP and NCPS in the field of therapy and coaching.

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👉🏽Does this need to be face to face due to it being at a more challenging level?                                                          

The programme is about prevention and coaching rather than therapy.  Body image issues are indeed challenging, our programme is designed to raise awareness so that individuals who may be experiencing early-stage body image concerns and disorders can get the help they need. Body Image Coach works with professional therapists and coaches who have lived experience of BDD and eating disorders and who work in private practice with people who have suffered from it.  Subject to various safeguarding prerequisites, sessions with students identified at high risk would be sign posted to the correct channels as we work with low to medium risk only. We believe that this intervention offers the best support for such students and where necessary, we work with outside organisations to prevent any risk.

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👉🏽Where is the safety net if further follow-up is needed locally ? I see they do offer "therapy" but I imagine/hope they would have some local mental health services for more serious conditions that are identified. 

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 The safety net lies in the collaboration with the school or parent/guardian and what measures they have in place, before accessing our service. For example: we follow strict safeguarding and GDPR to ensure that the school and/or parent know what to do if their child/pupil goes through a mental health crisis. This staff member/parent should always be present in the next room as we deliver our on-line workshops. We would ensure that this person (adult) hold records of each pupil’s GP practice and next of Kin, should this be needed.  We ask them: are they in a position to support pupils to A&E if the pupil feels at risk to themselves. Before workshops are commenced, all these factors need to be in place first, including parent notification if a child accesses our programme at school.

We (staff) deliver workshops online to small cohorts. We offer additional 1-1’s for pupils needing further coaching or therapy. When 1-1’s are accessed, pupils are assessed so that we can observe their needs and make the right choices to mitigate any risk.

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Students accessing therapy:

The usual safety nets apply: if a student is psychologically unstable and at risk, then GP and CAMHS would need to be involved in their care. Our therapists carry out an assessment at the start of the therapy and we would expect to liaise with the school with safeguarding issues and to advise them of more serious conditions that are identified.  We (therapists and coaches) have been in practice for a long time and our practice has involved face to face and online.

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👉🏽What happens when there is a bigger picture in the background like trauma or there are comorbidities/co-occurrences like neurodiversity? How would this be identified, as it would need to be part of the therapeutic process?

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Our therapists work from a trauma informed perspective, and we believe that for individuals of any age, treating serious body image concerns must include identifying and addressing trauma and attending to the challenges of neurodiversity and how this impacts the individual and their recovery. Our therapist blend a highly relational interaction with psychoeducation.

 

 

👉🏽If they had a mentally unwell young person what would they do?  

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If we identified that a young person was unwell, we would follow safeguarding procedures to ensure that the young person was not at risk. For example, at the end of a session we would contact the first line safeguarding officer in the school or their parents to inform them of our immediate concerns. In terms of working with this client group it is essential that the school and or parents are aware of their local mental health services and have information about how to access this in an emergency, which is set up before our work commences. 

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👉🏽My only concern would be that body image and eating disorder issues are difficult to address, and if not delivered safely, may leave young people in a vulnerable position.

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We do everything we can to ensure that pupils/clients are supported throughout. This means that if a pupil is struggling with their mental health, we offer on-line 1-1’s and work with parents and schools to ensure that they are aware of any risks and what should be done to support this this person. We rely heavily on collaboration with the school and parents (where possible) so that any risk is managed appropriately by us, the school, parents, GP’s, CAMHS and A&E where possible. This means that we would expect a school and parent to have safeguarding measures in place if needed and we support parents to set this up if our service is accessed at home. We can share notes of each person (as long as they are signed by that person, to give consent) and each person having 1-1 sessions, signs a form stating that if there is any ‘risk’ to this person, we have a duty of care to protect them and break confidentiality with the appropriate parties.

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👉🏽There are is nothing about referring on or connection with ED service, if they had a unwell young person what would they do? 

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We are predominantly a training and coaching service. Our programme is used for early intervention and early stages of eating disorders and body dysmorphic disorder. Our coaches and therapists are linked to professional bodies and memberships that give the credential that they need in the fields in which they work. While we work solely with body image difficulties, we do not claim to be the best experts in the world but we are experts in therapy and coaching, with lived experience as well as intensive training on eating disorders and BDD. We know that we hold a map that can lead a child to recovery. This is part due to our own lived experiences but mainly due to our credentials and experience as a coach or therapist. All staff on the frontline (coaches/therapists) undergo training for eating disorders and body dysmorphic disorder so that they are up to date with legislation, new topics and the DSM5 (American version)/ ICD8 (English version).

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👉🏽There is nothing about their programmes being evaluated or being in the process of. 

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All content for BIC (body image coach) has been created and checked by accredited professionals in the field of mental health. This includes: (and is not an exhaustive list) coaches, therapists, ex teachers and staff members from a mental health charity. To make sure that our content gets results, we ran pilots with schools and individuals that were willing to take part with our project. Schools and individuals that were having body image issues. We received excellent feedback from both schools, pupils and individual support, some of which you can find here, on TRUST PILOT

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👉🏽What’s the youngest age you can work with, with body image difficulties in school?

Our workshops start at age 11 but that doesn’t mean we can’t support someone younger. Ideally, we work with ages 11 and above. We would assess each child on an individual basis.

👉🏿can we use your programme as an early intervention before eating disorders and BDD get out of hand?

Yes absolutely and this is what we advocate. Our service raises awareness and pinpoints who needs support, as well as heals.

👉🏻When is the best time to use your service?

We work best as an early intervention or when students are waiting for treatment through CAMHS or NHS

👉How much do you cost?

The full programme per person is largely subsidised at £305 of 19 hours of support over 6 weeks and we are open to working with your budget if you are working with low income. Therapy is separate to our programme and needs to be discussed with our therapists as we have no control over their prices, however, we know they are competitive,  keen to support your young person and open to price discussion.

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👉 Can parents access and refer?

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Yes. We want to make this as cost effective as possible for you and we have options, so let’s have a chat.

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👉 What are your waiting times like?

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Our awareness workshop is instant and FREE.

For the full body image programme, it is fairly quick and we can start supporting pupils within days or weeks of contacting us. For 1-1 therapy, it depends on our waiting list but we aim to support you as soon as possible and our waiting list is never more than a few weeks to 2 months.

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👉 Can I attend the workshops with my child at home?

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If you are a parent/carer and you are accessing this service for your child at home, yes, you can but only if permission is granted by your child first.

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👉 Do you work with suicide ideation?

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We have a duty of care to make sure that all children are safe, and we would take measures to do so, if a young person presented as high risk. This does not mean that we work with high-risk young people and after we have ensured that a person is safe, we would signpost to the appropriate service as our service is not for high risk young people. That being said, we can work along side a service that is working with someone to ensure their safety is met as this would be their priority. Our priority is to support a young person in their healing from body image difficulties.

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👉 Do you work with self-harm?

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Our service does not provide support for self-harm, but we can work alongside another service that does support a young person with self-harm.

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👉 What if I am a parent or school and cannot afford the full programme?

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Because we are a ‘not for profit’ service, we are able to accommodate your needs. Please speak to a member of staff to see if we can subsidise our service for you. We will do everything we can to support you, if it is possible.

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👉 What happens to all the data that you collect around young people?

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We evaluate our data so that we can find out if schools are influenced by any trends such as the ‘Andrew Tate’ videos. We hold all data for several years before it is archived or deleted. All data is strictly for our data purposes only and is not shared or sold.

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👉 What makes you the best to go to?

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Between us, we have over 40 years experience in body image disorders, as well as lived experience, which is why we are so passionate to support young people. With this lived experience and as qualified  and experienced staff, we feel that we can bring the best service to schools and parents. We are currently the only service to offer a full body image programme in animation.

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👉 Will your service ever be free?

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As you are reading this, we may have been granted funding so please get in touch!