Abbotsford Eating Disorders - Beyond Picky Eating: Understanding Avoidant/Restrictive Food Intake Disorder (ARFID)

This session is delivered as a collaboration between NWMPHN's Right Care Right Place pilot, Mental Health Professionals Network and Eating Disorders Victoria.

Avoidant / Restrictive Food Intake Disorder (ARFID) is often misunderstood as just picky or selective eating, however its impact upon physical and mental health can be profound. In this engaging 1 hour presentation, we aim to shed light on the complexities of ARFID - from the underlying drivers to the current evidence based interventions. 

Drawing upon clinical experience and real case examples, Nourish Nurture Thrive will provide an overview of the three subtypes of ARFID, explore the most common co-morbidities, discuss medical and nutritional considerations and examine the impact of ARFID on individuals and their families. We will also provide guidance on evidence based treatment interventions and conclude with referral pathways and resources. 

Speakers

Ainsley Hudgson is a Senior Clinical Psychologist and the Director of Nourish Nurture Thrive. Ainsley has extensive experience working with people with eating disorders, including ARFID, in both public and private settings. Ainsley is committed to working authentically with clients and their families using a collaborative and trauma informed approach. 

Emma Sampimon is a Senior Dietitian and the Dietetic Team Leader at Nourish Nurture Thrive. Emma has over 16 years of experience working with Eating Disorder presentations. Emma adopts a non-diet approach in her work and is passionate about helping people build a positive relationship with food in a non-judgemental, patient and neuroaffirming way.  

Alyssa Rigoni is a Psychologist and Clinical Psychology Registrar at Nourish Nurture Thrive. Alyssa brings a warm, inclusive and accepting approach to help people make positive changes in their relationship with food whilst fostering self compassion and body acceptance along the way.

This is focused on a specific topic within eating disorders --- for foundational training, we encourage practitioners to access the free training developed by the National Eating Disorders Collaboration: https://nedc.com.au/professional-development/elearning/eating-disorder-core-skills-elearning-for-gps

More information about the Right Care Right Place pilot can be found here: https://nwmphn.org.au/news/navigating-eating-disorder-care-service-navigator/

Learning outcomes:

• Recognise the key diagnostic features of ARFID and understand how it can present differently
• Understand the key psychological and sensory drivers that drive the food avoidance
• Identify the nutritional and medical risks that are associated with ARFID
• Explore evidence based treatment approaches for psychological and nutritional care
• Gain skills to identify ARFID and provide appropriate intervention or referral recommendations