Eating disorders affect around 1.2 million adult men and women in Australia of all ages, socioeconomic, cultural, sexual, ethnic and religious backgrounds.
Excessive exercise is a common symptom of some types of disordered eating, which puts gym personnel on the front line to help tackle the problem.
Club Lime manager Timothy Butler said the relationship a personal trainer has with a client can mean they're the first point of outreach for someone seeking help.
Mr Butler was responsible for inducting many of the club's 206 trainers, instructing new recruits its "more than sets and reps".
"Trainers often provide unofficial guidance on all aspects of people's lives," Mr Butler said.
"When there are red flags, you want to have the resources to be able to refer people on."
The national research body for eating disorders, InsideOut Institute, has partnered with Fitness Australia to provide a set of guidelines to trainers on how not to contribute to the problem and what to do if they identify one.
Fitness Australia offers accreditation to trainers, including personnel at Club Lime's 30 plus gyms in Canberra and more than 80 gyms nationally.
Trainers often provide unofficial guidance on all aspects of people's lives. When there are red flags, you want to have the resources to be able to refer people on.
Personal trainer Timothy Butler
Mr Butler said most trainers will have an established "referral network" when it comes to treating physical ailments, but aren't as well equipped when it comes to issues associated with mental health.
He said he's had clients required referral to psychologists and wants these guidelines to help trainers recognise when it's time to intervene.
Mr Butler said red flags for him was clients responding negatively to positive metrics with the attitude they are "going nowhere" or "not progressing" quickly enough.
InsideOut Institute director Dr Sarah Maguire said eating disorders have a high prevalence among sports people, and have high mortality rates, posing a significant issue for professionals who are not necessarily trained in the management of this illness group.
"We are hopeful this set of recommendations can promote the early identification of eating disorders, and sensitive and appropriate handling of people who present with symptoms," Dr Maguire said.
A spokesperson for the Australian Institute of Sport said it had worked with the National Eating Disorders Collaboration for two years to develop a position statement and a range of resources regarding disordered eating in high performance sport. The report is due for release in April. The spokesperson said the AIS welcomed the Fitness Australia and InsideOut collaboration.
InsideOut's recommendations for the fitness industry:
- Support a healthy, inclusive environment;
- Recognise warning signs and refer appropriately;
- Identify suitable referral processes for higher risk clients;
- Identify clients with extreme forms of dieting, binge eating, self-inducing vomiting and misuse of laxatives, diuretics, diet pills or drugs and implement actions; and
- Support recovery in collaboration and maintain best practice.
