NHS Multi-Site Pilot:
Integrating Specialist Emotional Eating Support into Weight Management, GLP-1 and T2 Diabetes Pathways

A six-month pilot programme with embedded service evaluation for 5 NHS sites. One place is already confirmed, apply now to join them.

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The Gap We Are Closing

Emotional eating and binge eating disorder are significantly under-identified and under-supported in community weight management services. A 2025 insights report commissioned by West Yorkshire ICB makes the scale of this concrete (More Than Weight 2025).

That means roughly two thirds of patients are using food to manage emotional distress, and roughly two thirds of your workforce do not feel they have the tools to address it. In GLP-1 populations the psychological complexity is even higher. Appetite suppression does not address a person's relationship with food, and NICE, JAMA, and the WHO all recommend comprehensive psychological and behavioural support alongside GLP-1 prescribing.

Patients with complex relationships with food are typically referred out onto waiting lists for Eating Disorder services that are already over-stretched, and ultimately will not take them unless they meet strict criteria and diagnostic thresholds. Most adults who emotionally eat or binge eat do not meet BED criteria. They are then left unsupported, and disconnected from the weight management care they are already receiving.

This pilot is for teams who already know this is a problem and want to do something about it.

66%

of adults in weight management services report frequent emotional eating

35%

of healthcare professionals feel adequately equipped to support emotional eating

>20%

of healthcare professionals report no confidence at all in supporting emotional eating

O

dedicated emotional eating or BED pathways in most community weight management services

Source: West Yorkshire ICB Insights Report, 2025

What the Pilot Involves

Three integrated components delivered over six months, with a consistent
evaluation framework across all sites.

The Programme

  • Six-month specialist programme for a minimum cohort of 15 patients per site
  • Weekly live group calls facilitated by Eating Freely Practitioners
  • Full digital programme: video modules, worksheets, reflective tools, and audio resources via our online portal and patient app.
  • Between-session support via our online community and patient app.
  • Independently evaluated at Leeds Beckett University, showing statistically significant reductions in emotional eating

The Service Evaluation

  • Each site conducts its own service evaluation, consistent with NHS HRA guidance
  • Owned and led internally by your clinical team - no external research governance approval required
  • Findings can be submitted for publication
  • Eating Freely provides a consistent evaluation framework, validated measures, data collection template, and outcome reporting guidance
  • Shared data across multiple sites produces a significantly more robust and publishable evidence base

Team Training

  • Two members of your clinical team complete the Eating Freely Essentials of Emotional Eating training
  • All participating sites train together as a shared cohort - cross-site peer learning built in
  • Equips your team with the skills to continue this work independently once the pilot concludes
  • Training includes learning on emotional eating, psychological safety, body image, reducing weight stigma and trauma awareness - all within scope.
  • Training carries 12 CPD points per participant

Organisation-Wide Impact - Evergreen Active CIC, Wakefield

Evergreen Active CIC delivers NHS-aligned health and wellbeing programmes across Wakefield, funded by Wakefield Council and public health partners. When they integrated the Eating Freely training and programme into their organisation, the impact extended far beyond the intervention they had planned - transforming how every team member works, across every client group they serve.

1
Service Transformation

The Eating Freely framework did not stay within one programme. Its tools, reflective questions and behaviour-change principles naturally informed conversations across every Evergreen Active service - from inclusive walking and running groups to movement-to-music sessions, family wellbeing programmes, GenX menopause classes, Work It Out mental health programmes for men, Reclaim & Reset emotional eating work, and even a young people's anger management programme.

One investment in training created organisation-wide capability.

2
Client Experience

Clients who had never disclosed eating difficulties, and critically would not have sought help through any other service, began to share long-held struggles once safe, compassionate conversations were opened.

Weight concerns, low confidence, menopause challenges and repeated 'diet failures' were reframed as coping responses rather than personal failings. Clients reported making better choices 'without even realising it.' This was particularly true for men - a group who would rarely seek support through any other door - who began to open up about eating behaviours they had never previously disclosed.

3
Practitioner Skills

The programme deepened how the whole team now understands eating behaviour. It was never a willpower issue, it is rooted in coping, conditioning and nervous system responses.

This strengthened trauma-informed practice across the board, and gave staff the confidence to have conversations previously considered 'out of scope.' As Paula noted: 'the Eating Freely model and tools makes those conversations so much easier to have.'

The team report having conversations daily with their members - on a walk or run, as part of a discussion group, and in 1:1 consultations.

4
Outcomes & Value

Evergreen Active identified a clear unmet need that existing services were not reaching. By addressing root causes rather than managing symptoms, the approach delivers what commissioners increasingly require - preventative, person-centred support that reduces reliance on expensive pharmaceutical interventions.

The initial cost for any organisation, in Paula's words, 'would recoup itself thousands of times over.' Compared with the cost and attrition risk of hiring a psychologist or other mental health professional to design, test and deliver a new programme, partnering with Eating Freely was an obvious long term solution for Evergreen Active as a CIC.

Transparent, Tiered Pricing

Funding starts at £10,000 per site, designed to be accessible within NHS innovation and development budgets.

15 - 20 patients

£10,000

Setup deposit     £2,500
Balance due       Sept 2026

21–30 patients

£15,000

Setup deposit     £3,750
Balance due      Sept 2026

30 - 50 patients

£20,000

Setup deposit     £5,000
Balance due      Sept 2026

All tiers include:

  • All programme delivery (6 months)
  • Validated measures integration
  • Team training for two clinicians (12 CPD points)
  • Data collection templates and outcome reporting guidance
  • Technical setup and portal configuration
  • Project management throughout
  • Consistent service evaluation framework
  • Cross-site peer learning cohort

Accessing Funding for This Pilot

The investment level for this pilot has been designed to be accessible within NHS innovation and development budgets, including small pots of discretionary funding held at PCN or ICB level.

The NHS 10 Year Plan's shift toward community-based, psychologically informed care makes the timing particularly relevant. Teams participating in this pilot will generate practice-based evidence that has value well beyond their own service, and will be positioned as early adopters of a model gaining increasing recognition at commissioning level.

PCN / ICB Innovation & Development Budgets

Discretionary funding held at Primary Care Network or Integrated Care Board level is the most accessible route for most teams.

SBRI Healthcare

For teams building a longer-term funding strategy, SBRI Healthcare supports NHS innovation with competitive grants.

NHS England Pathway Transformation Fund

Relevant for teams looking to develop a sustainable pathway beyond the pilot period.

Is This Right for Your Team?

If 66% of adults in weight management services report frequent emotional eating, and your team is among the 65% who do not feel equipped to support it, this pilot is designed for you.

Minimum cohort of 15 patients

Identified by your clinical team as presenting with emotional or binge eating as a factor in their weight management.

Confirmed or accessible funding

Investment starts at £10,000. Funding is typically accessible through PCN or ICB innovation budgets.

Two team members for training

Available to complete the Eating Freely Essentials of Emotional Eating training (12 CPD points).

Express Your Interest

Expression of Interest

Complete and submit this form and we will respond to arrange a brief call.
If you have questions first, contact Emma directly on emma@eatingfreely.com

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