Hi Olivia! Let’s start with how would you explain the essence of the befriending service to a friend? 

“The befriending service is a much needed and valuable service which pairs someone with past experience of an ED with someone who is currently experiencing one. It’s a friendly and safe environment for the befriendee to talk about what they’re going through with somebody who can truly relate.”

Do you feel the befriending service might have helped your own recovery? 

“I feel that I would really have benefited from this service if I’d had it when I was ill. I experienced Anorexia Nervosa throughout the entirety of my teenage years and struggled with restriction, purging and exercise addiction. For me, my ED was about control when other areas of my life felt out of my control and served as a coping mechanism. In recovery, I very much felt alone in my experiences and think it would have been great to feel understood by somebody else who knew what an ED was like.”

How do you think having a befriender might have helped you the most? 

“I think the understanding of a befriender would have been vital and also the ability to see that somebody else had come through the other side of an ED, as this was never really spoken about as a possibility in my recovery.” 

What is the main thing you feel you can offer a befriendee? 

“I feel that the main thing I can offer as a befriender is a listening ear and a supportive, safe space. Coming from a place of understanding and assuring the befriendee that full recovery is possible for them is also very important.”

–