Collaborative care is at the core of what we do.
Working together allows us to think creatively, respond flexibly, and provide consistent, compassionate support as a team.
Out of our shared experiences grew a vision: to create a specialist eating disorder clinic that reflects our values, builds on our combined strengths, and offers the kind of intervention we would want for those in need of something more intensive than standard outpatient care but less restrictive than admission to hospital.
Who We Are
We understand the difference that a collaborative, flexible, and relationship-focused approach can make for patients and families navigating eating disorders.
ANNA O’NEILL
Co-Founder
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 Neurolinguistic Programming (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
Co-Founder
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. Alongside clinical and 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, create change in their lives, 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 at 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 patients 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.
We listened to the stories that patients and families shared – how let down they felt when they needed services most, how many could have avoided deterioration during difficult periods if the right support had been available, how traumatised some felt by the treatment they had received – without offer to address the impact of this.
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, and to find themselves suddenly bereft of the intensively available relationships they made with staff that knew them well on the unit.
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 a 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.
That’s why we created the Next Steps Eating Disorder Clinic.
So you can feel confident that you will receive the right support at the right time.