We are the only specialist eating distress charity in the North East and aim to be a centre of excellence for eating distress support. 

We offer counselling, support, information, help and hope to anyone in the region affected by eating distress. We have a person-centred pro-recovery approach, and our services provide help from early identification through to recovery.     

Placement opportunities now open for 2^nd and 3^rd year counselling students. 

We want to expand the support we provide to parents and carers supporting a loved one with eating distress. The placement will provide 1-1 counselling to parents and carers for 4-6 sessions. 

If you’d like to volunteer in a specialist service, within a highly qualified, friendly and supportive team, you will: 

• Be in your second or third year of Level 4/5 counselling training 
• Hold student BACP membership, or equivalent, and evidence your ability to observe the BACP Ethical Framework for Good Practice in Counselling and Psychotherapy  
• Have 40-50 hours of counselling placement experience. 

We’d need you to: 

• Be able to commit to a 6-month minimum placement and see two or three clients per week  
• Deliver online and in person counselling sessions from our office in Newcastle (so you can be properly supported by our Counselling Lead and team) 
• Provide two references and undergo a DBS check  
• Have your own clinical supervisor 

In return we will provide:  

• Eating disorder / distress training and work experience in this highly specialist area 
• Other training and development opportunities including peer support and supervision  
• We will offer 1-1 supervision from an eating distress/disorder perspective with our counselling lead. We would still require you to have your own clinical supervisor and as a charity, we would be unable to contribute to the costs of your clinical supervision. 

Closing date is: 15^th April 

To apply: please submit your CV and covering letter to Rachel.Cowey@edne.org.uk. 

Interviews will be held on Wednesday 7^th May in person in Newcastle city centre. 

If you are successful, we’d need you to be available on the following dates for a full induction and training programme before seeing clients. 

Tuesday 24^th June 9am-5pm 
Wednesday 25^th June 9am-5pm 

The training programme includes CPD-accredited training and topics include eating disorders, neurodiversity, body image, trauma, working with risk, and working with parents and carers. It will also include watching recordings of CPD-accredited training by our Education and Training officer in your own time. There are 3 recordings totaling 6 hours. 

We currently have availability at our office for you to see clients on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. 

We currently have space and capacity for one intake of volunteers in 2025. From 2026, we will have two intakes an academic year and will only accept applications during these times.

Please keep an eye out on our website and social media for more information.