To address the very high rates of eating disorders among autistic people, and in partnership with people with lived-living experience, UTS researchers have developed an online clinician training program to improve neuro-affirming eating disorder care.
Improving neuro-affirming eating disorder care
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UTS PhD researcher and social worker Colleen Alford being awarded Allied Health Professional of the Year in the 2025 Sydney Children's Hospitals Network Allied Health Awards, pictured with CEO Cathryn Cox
Created in collaboration with autistic co-designers, clinicians, communication and IT specialists, the first-of-its-kind program received support from the 2025 UTS Collaboration Scheme and was conceptualised by PhD researcher Colleen Alford.
Addressing a clinical gap
Colleen is a social worker and family therapist who has been working at the Sydney Children's Hospitals Network Eating Disorders Service for over 20 years. Having focused for the past eight years on neurodivergence and eating disorders, she noticed there was very little information or research on this issue.
“I had a growing desire to fill some of this research gap and look at ways to improve eating disorder care and treatment experiences for neurodivergent children, adolescents, and their families,” Colleen explained.
As part of her PhD at the UTS Graduate School of Health, Colleen undertook a qualitative study in 2025 exploring the paediatric eating disorder experiences of autistic people and parents.
“It was clear that autistic people are misunderstood by health professionals and eating disorder services, which in turn disrupts identity, is a barrier to recovery, and adds a burden of self-advocacy,” Colleen said.
“Through the study, I met many amazing people who wanted to contribute to improving eating disorder treatment for neurodivergent people, and so we formed a co-design team.”
I had a growing desire to fill some of this research gap and look at ways to improve eating disorder care and treatment experiences for neurodivergent children, adolescents, and their families.
Guided by lived and living experience, the co-design team rapidly grew, attracting strong support from a broad network of collaborators, including researchers from UTS and Western Sydney University, and clinicians from the Children’s Hospital at Westmead and the Sydney Children’s Hospitals Network.
“We want to ensure that as many health clinicians as possible can access this training, understand more about neurodivergence and eating disorders, and appreciate what it really means to provide neuro-affirming eating disorder care,” said Colleen, who expects the research outputs to lead to future funding applications to develop further training materials and resources.
A codesigned approach
Working together, the team identified a need for accessible, on-demand training for health professionals on neuro-affirming eating disorder care.
Associate Professor Deb Mitchison from the UTS Faculty of Health said that embedding lived experience in the development of clinical resources is critical, particularly when developing clinical resources for marginalised groups who have differing clinical needs.
“Historically, neurodivergent people with eating disorders have neither been consulted nor invited to contribute to the design of treatment programs. Treatment experiences and outcomes are much poorer for autistic people and others as a result,” she said.
“The vast majority of 'evidence-based' research and treatment methods are from a neuronormative or non-intersectional perspective,” added Lindsay Snell, a lived-living experience carer and consumer involved in the project.
“Neurodivergent individuals are at increased risk of harm because current treatment models don’t account for things such as complex sensory differences.”
Historically, neurodivergent people with eating disorders have neither been consulted nor invited to contribute to the design of treatment programs. Treatment experiences and outcomes are much poorer for autistic people and others as a result.
The partnerships formed with the lived experience community, and with the National Eating Disorder Collaboration, mean that UTS can support a process of having lived-living experience play a pivotal role in shaping how clinicians are trained.
“This will ultimately lead to the development of a workforce that is more confident and able to provide tailored eating disorder care to meet diverse needs of clients,” Deb said.
Congratulations to all involved in this collaborative research that positions UTS as a hub of expertise in clinical eating disorders research and treatment, and a partner of choice for the eating disorder sector more broadly.
Meet the project team
Project Leads
- Colleen Alford, PhD Candidate, UTS Graduate School of Health, social worker and family therapist in the Sydney Children's Hospitals Network
- Original research co-design group - Mikayla Check, Melanie Eggins, Majella Jones, Gemma Van Kampen, Bexta Noonan, Stella Porta, and Lindsay Snell
UTS Collaborators
- Associate Professor Jo River, UTS Faculty of Health
- Associate Professor Deborah Mitchison, UTS Faculty of Health, Graduate School of Health
- Associate Professor Liz Giuffre, UTS Faculty of Design and Society
- Professor Elise van den Hoven, UTS Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology, School of Computer Science
External collaborators
- Associate Professor Andrew Wallis, Children's Hospital at Westmead, The Sydney Children's Hospitals Network
- Dr Katherine Knight, The Sydney Children's Hospitals Network
What’s next?
- For further information about this project contact Colleen Alford by email.
- Learn more about the UTS Collaboration Scheme and other internal UTS grants and schemes.