Green light for Suffolk’s first £2m eating disorder treatment centre

The Chimneys, in Rougham (Image: Archant)

Clinical psychologist Chris McKenna, 56, from Bury St Edmunds, announced his plan earlier this year, following the treatment of his teenage daughter for anorexia nervosa.

At the time, he said he was surprised to find there was no treatment centre in the county and his daughter, who he asked not to be named, had to go to Norwich.

Asked of the benefits of having an eating disorder treatment centre nearby, he said: “It’s invaluable. Travelling times are dramatically cut which means that there’s less stress on the family. You can visit more frequently and, of course, cost comes into it as well. If you’re travelling great distances it costs some families sums they haven’t got.”

Mr McKenna and his wife Jackie are spending £2m of their own money on the facility, determined to help other people like their daughter.

Chloe Bygate and her father Trevor Bygate (Image: Archant)

Mr McKenna’s application was given the green light by councillors at a St Edmundsbury Borough Council development control meeting on Thursday.

“I’m just raring to go, really, and get this service open and helping people like my daughter,” he said afterwards.

His daughter is now at university and making a recovery.

“She’s positive and still fights the anorexic thoughts she gets most days but she’s eating, and eating sufficiently to maintain herself on the course,” he said.

“She still remains very positive about what we’re doing and is very keen to work as a support worker during her summer holidays.”

The new centre will involve the conversion of six-bedroom house The Chimneys, in New Road, Rougham.

Despite some objections from a neighbour and the parish council, the application had been recommended for approval before the meeting.

The application received around 25 letters of support, many from parents.

One letter from a mother and father, having to make a two-hour round trip to see their daughter, described The Chimneys as a “vital lifeline” that would be saving lives.

“It is widely accepted that family support for patients suffering from eating disorders is vital in aiding recovery,” they wrote.

Mr McKenna said he hoped the building work could be completed and the centre opened in around nine months.

Bereaved father hails positive impact treatment centre could have for Suffolk children

A Suffolk soldier whose teenage daughter took her own life after living with an eating disorder has said the treatment centre will be “massively important” for vulnerable youngsters.

Sergeant Trevor Bygate, of the Wattisham-based 3 Regiment Army Air Corp, was on a military exercise in America when he was told his 19-year-old daughter Chloe had been found dead in her flat in Wales in April 2014.

An inquest last year heard she had a history of depression and killed herself by overdosing on paracetamol painkillers. At the time of her death she weighed just six stone.

Sgt Bygate, who lives in Hadleigh with his wife Kerry, 41, and son Bodie, 10, said: “Chloe had depression, self-harmed and was underweight. She could only see one way forward. She was in a dark place. Unfortunately I have to live with that.

“She was weak and tired all the time, and someone like Chloe needed to find light at the end of the tunnel. She never found that light, but hopefully this centre will do that for many other vulnerable children.

“I think it is going to be brilliant. It will be massively important for Suffolk children who have got an eating disorder. The treatment they are likely to receive at this centre will give them strength and turn things around for them.

“It is just really nice to know that someone has made this huge effort and I would like to meet him, as this is the sort of area I would like to go into one day.

“I’m glad Suffolk now has one. Some children nationally have had to travel more than 100 miles to get help.”

Since Chloe’s death, Sgt Bygate, 41, has raised just under £20,000 through a number of fundraising challenges for several charities close to his heart, including Child Bereavement UK and the Royal British Legion. He has raised £58,000 since 2011. He is now back at work full-time in the military and keeps Chloe’s spirit alive with his charity work.

He told how a lock of her hair kept him going during the London Marathon this year.

“All I wanted to do was get under four hours and I managed to get 3:51, so I was chuffed to bits,” he said.

“It was the quickest I have ever done. I got to mile 21 and my hamstring cramped right up. But I knew when I hit the pain barrier I would have inspiration to push me over the line.

“I’ve got a lock of her hair, you see. I carried it in a little bag and had it in my pocket in my shorts. So when it was painful, I got it out and held it in my hand. It is just something which keeps me going.”

He said the inquest gave him closure “in terms of facts”, but said he will “never get over it”.

He said: “I will never be the same person. I still have my bad days. I still get counselling once a week myself.

“When I have bad moments, that helps me deal with it. I think any parent would be the same.

“And I think I get a lot of comfort out of helping other people with what I’m doing.

“At the end of the day, I’m trying to keep her spirit alive with everything I do.

“Since she has died, I’ve cycled coast to coast, I’ve cycled 100km at midnight on her 21st birthday, I’ve done the Brighton Marathon, the London Marathon, 24-hour bike rides in Tesco [in Copdock], 12-hour bike rides in Morrisons [in Hadleigh].

“I’m keeping busy. I might have a year off next year – I am not sure!”

Sgt Bygate is now targeting a 42-mile ultra-marathon in August for Survivors of Bereavement by Suicide (SOBS) and the Great North Run in September for Child Bereavement UK.

“It is just giving a bit back after they helped me,” he said.