Hosted by Mental Health Specialist Group
Our event will explore a range of topics including emotional eating, pharmacological treatments for obesity, dietetic considerations within gender diverse populations, gut-directed hypnotherapy, and meal support within eating disorders. Bringing together a diverse programme of expert speakers, the event aims to support learning, reflection, and clinical practice development. Further details of confirmed speakers can be found below, with additional speakers to be announced.
Join colleagues and experts from across the field for a day of learning, collaboration, and professional development focused on advancing mental health practice.
Speakers
- Fern Smith, Lead Specialist Eating Disorders Dietitian, Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust presenting on Weight gain, overeating and obesity in the PD community: Unrecognised but highly dangerous forms of self-harm
More about Fern - Fern is an eating disorders dietitian, specialising in subclinical eating disorders within a mental health hub facility. Fern attended a year-long personality disorder course with Garreth Burke
Session overview - An opportunity to learn about eating-related self-harm behaviours in the personality disorder community, and considerations as a dietitian working with this patient cohort
- Garreth Burke, Lead Forensic Dietitian, Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust presenting on Working with Personality Disorder: Weight Management, Unhelpful Dynamics & the PD Toolkit
More about Garrerth - Garreth works in forensics at Oxford Health and is a committee member of the Forensics Sub-Group, where he holds the roles of treasurer and research officer. Garreth also co-authored the recently published Toolkit for Dietitians Working with People with Personality Disorder.
Session overview - A talk about personality disorder and its different traits and behaviours, and how they relate to our work as dietitians. The recently published Toolkit for Dietitians Working with People with Personality Disorder will also be discussed.
- Tasha Hedges, Gastroenterology Dietitian & CBT Hypnotherapist presenting on Hypnotherapy for IBS and Disorders of the Gut-Brain Interaction: Evidence and Clinical Application
More about Tasha - Tasha Hedges is a former NHS Gastroenterology Dietitian, CBT hypnotherapist, and yoga teacher specialising in gut-brain interaction disorders such as IBS. In her private practice, she integrates dietetic advice, with evidence-based mind-body approaches, such as gut-directed hypnotherapy and CBT, to support the management of IBS, with reduced focus on dietary restriction.
Session overview - This session explores the role of gut-directed hypnotherapy, and CBT, in the management of gut-brain interaction disorders such as IBS. It will outline the evidence base, recent guideline developments, and how this approach can be integrated into dietetic clinical practice. The talk will also consider practical and ethical considerations, including safe implementation within an largely unregulated training landscape.
- Henna Khan, Specialist Dietitian in mental health and eating disorders presenting on The Blue-Plate project
More about Henna - As a specialist dietitian in mental health and eating disorders, I help individuals navigate complex nutritional and psychological challenges with supporting them through evidence‑based, compassionate nutrition care. My practice centres on empowering clients to achieve sustainable recovery and improved wellbeing.
Session overview - The session will provide a brief introduction to the role and relevance of nutrition in dementia care, highlighting key challenges and barriers to adequate intake and the impact of nutrition on health outcomes. The session will then present a recent project introducing coloured crockery to support nutritional intake
- Alex Larkin, Highly Specialist Dietitian for Adults with Learning Disabilities, South West London and St George’s Mental Health NHS Trust presenting on Nutritional Screening of Adults with Learning Disabilities
More about Alex - Alex has over 10 years of clinical experience in community dietetics and has spent most of her career working with people with learning disabilities. Alex is currently completing a research project at the University of Plymouth and her research focusses on nutritional screening in the learning disability population.
Session overview - In this session Alex will share preliminary findings from her research project which explored learning disability specialist dietitian’s views of nutritional screening tools and how these could be improved to better meet the needs of people with learning disabilities.
- Mr Grey Fidanza, Band 5 Community Dietitian, Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust presenting on Dietetic considerations when supporting transgender populations
More about Grey - Grey Fidanza is a Community Dietitian working in Primary Care, with a special interest in tackling health inequalities - including transgender healthcare in the context of Dietetics.
Session overview - This session will provide an overview of dietetic considerations when supporting transgender populations. It will provide scene setting around transgender populations and healthcare, inclusive language and the importance of trust and rapport. It will also consider dietetic assessment factors for transgender patients undergoing gender affirming treatments such as within anthropometry, biochemistry and the application of energy equations. The session will aim to contextualise care considerations within mental health recognising how barriers to service access can influence health outcomes for trans populations.
- Mrs Nayran Muniz-Owen, Specialist Mental Health Dietitian, West London NHS Trust presenting on Dietetic considerations when supporting transgender populations
More about Nayran - Nayran Muniz-Owen is a mental health dietitian with a strong interest in complex cases involving dietetics and severe psychiatric illness.
- Jo Smith, Senior Clinical Academic, Tees, Esk and Wear Valleys NHS Foundation Trust presenting on Emotional Eating and diet-related long-term conditions
More about Jo - Jo currently works as a Senior Clinical Academic in a joint post between Tees, Esk and Wear Valleys NHS Foundation Trust and Teesside University. She is joint Chief Investigator on several NIHR research grants and has specialist interests in food insecurity, obesity, eating behaviour and arts-based interventions.
https://research.tees.ac.uk/en/persons/jo-smith/
Session overview - This session will provide an evidence-based overview of Emotional Eating, it’s relationship with diet-related long-term conditions, and interventions that are effective in identification and management of Emotional Eating.
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Benjamin Richardson, Clinical Lead for the Specialist Weight Management Service (SWMS), University Hospitals Tees presenting on GLP-1/GIP RA medications. Core Information and Nutritional Implications in Adult Weight Management.
More about Ben - Ben Richardson qualified as a dietitian in 2011 after graduating from London Metropolitan University. He had an unorthodox start to a dietetic career with varied NHS and non-NHS roles. In 2015 he became the Clinical Lead for the Specialist Weight Management Service (SWMS) based in Teesside. The SWMS has grown and developed into a national leading service for multidisciplinary weight management care. In 2023 he qualified as a non-medical prescriber which is used in the SWMS Clinical Lead role; this involves the prescribing of GLP-1 receptor agonist type medications.
Session overview: - Background of GLP-1/GIP RA medications, their history, and a brief overview of how they work.
- Core information about these drugs including drug name, Brand names, effectiveness, and access on the NHS for the indication of weight management.
- How a patient may feel on these medications.
- Nutritional advice for patients taking these medications
- Emma Morgan, Freelance Eating Disorders dietitian presenting on From personal experience to professional practice: Returning to dietetics through the lens of eating disorders
More about Emma - After 13 years working in the NHS as a Diabetes dietitian I decided it was time for a break. I honestly thought I would never return to dietetics and didn’t look back for nearly 10 years. Then my world was turned upside down when my daughter developed AN in 2023 and I didn’t know how to help. Roll on 3 years, 420 hours of the RTP process to re-register with the HCPC and a huge amount of lived experience of supporting ED recovery and I am now back, working as an ED dietitian, supporting mostly young people and their families in a truly compassionate way.
Session overview - Emma shares her journey of stepping away from the profession before returning to practice as an eating disorders dietitian following her family experience of Anorexia. Reflecting on the intersection of personal and professional identity, the session will explore how lived experience can shape compassionate care.
Cost
- Mental Health Specialist Group Member - £160
- BDA Member - £190
- Non Member - £220
- Student member - £25
Admin code: SLA
