NEDC orders its five eating disorder modules the way a clinical contact unfolds, from prevention to the end of treatment
- "Eating Disorder Core Skills: eLearning for Mental Health Professionals" is published by the National Eating Disorders Collaboration, which describes itself as "an initiative of the Australian Government Department of Health and Aged Care" with its contract "administered by the Butterfly Foundation". The course is a "five-hour, self-paced and interactive online training" and costs $20.00 AUD. It is available to all NEDC members and NEDC membership is free, so twenty dollars and five hours are the whole outlay. NEDC states that the change "will help cover essential IT costs and ensure the sustainability of our education programs" and adds that it remains committed to equitable access, inviting anyone for whom the cost is a barrier, or who is upskilling a group, to get in touch about a discount.
- NEDC states the aim of the course as one ordered sequence: to equip mental health professionals "with the knowledge and skills needed to identify when a person is experiencing an eating disorder, complete a comprehensive eating disorder assessment, refer to appropriate services in the stepped system of care, and understand the components of eating disorder treatment and recovery."
- The five modules follow that same order. Module 1, Prevention, "covers the knowledge needed by mental health professionals to recognise eating disorders and prevent them in their practice". Module 2, Identification, "explores the knowledge and skills needed to identify and screen for eating disorders", screening tools included. Module 3, Initial Response, "covers the knowledge and skills needed by a mental health professional to effectively respond when a person may be experiencing an eating disorder".
- Module 4, Treatment, "provides an understanding of mental health treatment, medical care, nutrition support and stepping up care" – the four parts a mental health professional has to name when speaking to a dietitian, a physician or an inpatient service. Module 5, Psychosocial & Recovery Support, "explores supporting a person experiencing an eating disorder across the course of illness including relapse prevention and response, longstanding eating disorders and navigating the end of treatment."
- Three institutional marks sit on the course. It is "Accredited by Australian Psychological Society (APS)" and "Endorsed by Australian Association of Psychologists Inc (AAPi)". It is also "approved by NEDC as meeting the requirement for the ANZAED Eating Disorder Credential for an Introduction to Eating Disorders for Health Professionals training" – the introductory step of a credential that additionally asks a mental health professional for two years of clinical practice and for training in an evidence-based treatment model. Delivery is through the NEDC learning management system, reached from the member dashboard, and the training carries practical scenarios, videos, resources and a formal assessment.
Twenty Australian dollars and five hours buy a mental health professional a pass through eating disorder practice from the point where nothing has been named yet to the point where treatment ends. NEDC sets the price at $20.00 AUD for members, makes membership free, and delivers the training online and self-paced, built from practical scenarios, videos and resources, with a formal assessment at the end. The organisation is an initiative of the Australian Government Department of Health and Aged Care, and its contract is administered by the Butterfly Foundation.
The five modules follow the order in which a clinician actually meets an eating disorder. Prevention comes first, with what a mental health professional needs to recognise eating disorders and prevent them inside their own practice – written for the clinician who already has a caseload in front of them. Identification follows, with the knowledge and skills to identify and screen, screening tools included; this is the module that puts an instrument in the reader's hands and names what the instrument measures. Initial Response takes the moment after the screen returns something, and covers what a mental health professional needs to respond when a person may be experiencing an eating disorder. Treatment then supplies an understanding of mental health treatment, medical care, nutrition support and stepping up care, which is the vocabulary of a multidisciplinary team and the vocabulary a referral letter needs. Psychosocial & Recovery Support closes on the long arc: support across the course of illness, relapse prevention and response, longstanding eating disorders, and navigating the end of treatment.
NEDC writes the aim of the whole course as the same sequence in a single sentence – identify, assess, refer, understand the components of treatment and recovery. Three verbs of action, one of understanding, in that order, which is also the order of the module list.
Three institutional marks give the five hours their standing. The Australian Psychological Society accredits the training. The Australian Association of Psychologists Inc endorses it. And NEDC has approved it as meeting the requirement for an "Introduction to Eating Disorders for Health Professionals" training within the ANZAED Eating Disorder Credential, the credential that also asks a mental health professional for two years of clinical practice and for training in an evidence-based treatment model. That third mark places the five hours on a named path with a named next step.
NEDC runs the same Core Skills format for general practitioners and for fertility care professionals, and keeps shorter courses of twenty, sixty and ninety minutes alongside them. The version for mental health professionals is the long one.
Five modules run in the order clinical contact unfolds – recognise, screen, respond, refer, support – and NEDC has approved the whole five hours as the introductory training required for the ANZAED Eating Disorder Credential.
Identification occupies one module of the five, and the course sets its treatment aim as an understanding of the components of treatment – mental health treatment, medical care, nutrition support and stepping up care – which is a different thing from the ability to deliver a treatment model. The credential the course leads into is an Australian instrument: the ANZAED Eating Disorder Credential requires an applicant to work and reside in Australia, while the course itself can be bought from anywhere in the world for $20.00 AUD once free NEDC membership is taken out. The APS accreditation is stated on the course page as a fact of accreditation, with no number of CPD hours printed there, so no hours figure should be inferred. Pages read: the course page, the NEDC eLearning index, and the ANZAED credential pages for mental health professionals. The course content itself sits behind the member login and was not opened; every statement about a module here comes from the module descriptions NEDC publishes on the course page. NEDC publishes companion Core Skills courses for general practitioners and for fertility care professionals, and accreditation attached to those is specific to them.