I am a media volunteer with a charity called Beat who support people suffering from eating disorders. Being a media volunteer for both them and Mind has opened the door to some amazing opportunities for me, including appearing in Cosmopolitan magazine, in my local newspaper, on BBC Radio One Newsbeat, BBC One Breakfast TV and BBC Radio Berkshire with Anne Diamond. I've got a real bug for doing media work - it's not something I ever thought I would be confident enough to do, but I absolutely love it and find it helps me to cope with the difficulties of having mental health problems, because I feel I am able to use my experiences for something positive. I was contacted by The Victoria Derbyshire show a few months ago, when they were first thinking about doing some work around mental health problems. I told them I would be interested in helping them and they said they would contact me again when they knew more about what was going on.
A couple of weeks ago, I got a call on my mobile from a lady called Eleanor, from the show, to ask me if I would be interested in being on the show to talk about a massive issue surrounding eating disorder treatment - the fact that patients are regularly being told that their BMI is not low enough to access treatment. Considering this is a problem I have been faced with several times, I jumped at the chance to raise awareness in the hope that the people in charge of funding and writing guidelines might see the programme, and perhaps even reconsider how they approach eating disorder treatment.
Fast forward to this Monday and I was up and ready super early - I can't remember the last time I saw 6am! The BBC sent a car to pick my brother and I up (he accompanied me to help me with my wheelchair) at 7.15am, and we made the journey into central London. Traffic was pretty awful, so a journey that should have taken about 45 minutes actually ended up taking nearly 2 hours, but I dozed for most of it, so wasn't too worried! We arrived at BBC Broadcasting House just before 9am and, after signing in and getting our visitor passes, were met by a lovely lady from the show's team. It was surreal making our way to the green room and seeing all the news desks that appear on the main BBC News shows.
We were shown into the green room, which contained a table with drinks and biscuits on it and a few comfy sofas, as well as a TV on the wall so we could watch the start of the show. I was introduced to the other ladies who would be on the panel with me - Joss, a former eating disorder sufferer, Lorna, from the charity Beat and Rachel, a GP with an interest in nutrition. We were soon chatting away about the topic of eating disorders and the difficulties we have encountered with access to treatment. The lady from the show then came back and took us up to the gallery to meet the show's editor. It was pretty cool seeing the wall of TV screens and all the controls for broadcasting the show - I don't know how they keep track of it all! The editor had a brief chat with us about the format of the show and the kinds of things she wanted us to chat about. We then headed back to the green room, but before we had the chance to sit down we were whisked off to make-up. I hadn't expected to get my make-up done, which is why I had done my own before setting off, so the make-up artist just touched it up, added some eye shadows and lip colour. I've seriously never seen so many brushes, eye shadows and foundations! I felt a bit like a celebrity!
Before long we were escorted to the studio, where a technician gave each of us a microphone and attached it to our clothes. During a cutaway video, we were taken round to our seats ready for Victoria to come and chat to us. It was a little intimidating at first, being surrounded by big cameras and lights and seeing our faces on the big TV screens behind the cameras. But I soon forgot I was on television and got into the conversation with Victoria and the rest of the panel. It seemed to go so quickly, but I think we were actually on air for around 15 minutes. I talked about my experiences of trying to get help for my eating disorder when I first became ill at the age of 15, and the fact that I was denied treatment for 2 and a half years, which led me to taking a series of overdoses. I wish there had been more time to talk about the topic, as there was so much I would have liked to have said, but hopefully what we discussed was enough to bring the problem to the attention of the general public.
No sooner had we sat down it all seemed to be over, and we were taken back to the green room to collect our bags. I hopped back in my wheelchair and after saying our goodbyes, my brother and I made our way back to the car that was waiting for us. We of course managed to fit in a quick photo in front of the BBC, just to prove we were definitely there! The journey home was fairly uneventful and by the time we arrived home I was well and truly exhausted. But the exhaustion was totally worth it - I had a great time meeting the other ladies and feel so lucky to have experienced being on BBC television to talk about such an important topic. I just hope that it might go some way to making a difference to people who need to access treatment in the future.
If you'd like to watch the programme for yourself, you can find it here on iPlayer, but I'm afraid I'm not sure how long it will be available and it can only be watched in the UK as far as I know - http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b0641149/victoria-derbyshire-27072015
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