Q2A

Got a message......

Hello ,
Does school have the right to make me eat and can they section me if i dont want to
eat ? every thing is going wrong again :( i had a meeting with my headyear and child
protection officer which i did not now about and they started talking about my weight and
my eating and every thing and bringing it all up again and disscusing it and they said to
me that i have lost weight and i need to eat because im getting thiner but i dont want to
but i really dont want to talk about why i dont want to eat just writting this makes me feel
sick .

Unhappy1993

This is our reply.......

Hello again unhappy1993.

We are sorry to hear that you feel that everything is going wrong again, this must be very
frustrating for you. You mention in your email that your head teacher and child protection
officer have real concerns about your eating. You do admit yourself that you haven't been
eating, and that even talking or writing about it makes you feel sick. This is concerning
and with this in mind it is understandable that they have concerns for your welfare, as a
lack of food will inevitably have a damaging effect on your physical and mental health.
Although you may feel like they have been getting at you, the school and the child
protection officer couldn't ignore such an important issue: they have your best interests at
heart.

But can you try to talk to your parents, your mentor and/or CAMHS regarding your
feelings towards eating too? It is only through sharing these feelings and accepting advice
and support from family and agencies that you can address these problems. Or do tell us
about it, you can use our storyboard just to tell us, we won't put it on the website if you
say no, but just telling us about how you feel might help. Or email us as usual, that's fine
too.

To answer the questions in your email directly, the school cannot make you eat or have
you sectioned. Generally, a person can only be sectioned if two doctors and a social
worker or a close relative of the person believe it is necessary. One of these doctors is
usually a psychiatrist. The other is often a doctor who knows the person well. However, in
an emergency one doctor's recommendation may be sufficient. An approved social worker
also has to be involved in the assessment, and has to agree that being sectioned is the
best course of action for that person.

Incidentally, do you know anything about why people develop eating disorders? It is often
because they feel their life is getting out of control - they are not in control, and they
believe they can control their food intake, but things can get out of hand and very
destructive. We can tell you more about this if you want. But also, food is closely
intertwined with mental health, there is very good information on
http://www.mind.org.uk/help/medical_and_alternative_care/food_and_mood-
the_mind_guide, see what you think of that information.

We hope this reply is helpful and you can address your current difficulties with food soon.
Keep in touch, we will do our best to support and help you.

Take care q2a.

Expert advice and every precaution has been taken to ensure that the information in this answer is trustworthy and reliable, but the publishers do not hold themselves responsible for any inaccuracy as information can go out of date very quickly.  This page gives general guidance only and should not be treated as a complete and authoritative statement of the law.  With regard to suggested weblinks given in this reply please note that Lancashire County Council is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.

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