SWEDA: “We are here to support anyone affected by eating disorders in the South and West of the UK, that is our mission”
- Mar 10
- 6 min read
The impact of SWEDA & their importance to the #DeInfluencingDietCulture Campaign
“Happiness does not come from being a particular shape. It comes from self-acceptance”
Nerissa Shaw, Clinical Lead at SWEDA
Written by Charlotte Beattie
Content Guidance: discusses themes of disordered eating, mental health and body image.
Who are SWEDA?
SWEDA are an eating disorder charity that “are here to support anyone affected by eating disorders in the South and West of the UK”.
I interviewed SWEDA’s clinical lead- Nerissa Shaw- as part of my campaign research to gather insight into how the charity provides support and how their research shows the significance of social media’s influence over body image and potentially disordered eating behaviours.
“We are here to support anyone affected by eating disorders in the South and West of the UK”
Nerissa Shaw, Clinical Lead at SWEDA
#DeInfluencingDietCulture is working alongside SWEDA as a key stakeholder for activating change by providing resources and help for the student community at the heart of the campaign who may be struggling with their body image or disordered eating behaviours. In a SWEDA survey from last month on young people, mental health and support networks- 25% said they find internet sources like social media and support groups helpful for their mental health. This shows the importance of creating #DeInfluencingDietCulture as an online community for women and students alike.
SWEDA can help you if “you might have an eating disorder or have signs and symptoms of an eating disorder but don’t meet the criteria for specialist NHS help” as explained by Shaw. They also help those who still need further support after stopping NHS services, those who have a diagnosis but find that the NHS structure doesn’t work for them or friends and family of those living with disordered eating. Between April 2024 and March 2025, SWEDA improved disordered eating thoughts and behaviours for 100% of their young clients with 85% reporting improved wellbeing. This Impact Report data emphasises the support that SWEDA can offer for you or a friend/family member.
To ensure that support and awareness reach the mainstream- SWEDA also train organisations in order to better their resources and research on body image and eating disorders. This enables SWEDA to make a difference even when there isn’t enough funding for them to directly help those struggling. Shaw explained how they have worked with the University of Bristol and the De-Influencing Diet Culture campaign has now furthered their established relationship with Bath Spa University. Shaw highlighted the importance of working alongside university’s as “there is a lot of people who are struggling with eating disorders so sometimes being able to work with the organisations it is easier to work together with well-being teams to provide a better support package”.
What does success look like for SWEDA?
I asked this question to Shaw to understand the overarching ambitions for the charity and how they can track that they are on the right path. She explained that “success for us is to help as many people as possible to live their best life” and she highlighted that to SWEDA, this means “that people recover in whatever form that works for them”.
“Success for us is to help as many people as possible to live their best life.”
Nerissa Shaw, Clinical Lead at SWEDA
Another measure for success for SWEDA is “when our work is recognised”. Shaw’s example of this was their partnership with the Somerset Foundation Trust CAMHS. This partnership resulted in “reducing the time that young people have to wait for a service and meaning that people can have support even though they do not meet the criteria for CAMHS”.
Proudly, Shaw explained that “we’ve been able to create a system in Somerset where no matter where you are on the spectrum of body image issues or eating disorder issues, you can receive some help at that time”.
"We've been able to create a system in Somerset where no matter where you are on the spectrum of body image issues or eating disorder issues, you can receive some help at that time."
Nerissa Shaw, Clinical Lead at SWEDA
COVID-19s impact on those seeking help for disordered eating:
As we spoke- it became clear how COVID-19 had a significant impact on disordered eating and SWEDA’s need to help those struggling as “there was a massive surge in the number of people presenting with eating disorders” with a 200% increase in people seeking help from SWEDA since 2020. This surge was apparent as a result of “stress factors like the worry about what was going on, the control and the impact of being isolated so you turn to things that make you feel better”.
As someone who found that COVID-19 ensured I was on my phone, on social media constantly- I definitely found that the images I was scrolling through were influencing me a lot more than prior to lockdown. Therefore, I wanted to ask Shaw about whether she feels as though this has a connection to the surge in those seeking help for disordered eating. She explained that “probably the two things are connected”.
Social media’s influence on body image & mental health:
“There’s a group of people that are very predisposed towards eating disorders and it’s not right to say that social media causes them, I think social media exacerbates all of these issues, and it presents ideas that you wouldn’t normally access” continued Shaw as she thoughtfully explained the link between social media, COVID-19 and disordered eating behaviours. “It presents this idea that certain things are attainable, desirable or achievable, and they’re really not. They are very abnormal and very filtered”.
“It [social media] presents this idea that certain things are attainable, desirable or achievable, and they’re really not. They are very abnormal and very filtered”
Nerissa Shaw, Clinical Lead at SWEDA
This conversation became a turning point for my campaign when Shaw continued to discuss the mental side of social media’s impact. She explained that it depends on the mindset that you have when opening social media apps- “If you have that kind of mindset, you can very easily fall into the trap”. She continued- “if you look at a certain type of content, you will then be fed much more content which does cause a kind of cognitive dissonance where if you see something over and over again, it’s very much harder to evaluate whether it’s true”. Therefore, Shaw believes that we need to encourage “more understanding of what is happening in our brains when we are consuming social media” as it “stimulates reward centres where we try to relax and enter a kind of mediative state.”
The conclusion we came to from this discussion of social media and its impact on mental health was that we need to focus on the mindset that we go into social media with. “There needs to be more education at an early age about social media and how to take content and ask critical questions about it,” said Shaw. This is where one of #DeInfluencingDietCulture’s main ambitions came from- the importance of educating audiences on critical thinking when scrolling online to analyse the purpose behind content which Shaw suggested “is usually just for money isn’t it?”.
Beauty standards have encouraged certain content to be more profitable and the ‘meditative state’ that we enter social media scrolling in encourages us to attempt to conform to these standards even more. So, we need to focus on asking critical questions when online and assessing the mindset that we are in when we open up apps like Instagram and TikTok to separate our own self worth from the people we see online.
“There needs to be more education at an early age about social media and how to take content and ask critical questions about it.”
Nerissa Shaw, Clinical Lead at SWEDA
SWEDA- Future Aspirations & Fundraisers
Shaw and I spoke briefly about the future aims for SWEDA and she explained that the charity would like to create a service for ARFID disorder specifically and continue training for schools, colleges and GPs to understand spotting disordered behaviours early.
To help SWEDA fund all the resources and support that they offer for those affected by eating disorders and to provide them with the funding to achieve the charity’s goals and ambitions for the future then you can fundraise yourself or attend these upcoming fundraisers:
How can SWEDA help you?
Over half of young people in a SWEDA research survey from February 2026 said that they were worried that if they reached out for support, they wouldn’t get it. These respondents were worried about being a burden or being embarrassed but SWEDA are trying to encourage awareness and discussion of eating disorders and the help available to those feeling nervous to seek it. SWEDA are providing safe spaces for young people to reach out for further support- these options are available to you:
Support calls- Nerissa explained that these “could be on teams, could be on the phone, working towards some very small goals- goal focused”
Therapy- Nerissa stated that these sessions “can be quite structured- based around what somebody wants to achieve in the time that they have”
Counselling service- “the way that we do it tends to me a lot more open and less structured, so it’s up to the client to bring what they want to talk about; suitable for someone more interested in exploring the emotional side of it, or why they came to be where they are”
Finding Food Freedom group- for those living with binge eating disorder
Peer support groups- “a place for people to come and share”
NEED HELP NOW?
Call the SWEDA Mindline- 0300 330 5464
[Open 8pm-11pm every Tuesday & 11am-2pm every Sunday]
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