Still time to sign up for La Trobe Wodonga's eating disorder treatment program

Spaces are still available in a pilot project offering community-based treatment to people with mild to moderate eating disorders on the Border and North East.

The hope is, if it's successful, this innovative project could be rolled out on a larger scale in rural and regional communities to address an escalating health crisis.

La Trobe' clinical and health psychologist Professor Leah Brennan said there were still spaces for people to join the program over the next week.

She encouraged people with disordered eating or who were feeling distressed about their eating or weight to pick up the phone and talk to the team on standby.

Dr Brennan said even though eating disorders were complex mental health disorders, there was really effective treatment available for the majority of people.

Unfortunately those treatments were not always readily available in the community and less than a quarter of people sought treatment, she said.

Devastatingly, people often wait decades to seek help.

For example, people with bulimia often delay seeking treatment for an average of eight years while people with a binge eating problem wait 10 years before they try to get help, Dr Brennan reported.

That means some people are waiting far longer than that.

"This is particularly concerning given we have cost-effective, empirically supported eating disorder interventions demonstrating remission in 65 to 70 per cent of participants," she explained.

She recalls one client, who turned 50, coming to her for treatment and lamenting she had not sought help 20 years previously.

"She said it would have changed the trajectory of her life and urged me to tell her story in the hope it would encourage others to seek help sooner," Dr Brennan recalled.

"That is just so sad when we do have good treatment options that work for up to 70 per cent of people."

A group of eight provisional psychologists began specialist training at La Trobe Wodonga in July and have been screening prospective participants ahead of starting the 10-session treatment program - in person and via tele-health - which will conclude before Christmas.

Tahlia Paterson, who grew up in Albury, is in her final years of training as a psychologist, and welcomed the chance to join the pilot study to better understand the complexities of eating disorders.

Now based in Melbourne, she says she has known people close to her with eating disorders and recognises that issues with body image, dieting and anxiety around food, weight and shape "come up quite often for a lot of people".

In talking with people during screening interviews, Ms Paterson said the over-riding theme was "the sense of a loss of control over eating".

She said there had been a mix of people seeking help, highlighting the fact that eating disorders did not discriminate.

"First and foremost it is so valuable to hear people's lived experience," she said.

"It helps break down any assumptions we might have about eating disorders - they can affect all ages and genders across a lifespan."

Ms Paterson urged anyone concerned about their eating to reach out to determine their eligibility for the program, which she said was being delivered in "a warm and empathetic way".

The former James Fallon High School student believes the Wodonga-based study is particularly important because it provides specialist training and skills to practitioners in communities where they are so desperately needed.

"We know there can be barriers to treatment and a lack of services in rural and regional communities," she said.

"We also know that if people train locally they are more likely to stay local."

The pilot is being overseen by Dr Brennan and senior psychologist Kim Haebich, who is renowned on the Border for her experience in treating people with eating disorders.

The ED10 study will examine the effectiveness of providing cognitive behaviour therapy and guided self-help in a rural and regional setting.