Purpose -Around 50 per cent of carers of people with eating disorders (EDs) experience mental health difficulties. The purpose of this paper is to investigate well-being of carers of people with ED and carers of people with severe and enduring eating disorders (SEEDs). Design/methodology/approach -Carers (n ¼ 104) were recruited from UK support groups and stratified using duration of the care recipient's ED (0-2, 2-6, W6 years), with the W6 years category classified as SEED. Data were compared with existing carer well-being studies of other patient groups. Findings -Carers of people with SEED were not significantly different on reported well-being to carers of people with ED. However, carers of people with ED reported significantly less well-being than community norms, carers of people with brain injury and of people with dementia. Specifically, poorer social functioning was reported.Research limitations/implications -Further research on carers of people with SEED is warranted as carers of people with SEED were not equally balanced in gender. It would be beneficial if support groups and skill-based workshops were more available for carers. Originality/value -This is the first known study to compare carer well-being of people with SEED with carers of other clinical populations. Further research is required to identify the needs of carers.

Purpose Carers of people with eating disorders (EDs) experience high levels of burden which can lead to clinical levels of depression and anxiety, high levels of expressed emotion and can lead to a non-conducive environment to support recovery. The Maudsley Method skills-based workshops can empower carers to support people with ED to move towards recovery, reduce carer burden and high levels of distress. The paper aims to discuss these issues. Design/methodology/approach Adaptations have been made to the Maudsley Method skills based workshops to include evidence based approaches from cognitive remediation therapy; mindfulness and acceptance commitment therapy. The adapted workshops were assessed via a pilot study with ten carers of people with ED using a mixed method design. The Experience of Caregiving Inventory and SF-36 were used to assess aspects of caregiving and carer wellbeing, respectively pre and post intervention. Thematic analysis was used to evaluate carers’ views on the intervention. Findings Results indicated that carers reduced their level of burden particularly in their experience of stigma, dependency and loss. Furthermore, positive aspects of the relationship with the person with the ED improved. Thematic analysis was used to obtain feedback from carers of the workshops. Qualitative data identified that carers improved their self-awareness, understanding of ED and the techniques they could use, and increased their social support. Research limitations/implications Further research is required to compare the original workshops with this adapted intervention. Originality/value Although this is a pilot study, the results suggest that further evidence based interventions could be added to the Maudsley Method approach to support carers.