Introducing our endED Community

Founded in 2015, endED is a Sunshine Coast non-for-profit community organization. We would love to introduce you to our circle. We are fortunate to be led by a team of; trauma-informed therapists, creative and expressive arts therapist, recovery coaches, allied health workers, NDIS navigators, educators, mindfulness facilitators and yoga teachers who collectively support growth and expansion through this journey of Recovery.

Together we move, centering lived-experience and paying attention to that which needs to be heard, and finding a way to shape and re-shape this path that we are on.
We are led by our collective ingenuity and wisdom of everyone involved. We could not do what we do without the work of services and clinicians surrounding us, or without our volunteers and community support. 

You are our team, you are our community and we are so honoured to be on this journey together.

  

A brief encounter with one of our Patrons 

Carolyn Costin

"As an eating disorder specialist for over 40 years and recovered myself, I have watched the field struggle with how to acknowledge, utilize and incorporate those with lived experience in providing adjunctive support in the overall care of individuals with eating disorders.

As a therapist, a clinical director of hospital eating disorder units, author of 6 books and the founder of the first residential program in the US, I have advocated for decades, and shown through experience, that those who are recovered have a unique perspective, a message of hope and the ability to be role models for individuals struggling from these complicated disorders.

It is with a sigh of relief and a shout of triumph that I join endED as a patron of an organization that epitomizes what I have long held as a vision for the future of eating disorder care."

Learn More

  
 
Mark & Gay Forbes

Founders

Our endED House of Hope resides in Woombye, Sunshine Coast where we respectfully live, gather and work on Kabi Kabi and Jinibara land. 

We come by this space with

Parent/Carer Lived Experience. 

Our hope is to increase understanding, compassion and allyship. We dedicate our involvement to meeting individuals and their loved ones 'where they are at in the world' and move forward together.

We act as a voice of advocacy across adjunct services, actively participating in generating a discourse of progression in the continual development of our services. We would like to acknowledge that we both work on a full time voluntary basis. All support goes directly to expanding our offerings and supporting our wonderful team.

Laura Chamberlain

Senior Practitioner & Practice Coordinator

CCI Eating Disorder Recovery Coach

Laura comes to this role with Lived Experience. Laura completed her two year training through the Carolyn Costin Institute, attaining her qualification as a Recovery Coach.

Laura provides one/one support as part of individuals care team, providing person centered support and guidance in a myriad of ways through their journey of Recovery.

Laura is responsible for; co-facilitating our Community Connection Space, our Volunteer Connection Space, Intake & Assessment & is involved with Outreach & Engagement with the wider community.

Cass Kowitz

Senior Practitioner & Practice Coordinator

Masters in Creative Arts Therapy

Cass completed her Masters at the Melbourne Institute for Experiential and Creative Arts Therapy. Cass' prior work has been guided by social justice, advocacy, inclusivity, access and strengthening sense of belonging.

Cass comes by this space with Lived Experience and through her role seeks to provide support, guided and informed by the MIECAT Form of Inquiry & our guiding State and National Frameworks.

Cass is also responsible for co-facilitating  our Community Connection Space, Volunteer Connection Space, Intake & Assessment and is involved with Outreach & Engagement with the wider community.

Millie Thomas

CCI Eating Disorder Recovery Coach

NLP Practitioner

Podcast Host End Eating Disorders

Millie completed her two year training through the Carolyn Costin Institute, attaining her qualification as a Recovery Coach. Millie is also a certified NLP practitioner and interweaves this modality into her coaching with clients.

Millie comes to the role with Lived Experience, providing compassionate one/one support as part of an individual’s care team, providing person centered support and guidance in a myriad of ways through their journey of Recovery. Millie coaches in a one on one capacity, as well as hosting several connection and support spaces via zoom, Australia and New Zealand Wide.

Millie has generated visibility and greater access to the space of diverse Lived Experience sharings through her podcast End Eating Disorders.

Sharnea Cashel

Community Connect & Time For You Facilitator

Bachelor of Psychological Science

Sharnea completed her Honours in psychology at the University of Queensland and is currently studying a Master of Professional Psychology. Sharnea enters this space with a Lived Experience; guided by the NMHC Framework.

Sharnea’s approach is holistic, recovery-oriented, and community-focused. Sharnea is passionate about providing support to individuals navigating their recovery journey by inviting connection [to self, others and environment] through empathy, curiosity, and openness.

Sharnea is responsible for co-facilitating our Community Connection Space, and aspects of participant engagement.

Hannah Mitchell

Peer Support Facilitator & Volunteer Engagement

Han holds space for Volunteers to come connect and share in a way that is supportive for curiosity, exploration, growth and giving forward. Han holds a deeply grounded commitment to her own passion and curiosity in whole-self; within and without, landing in this delicate and safe space of endED with her own living experience to bring forward what she has been gifted in her own journey.

Han's personal motivations are moving towards the facilitation of change in the prevention space. Predominately across our education system. Han wishes to investigate and advocate for an integrated education that supports the prevention of separation and isolation from self and/or other. Han is a vivacious self-student and a passionate community threader of wellness.

Georgie Birch

Counsellor, Founder & Operator of Fort Wellness, Bachelor of Social Science (Counselling)

Georgie was first welcomed into the endED space as a counselling placement student whilst completing her degree. She comes to this role from lived-experience and has previously cared for a family member with an eating disorder.

Her former roles have encompassed various support work, mentoring and community development to promote mental health and wellbeing across the community. Georgie was awarded a New Colombo Plan scholarship in 2021 through the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, offering an opportunity to represent Australia and promote mental health support across the Indo-Pacific region.

Her counselling business, Fort Wellness, works with clients to safely process their experiences and navigate the practice of healing together. Georgie hosts a warm, holistic & person-centred approach within an empathetic, non-judgemental and confidential space.

Claire Middleton

endED Patron

Claire is the founder of the Butterfly Foundation, and for many years was a Carolyn Costin Institute Certified Eating Disorder Recovery Coach, a Life Coach and an Internal Family Systems Therapy Practitioner.

Claire suffered from binge eating, bulimia and anorexia and was the carer for her two daughters who battled anorexia. Claire has been a dedicated passionate advocate for eating disorder treatment in Australia for many years.

In 2012, Claire received an Order of Australia Medal for her work with The Butterfly Foundation, as a significant agent for change in the way we prevent and treat eating disorders in Australia. 

She has a deep respect and admiration for endED and is incredibly proud to be an endED ambassador.

Andrew Wallace

endED Patron

Federal Member for Fisher & Speaker of the House of Representatives

Andrew has been the Federal Member for Fisher since 2016, and currently serves as the 31st Speaker of the House of Representatives.

Prior to entering Parliament, he was a carpenter and joiner, a licensed builder and a small business owner, before retraining to become a construction barrister.

Andrew has advocated extensively for changes to policy and increased funding for mental health services since being elected, with a particular focus on eating disorder treatment. He has been a supporter of endED from the beginning and continues to champion the cause in and beyond Parliament.

Emily Seebohm

endED Ambassador

The endED team are incredibly proud of our amazing ambassador Emily Seebohm who has triumphed over adversity to qualify for her fourth Olympic Games.

She is only the second Australian swimmer to have ever achieved this. Em, we want you to know that regardless of your amazing accolades you will always be a winner in our eyes.

Emily has shown immeasurable strength and tenacity in sharing her story and speaking her truth.

Dinesh Palipana

endED Ambassador

"I have had close friends with eating disorders. I have seen it through my work as a doctor in the emergency department. It is not an easy thing for anyone to go through.

What's more, eating disorders affect the people around those experiencing it. endED was founded through the passion and love of people so close to eating disorders.

For that reason, endED has a beating heart which truly has the potential to make an impact."

Ollie Perillo

endED Ambassador

When my sister fell ill with Anorexia Nervosa, endEDs recovery coach, Millie Thomas, proved to be an invaluable resource. I wanted to give back, raise awareness and show compassion for the eating disorder community, so I organised a 24-hour row with a few friends. From this experience, I realised I wanted to help destigmatise and further understand eating disorders.

I’m an early career researcher at the InsideOut institute and an honours student at the Charles Perkins Centre. I study appetite hormones, in particular a new hormone called ‘Erusiolin’ which we believe suppresses appetite and may play a role in dysregulated eating. I’m investigating how our cells make Eursiolin, its final structure in the blood, which nutrients induce its section, and elucidate its role in health and disease. We research these hormones using blood plasma, and techniques in the field of proteomics, which is closely aligned with personalised medicine.

My passions include anything to do in or around the surf! I’m a member of the freshwater surf lifesaving club where I patrol, compete and pilot drones in the shark surveillance program. I also love reading, nonfiction and philosophy mostly but I am exploring more fiction.

  

 

Each day we meet and honour the land in which we gather. Here on the land of the Kabi Kabi and Jinibara Peoples. We would like to acknowledge their continuing connection to land, waters and culture and pay our respects to their Elders past, present and emerging. We pledge our ongoing solidarity with the traditional owners and all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, in their struggle for recognition of sovereignty, historical truths and justice.