Eating Disorder Service | Celebrating BWC Spirit

By Dr Sheryllin McNeil, Principal Clinical Psychologist, Specialist Eating Disorder Service Team

What was your experience of the pandemic?

The Specialist Eating Disorder Service is made up of administrators, assistant psychologists, CBT therapists, clinical psychologists, clinical support workers, dietitians, family therapists, psychiatrists, and specialist nurses who were all extremely busy during this time with increased referrals and patients arriving in a very poor state.

We had never been so busy, not stopped for breath. Continuing to work at full capacity and continuing to provide equal service to pre-pandemic more flexibly and creatively.

I joined the team during the pandemic. Before this I was working on an inpatient unit. It was quite a big difference in terms of personal protective equipment, visiting patients in their homes and working from home.

Being thrown into the unknown at the drop of a hat, panic and fear. Leaving an office full of friends to work virtually.

It has been a challenging time for both patients and the team, but as a new member of staff, it is rare to see a service pull together and maintain morale in such a way that makes you want to come to work each day.

What was the hardest part?

The initial transition to online therapy – the first week I relied on phone therapy and it was hard not to be able to ‘see’ people.

Working from home and not having that face-to-face connection to the team but also to family and friends

Working from home has been difficult and not having team members to talk to in the office to run ideas past or discuss difficult cases. Getting set up on the system to work from home was also difficult.

The uncertainty and not knowing what was going to happen next – I like routine.

There is the potential for the team to feel fragmented and some team members have not had the opportunity to meet each other in real life.

Completing a placement from home was difficult.

Technical difficulties!  Relying on the Internet has made working a challenge.

Running a service in uncertainty – complete service redesign in the context of more referrals than ever before.

Hard to access all important peer support and clinical thinking to help people manage the crisis care management of complex patients.

Hard to keep track of things – Lots and lots of emails!

Hard to manage a work-life balance.  Working from home is difficult – children!

Hard to remember to stop, and hard to maintain boundaries around self-care and accessibility. “Permission to end the work day”

Missing the drive home transition and wind down time.  

Zoom/Teams Fatigue!  (“You’re on MUTE!”)

How did you cope?

With very rapid adaptation to online video therapy.

Maintaining good communication through virtual contact. Humour and flexibility. Realising that we are doing a difficult job in exceptional circumstances.

Remembering that I am luckier than most, that I get to keep working and at least keep a routine.

Created a home routine – I still got up at the same time every day, created my own home workspace and attended huddles virtually daily to keep a connection to the team – we actually see each other more now than we did before the pandemic which is great.

Morning huddles, reflective practice and weekly MDT meetings are a great way to maintain team morale and team spirit. Thought for the day and asking how each of us is at the beginning of the day is helpful and inspiring.

What did you learn?

To adapt to online and engage children and young people and their families creatively.

To adapt to efficient and effective homeworking.

That we are a close team who are resilient and flexible.

I can be more flexible and creative in problem-solving and having good communication and a supportive team is key to any working situation.

I learned how resilient people are (especially young people).

That I need to look after myself more and put my children first and that SEDS as a team could move mountains. Also, I can get more work done in a day working from home than I can in the office.

Throughout the pandemic, I have learned that looking after your own mental and physical health is key, as well as the wellbeing of your colleagues. Without this awareness, providing the level of service that is required for our patients is hard.

How do you think it changed the team?

We have all learnt to work autonomously, creatively and flexibly whilst staying connected via huddles and reflective practice groups.

It has brought us together and made us stronger. Through virtual meetings and groups, I think we have seen more of each other. It has made us more creative and not afraid to change or make changes.

I feel that it made the team closer in the sense that even though we were all working from home and experiencing remote meetings etc, it was a shared experience. We got to talk openly about this in reflective practice every fortnight and I feel it helped keep us all on the same page and realise we aren’t alone.

We realised that we are very adaptable and that with flexibility we were able to achieve much more. I think we were very rigid and structured before the pandemic which wasn’t a bad thing but I feel we have a little more room to breathe now.

The team really pulled together and worked well, the team support and spirit was and is really refreshing, especially in a time of such unknowns and distress. The clients were really struggling, and referrals have increased, but the team continue to go over and above to offer outstanding support.

The team has offered a full programme of support to clients and adapted a different new way of working.

As a new member of staff, I can see that it has brought the team closer together and more determined to provide the best service possible to our patients.

Beyond your team, who has inspired you during the pandemic?

The patients in their willing to trust the new processes and ways of working.

My children have worked diligently and autonomously during the pandemic whilst my hours of work have been intensive and ever-increasing.

Staff in ITU facing the pandemic face on.

The elderly with their resilience and stoicism.

Every single young person on my caseload has inspired me. I have seen them battle illness, isolation, stress, uncertainty, cancelling of exams, reintroduction of exams, difficult family dynamics, no social support and then a lack of face-to-face appointments.

My children! They had their bad days but were so resilient and just got on with it even though one minute they were home, then back at school with no friends – it must have been so confusing for them.

Nursing, medical and care staff on the front line.

Those in my family who have been hit hard by COVID-19 and have bounced back.