Nutritional Support

Our Nutritional Support helps rebuild a healthy relationship with food at every stage of recovery. 

What is Nutritional Support?

Our Accredited Nutritional Therapists are here to support you at every stage of your recovery. They work closely with you and your wider care team to help you build a healthier relationship with food. Taking a compassionate, person-centred approach, they offer tailored advice based on your unique needs.

Our team has experience supporting people with a wide range of eating disorders, including Anorexia, Bulimia, Binge Eating Disorder, ARFID, Diabulimia, Orthorexia, and more.

How does Nutritional Support work?

Our Nutritional Support is available both as part of our 10-session One-to-One Support journey and as a standalone service.

Whether you’re working with us more broadly or just need focused support around food and nutrition, our in-house Nutrition team is here to help. Sessions provide practical, compassionate psychoeducation to build understanding, confidence, and motivation in your relationship with food.

Nutritional Therapy sessions may include:

  • Identifying nutritional imbalances and correcting them
  • Debunking food myths
  • Education about different nutrients and food groups
  • Personalised recommendations of beneficial foods
  • Meal and snack ideas
  • Exploring different types of hunger
  • Practical strategies to encourage behavioural change and reduce distress around food

Who is Nutritional Support suitable for? 

Our Nutritional Support service is suitable for anyone aged 5 and above. Parents and carers are welcome to join sessions when appropriate, especially for younger service users. We support individuals at any stage of recovery, including those currently receiving treatment and those looking for help post-treatment.

Our team is experienced in supporting people affected by a wide range of eating disorders, including:

  • Anorexia Nervosa (AN)
  • Bulimia Nervosa (BN)
  • Binge Eating Disorder (BED)
  • Other Specified Feeding and Eating Disorders (OSFED)
  • Avoidant/Restrictive Food Intake Disorder (ARFID)
  • Diabulimia (Type 1 Diabetes with Disordered Eating – T1DE)
  • Orthorexia (an unhealthy obsession with healthy eating)

Whether you’re just beginning your recovery journey or continuing it, our Nutritional Therapists are here to help you rebuild a healthier relationship with food, at your own pace.

Nutritional Coaching has given me the help and support I need with nutrition, which I can now take into my life and use to recover hopefully.

Service User , First Steps ED
Access to our services depends on your location—some areas are funded and free to access, while others are available through our highly subsidised Private Practice.
Through our Private Practice sessions are £45 per hour.

Nutrition sessions are available online, ensuring they are easily accessible to all.

Compassionate
You don’t need a diagnosis or formal referral to access support—just a readiness to take the first step.
Important:  Please note that First Steps ED services are for people with mild to moderate eating disorder and comorbid mental health issues. We do not provide a crisis or emergency service.  If you need help for a mental health crisis or emergency, please visit the NHS website , contact your GP or for immediate assistance call 999.

Next steps

If you’re ready to take the first step towards recovery, please submit a referral using the button below. If you have any other questions or concerns, please don’t hesitate to contact us on 0300 1021685 or info@firststepsed.co.uk.

We’re here to support you every step of the way. Referrals can either be made by yourself, by a parent/ carer, or professional support worker. After making a referral, we aim to make contact within 10 workings days.

Don’t worry if you’re not yet ready to work with us in a one-to-one setting, take a look at our online self-guided resource that you can work through in your own time.

“My Specialist Support Officer has been absolutely brilliant. He has been incredibly supportive and has helped me through some very testing times. He has given me multiple, useful, and sustainable strategies to help combat my eating disorder. I’d like to thank him from the bottom of my heart for everything he has done for me.”

Service User, First Steps ED

“This service has made an incredible difference to my recovery. The management report that I received was fantastic, and it gave me a space to speak openly, honestly, and freely. Honestly, the experience has changed my life, and I am incredibly grateful for the support that I have received from First Steps.”

Service User, First Steps ED

“I don’t find myself ruminating on things anymore, which is fantastic. Thank you for all of your help, I find myself going back to our conversations whenever I need to remind myself of what’s really important. You really helped me a lot and I feel my quality of life is so much better because of it, I’m confident you are doing the same for others too.”

Service User, First Steps ED

“It’s a valuable resource for support in a comfortable, non pressurising environment, giving me something to come away with, advice to think about and apply into practice.”

Service User, First Steps ED

“It made me realise that other people are experiencing the same as me which made me feel not alone and seeing others also try to recover motivated me to do the same.”

Service User, First Steps ED

“I really like how people interact in the chat and I am able to relate to things other people are struggling with. It makes me feel less alone.”

Service User, First Steps ED

“I thoroughly enjoy the sessions and find them extremely helpful – it makes me feel less alone in all of this.”

Service User, First Steps ED
“It’s provided a constant reminder and push to keep being active in recovery and it makes me feel less alone when I’m struggling.”
Service User, First Steps ED