beat Cymru

beat is delighted to announce that work has begun on beat Cymru – the first pan-Wales eating disorders charity. We hope the project will offer support to sufferers, families and carers right across Wales.

The beat Cymru webpage is currently in development. Please check back here for updates. We look forward to bringing you information and news about the project, as well as information about how you can get involved.

For more information on beat Cymru, you can contact the project staff.

Laura Hislop (Project Officer South Wales) - l.hislop@b-eat.co.uk; 07854 239661

T.B.C  (Project Officer North Wales and Mid Wales) Please contact Laura Hislop if require info for the North Wales and Mid Wales area

Helen Miller (Project Manager) - h.miller@b-eat.co.uk; 07854 239657

A Survey into attitudes to eating disorders across Wales

Research commissioned from Beaufort Research by beat Cymru

Over 500 people from Wales were surveyed by telephone about their attitudes to and awareness of eating disorders.

Key findings:

• Few spontaneously associate eating disorders with mental health disorders, and even when prompted, 1 in 5 do not think of eating disorders as a mental health issue at all
• A significant proportion believe eating disorders are a lifestyle choice, are brought on by sufferers themselves and are a teenager fad - this was said by a particularly high proportion of older people and men
• Approximately a quarter believe that eating disorders are caused by diets going wrong and people only get eating disorders beacuse they want to lose weight
• Almost 9 out of 10 agree that 'most people find it hard to understand why others suffer from eating disorders'
• Only one third think that people with eating disorders are more likely to die than people with other psychiatric disorders
• Awareness of support is currently very low and almost 9 out of 10 agree more support should be available