"A huge thank you for giving us our daughter back"

My teenage daughter was referred to Skye House for Anorexia and General Anxiety disorder in Jan 2017 by Coatbridge & Bellshill CAMHS. Although she wasn't dangerously underweight they recognised the need for additional support and her team of Dietician Mary, Charlotte (psychologist) and Dr  Sinclair (psychiatrist) agreed that Skye House was the best option.

The care she has received here from her team; Consultant Dr Kathuria, Dr Acquaviva, Case Manager Kirsten , Dietician Donna, Psychologist Alia, OT Naomi, Speech & Language Yvonne, and School Support Ann has been fantastic. Not only have they provided my daughter will all the care and support she has needed, and a food plan to follow to restore her to a healthy weight; they have also been a huge help to myself and my husband. We have all learned so much over these last few months, and we feel confident to be able to manage this at home now.

I also need to thank the nursing and support staff in Harris and Mull Wards. There were some difficult days in Harris and the nurses were amazing, calming her down and re-assuring her that she would get through this. Special thanks to Cheryl, Shirley and Carol Ann who spent a lot of time with her and us in the first few weeks. Also since she moved to Mull, Carolyn and Scott have been fantastic with her and us through some stressful situations.

I am part of an online forum for Eating Disorder Parents and I realise through reading other people’s stories that we have been very lucky with our CAMHS, CITT and Skye House support. Elsewhere in the country families have not been so lucky and have had horrendous outcomes, often resulting in children being sent home early before really being well enough, or worse still, not admitted at all because they didn’t reach the 75% weight for height criteria that seems to be favoured by a lot of CAMHS before they agree admission. If my daughter had reached as low a weight as that to qualify for admission I doubt very much that she would be able to be discharged tomorrow and we would be in a far worse situation, requiring far longer term care. This needs to be looked at over the whole country and there is a lot of education required regarding eating disorders and criteria for admission.

Again a huge thank you to the team at Skye House for giving us our daughter back: ) 