Struggling with body image or eating disorders?
Your in the right place
Been There connects you with a Peer Mentor who's walked a similar path - and come through the other side ...and is a HUMAN!
Free, confidential, one-to-one support, whenever you're ready.
Text based support on WhatsApp
Looking for help, or
looking to give it?
Start here.
Get help
Need to speak to someone who gets it?
Get the support you need from a Peer Mentor who'll listen, understand, and walk alongside you.
Offer support
Been there yourself?
Help someone else get through it.
Turn your experience into someone else's lifeline. We'll train you, support you, and match you with a Mentee.
Donate today
Help us reach the next person who needs us.
Every mentoring relationship is free for the person receiving it because people who fund us make that happen.
How It Works
Tell us what's going on
Fill in a short, confidential form about you and what kind of support you're looking for. It takes about 10 minutes and nothing you say goes further than our safeguarding team.
We match you with a Peer Mentor
We'll pair you with a Peer Mentor whose own experience is closest to yours. Most people are matched within [X days/weeks — fill in real figure]. If it ever feels like the wrong fit, just tell us and we'll rematch you, no questions asked.
You talk, every week, for 12 weeks
You'll message each other through a secure WhatsApp chat at a time that works for both of you. No phone numbers, no social media, no pressure to meet in person, just one person, showing up for you, week after week.
We check in too
At the start, the middle, and the end, we'll ask how it's going. We’ll make sure you're getting what you need, and to know if something needs to change.
This is Tess.
She founded Been There
I spent eleven years making myself sick to feel smaller. For nine of those years, I never told a single person.
What I needed wasn't another professional with a textbook. I'd seen plenty of those,
and they meant well but none of them had actually been there. What I needed was
someone who understood from the inside. Someone who wouldn't flinch, wouldn't
judge, and could say "me too" and mean it.
It took years to find that person. When I finally did, it changed everything. It probably saved my life.
I built Been There so that no one else has to spend years looking for what saved me.
So that the moment someone's ready to ask for help, there's already someone on
the other side who's ready to listen because they've been there too.
Don’t take our word for it
Be the person you once needed
You know what it's like when no one quite understands. As a Been There Peer Mentor, you can be the person who does for someone who needs exactly that, right now.
Why mentor with us:
Make a real difference to someone who needs it, one conversation at a time
Turn your own experience into someone else's turning point
Get trained, supported, and supervised the whole way through - you're never
doing this alone either
Build confidence and skills you'll carry well beyond mentoring
Help us be there for the next person who needs us.
Mentoring is free for everyone we support. This only works because of people who
give what they can. However much you're able to donate goes straight toward
recruiting, vetting and training Peer Mentors and supporting Mentees through their
12 weeks.
Donors & Supporters
Meet the fabulous organisations helping us.
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