Eating disorders — including anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, ARFID (avoidant/restrictive food intake disorder), and binge eating disorder — have the highest mortality rate of any mental health condition. New Zealand has significant unmet need for eating disorder treatment. This guide covers the key funding sources.
EDANZ is the primary eating disorder organisation:
- Patient support: Information, resources, and peer support
- Carer support: Support for families caring for someone with eating disorder
- Advocacy: Treatment access and funding advocacy
- Helpline: Support line for people with eating disorders
Health system eating disorder treatment:
- Specialist eating disorder services: Limited specialist services — primarily Auckland
- Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS): Eating disorder treatment for young people
- Adult mental health: Eating disorder in adult mental health services
- Inpatient: Acute medical and psychiatric admission for anorexia
NZ has a significant treatment gap — specialist eating disorder services are limited.
Private treatment options:
- Private clinical psychology: Gaming trusts and funders can support access
- Private dietetics: Eating disorder-informed dietitian
- Private psychiatry: Eating disorder psychiatry
Gaming trusts fund eating disorder community services:
- Four Winds Foundation: Community mental health including eating disorders
- Grassroots Trust: Community health and mental wellbeing
- Pub Charity: Community health
- Lion Foundation: Community mental health
Gaming trust eating disorder applications:
- Therapy costs for people who can't afford private treatment
- Family support groups
- EDANZ operational funding
- Peer support group costs
Lottery Community Wellbeing: Community mental health services including eating disorder support.
Eating disorder research:
- Health Research Council (HRC): Mental health research including eating disorders
- EDANZ research: Applied eating disorder research
Young people and eating disorders:
- CAMHS: Youth mental health and eating disorders
- School mental health: Early identification in schools
- Paediatric: Medical management in hospital for severe anorexia
Evidence-based treatment:
- FBT (Maudsley Approach): Family-based treatment for adolescent anorexia
- Caregiver training: Parents as key therapeutic agents
Eating disorder prevention:
- Body image programmes: School-based prevention
- Media literacy: Critical engagement with body image in media
- Sport: Athlete eating disorder prevention
Strong applications demonstrate:
- Patients supported: People with eating disorders accessing treatment or support
- Wait times: Reducing time to eating disorder treatment
- Families: Carer support and family-based treatment
- Youth: Young people — highest incidence group
- Recovery: Outcome measurement — weight restoration, psychological recovery
- Prevention: Body image and eating disorder prevention programmes
- Equity: Eating disorders affect all demographics — equity in access
- Research: Evidence for treatment approaches
Tahua's grants management platform helps eating disorder organisations manage grant applications across Te Whatu Ora, gaming trusts, Lottery, and health foundations, tracking treatment access, recovery, and community support outcomes.