From Supported Families to CEDAR: A New Chapter

By Deirdre Reddan & Zuzanna Gajowiec There is a moment in every organisation's journey when the name no longer fits who you have become. For us, that moment arrived recently — and with it, the birth of CEDAR: Community of Eating Disorders Awareness and Recovery.

But to understand where we are going, you need to know where we started.

HOW IT ALL BEGAN:

We met around four years ago, two people with very different backgrounds and the exact same passion: families.

Zuzanna was working as a clinical psychologist and family therapist, supporting complex cases across different levels of eating disorder care. She kept noticing the same gap: families were not being supported enough. People were going through one of the most frightening experiences of their lives, and the system was largely focused on the individual, leaving everyone else behind.

Deirdre came to this work from a deeply personal place. After a long career in banking, her daughter developed an eating disorder during her teenage years. Supporting her through recovery threw Deirdre into a world she never expected to enter — and one she found she understood, instinctively and deeply. After her daughter recovered, Deirdre left banking, retrained as a coach, and asked herself: what do I have that nobody else has? The answer was lived experience, as a parent, as a caregiver, as someone who had walked this road.

When we found each other, something clicked. We shared the same belief: that families are a hidden superpower in eating disorder recovery. And we knew that if we worked together, we could do more.

SUPPORTED FAMILIES: AND WHY IR GREW

We started by running group programmes for families. And very quickly, we realised the need was much greater than we had anticipated.

Families needed support — but so did the individuals themselves. And so did the professionals working with them. One by one, we expanded: individual clinical support, virtual therapy, training for clinicians, programmes for fitness professionals, caregiver support groups.

Along the way, we were fortunate to meet brilliant people who shared our passion and our values — Silvia, Ewe, Aga, Sean, and Maggie — each bringing something essential to the team we were becoming. And that is when we knew: Supported Families had become too small for who we had grown into.

WHY CEDAR?

The name change is not just cosmetic. It reflects a real transformation in what we do and who we serve.

CEDAR, Community of Eating Disorders Awareness and Recovery, captures the breadth of our work. We support individuals navigating complex eating disorders, including those with co-occurring neurodivergence. We support families and caregivers on a one-to-one basis and through group programmes. And we provide specialist training for professionals across disciplines, because eating disorders are a specialised field that requires ongoing learning, multidisciplinary collaboration, and person-centred care.

We believe that real change in eating disorder treatment requires everyone: the individual, the family, and the professionals around them, all working together, all properly supported.

WHAT COMES NEXT:

We are the same people, with the same values, the same passion, and now — a bigger team, a broader vision, and a name that truly reflects what we stand for.

If you are an individual seeking support, a family trying to find your footing, or a professional wanting to deepen your understanding — CEDAR is here.

We are just getting started.

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