Eating disorder services in New Zealand are currently stretched to breaking point with children as young as eight on waitlists up to six months long.
With some eating disorders having a mortality rate of 10 percent, advocates say more funding is a matter of life and death.
Of the $1.9b allocated to mental health in 2019's Wellbeing Budget, only $15m was spent on specialist eating disorder services last year.
One clinical psychologist working at a specialist eating disorder clinic in Auckland told Newshub Nation they’d need at least twice the number of trained professionals to meet the current levels of demand.
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Do you need to speak to someone about mental health issues, or an eating disorder?
Free call 0800 2 EDANZ for support and advice for eating disorders.
Free call or text 1737 any time for support from a trained counsellor from the Mental Health Foundation.
