Kel O’Neill is a UK-based counsellor, educator, researcher, and lived-experience advocate specialising in eating disorders. She is the founder of Mental Health Bites, creator of The Eating Disorder Recovery Companion, and the curator of VOXED – Voices of Experience in Eating Disorders. Kel’s work focuses on ethical, trauma-informed practice, challenging stigma, and bridging the gap between lived experience and professional knowledge.

This week, we discuss:

• What VoxED is and why Kel created it.
• Why eating disorder education often feels inaccessible, and what VoxED is doing differently.
• How VoxED broadens “lived experience” to include clinicians, carers, researchers and community voices.
• Why lived experience shouldn’t be tokenistic, and how it can be valued as expertise.
• Why the eating disorder field needs shared spaces for nuanced, difficult conversations.
• How recovery goes beyond food and weight to identity, meaning and living.

Timestamps:

• 00:00: What is VoxED?
• 02:10 :Where did the idea began (EDAW 2021)
• 05:10: Who's speaking at VoXED
• 06:40: Moving beyond “tick-box” lived experience
• 08:10: The purpose of VoxED: shared space + shared power
• 14:40: Why change has been slow in eating disorders (and what’s missing)
• 21:10: Recovery beyond food and weight: identity, meaning, and living
• 42:10: VoxED details: date, access, recordings, and low-cost tickets

VoxED conference details:

• Date: Friday 13th February
• Format: Fully online (9:00–18:30, with breaks)
• Tickets: self-select pricing options £20 / £37 / £50

Resources & Links

• Follow Kel on Instagram (@kel_mhb)
• Visit Kel's website (www.counsellingandtraining.co.uk) to find out more about VOXED
• Subscribe to the Full of Beans Podcast
• Follow Full of Beans on Instagram
• Check out our website
• Listen on YouTube

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Sending positive beans your way, Han 💛