Next Steps Eating Disorder Clinic

Welcome to the Next Steps Eating Disorder Clinic

We are passionate about helping you to manage or recover from your eating disorder at home, in a way that makes sense to you, your environment, and your day to day life.

Find Out More

Next Steps Eating Disorder Pathway

Our 12-week pathway is available for young people and adults aged 16 and over, who require more than standard outpatient care but do not need inpatient treatment. We combine specialist psychological and dietetic support that is both compassionate and evidence-based.

Anorexia Nervosa

We support you to normalise eating patterns, and address thoughts and behaviours that maintain food and fluid restriction, fear of weight gain, and body image distress.

Bulimia Nervosa

We help you reduce binge-purge cycles, stabilise eating patterns, and develop healthier coping strategies for managing urges, emotions, and self-criticism.

ARFID
Avoidant/restrictive food intake disorder

We support you to gradually expand food variety, reduce anxiety around eating, and improve nutritional intake while addressing any sensory sensitivies, fear-based avoidance, or low appetite.

OSFED
Other specified feeding or eating disorder

We offer tailored treatment if your eating difficulties do not fit in a single diagnostic category but still cause significant distress or impairment. We focus on stabilising eating behaviours and addressing underlying pyschological factors.

Orthorexia

We help you develop a more flexible and balanced relationship with food by reducing rigid food rules, addressing anxiety about health and purity, and supporting a sustainable, nourishing approach to eating.

Body Dysmorphia

We support you to reduce distress and preoccupation with perceived flaws in appearance by addressing body image anxiety, checking and avoidance behaviours, and underlying perfectionism or shame, while building a more realistic and compassionate relationship with your body.

Who We Are

We work together to meet you where you are and provide coordinated and specialist, evidence-based assessment, treatment, and relapse prevention when you need it most.

Anna O’Neill

With over 20 years’ experience as a Registered Dietitian, I’ve spent the past decade specialising in eating disorders across both inpatient and community settings, alongside a broad clinical background in a range of specialist areas. I’m deeply passionate about helping people move beyond the limitations of their illness and rediscover a life that feels full, meaningful, and their own. As a qualified NLP practitioner, I bring an additional layer to my work – supporting mindset, behaviour change, and personal growth alongside nutritional rehabilitation.

Qualifications

Diploma in Neurolinguistic Programming – Fresh Insight Academy

Human Nutrition and Dietetics BSc Hons – University of Wales Istitute Cardiff (UWIC)

HCPC registration: DT27014

    Dr Amy Lucas

    I am a Highly Specialist Clinical Psychologist with over 10 years’ experience working across NHS and private mental health settings with both young people and adults. Most recently, I worked as Therapies Lead within a Tier 4 specialist inpatient service for eating disorders, where I had the privilege of managing and supporting a wonderfully diverse team of psychologists, family therapists, occupational therapists, and creative psychotherapists – proof that meaningful change rarely happens in isolation. Alongside leadership roles, I continue to work in private practice, specialising in the assessment and treatment of trauma and anxiety, and I am passionate about helping people make sense of their experiences and move forward with greater confidence and self-understanding. I also deliver teaching and training to organisations and universities, and provide clinical and research supervision and consultation.

    Qualifications

    Doctorate in Clinical Psychology (DClinPsy) – Salomons Institute of Applied Psychology – CCCU

    Psychology and Counselling BSc Hons – Middlesex University

    HCPC registration: PYL040509

      We met while working together in a Tier 4 inpatient child and young people’s mental health service (CYPMHS) specialising in eating disorders. From the very beginning, it was
      clear that we shared a similar ethos about how eating disorder treatment should be approached – with compassion, curiosity, and deep respect for the young people and
      families in our care. We were both committed to doing thoughtful, high-quality work and held the same level of passion and determination when it came to supporting recovery.
      Just as importantly, we found that our ways of working complemented each other naturally. Between us, we bring creativity and practical problem-solving, authenticity and
      genuine presence with the people we support, and communication that is honest, clear, and grounded. Where appropriate, we also bring a healthy dose of humour and
      lightness, because even in the midst of very difficult experiences, moments of connection and humanity matter.

      Over time, we began to notice how much more effective we could be when working together. We saw the difference that a collaborative, flexible, and relationship-focused
      approach could make for patients and families navigating eating disorders. We also became increasingly aware of the gaps in available services; the kind of support people
      often need but struggle to find or access. It was common for individuals to end up stuck in hospital for longer than necessary due to lack of suitable support in the community
      to meet their needs or due to receiving care in hospital that simply didn’t fit them as individuals. It was also common for people to be discharged home without enough support
      to integrate the work they had done during admission back out into their real lives at home, and to find themselves suddenly bereft of the intensively available relationships they
      made with staff that knew them well on the unit. Out of those shared experiences grew a vision: to create a specialist clinic that reflects our values, builds on our combined
      strengths, and offers the kind of care we would want for those in need of something more intensive than standard outpatient care but less restrictive than admission to hospital.
      Working together allows us to think creatively, respond flexibly, and provide consistent, compassionate support as a team.