Arc Day Programme opens: A new community-based service for young people with an eating disorder

Arc Day Programme, a north west London community-based service for young people aged between 13 and 17 with an eating disorder, is now open in Arc, a new bespoke space on the Fulham Road.

Best For You and the North West London Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services Provider Collaborative worked together to launch this innovative new programme, which is clinically and operationally managed by CNWL.

It supports young people, families, and carers referred by Children and Young People Eating Disorder community teams across eight north west London boroughs.

The programme aims to reduce the number of young people who need to be admitted to an acute hospital or a child and adolescent mental health inpatient unit. It also provides step-down care to help young people leaving inpatient settings to successfully maintain their recovery in the community.

Young people and their family members or carers attend Arc Day Programme for between three and six weeks. The programme provides an intensive intervention of family-based therapy alongside nutritional, medical, and psychological care for young people, while empowering parents and carers to support their young person’s recovery.

Arc Day Programme is part of Best For You, a new approach to mental health care designed in consultation with young people and their families and carers. It provides a joined-up approach to mental health help for young people, with digital resources and community partnerships making it easier to access information and support from a trusted source.

Best For You is run in partnership by CNWL, Chelsea and Westminster Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, West London NHS Trust, and CW+ (the charity of Chelsea and Westminster Hospital NHS Foundation Trust). It is being evaluated by experts at Imperial College London.

Innovative care

As part of Best For You, Arc Day Programme has benefited from NHS organisations working in partnership to share knowledge and best practice.

Compared to inpatient treatment, day-patient treatment has a reduced impact on young people’s everyday lives including their education and their relationships with family and friends. Additionally, by including family members and carers in the young person’s treatment, Arc Day Programme supports families to develop techniques and strategies to support each other as part of a unified approach to recovery.

Arc Day Programme also benefits from a purpose-built home in SW10. Thanks to contributions from the charity CW+, CNWL Health Charity, and NHS England, the space has bespoke elements including feature lighting, comfortable furniture, and curated artwork to support young people’s recovery.

Digital wellbeing resources for north-west London

Through the Best For You website, young people, families, and professionals who work with young people can access resources to support wellbeing and mental health.

The Best For You website has information about common mental health conditions, as well as tips to support wellbeing, links to digital mental health resources (including apps, a 24/7 text line, and Kooth), and signposting to mental health support in north-west London.

Since the start of 2022, there have been over 89,000 visitors to Best For You website, and its Instagram profile has reached 383,000 users. There have been also been almost 8,000 page views on the Best For You app library.

As part of its partnership with YouTube, Best For You shares regular videos, which are verified on YouTube as being from ‘a trusted source’ of health information. Best For You also shares content on Instagram, X (formerly known as Twitter), and Facebook. Clinicians can suggest topics for future content (or find out more about getting involved in content creation) by emailing Best For You.

Find out more about Arc Day Programme on the CNWL website.

Find out more about Best For You on the Best For You website.