Background
LENS focuses on understanding lived experiences of young people (16-25 years) from diverse, underrepresented, and ‘at risk’ groups and co-designing ideas for future support and services. It is part of a wider programme ‘EDIFY’ focusing on transforming how eating disorders are perceived, prevented and treated (Hemmings et al., 2022).

Methodology
Using a participatory design approach (Raman and French, 2022), young people with lived experiences participated in one to one interviews and a co-design workshop. Engagements used a visual metaphor of a ‘kaleidoscope’ to explore impacts of resource security, ethnicity and culture, place, and gender on young people’s journeys of living with an eating disorder and understanding how and where these impacts might intersect (Stephens, Raman and French, 2024).

Findings
The visual journeys were synthesised into visual maps representing each young person’s unique journey. These enabled a nuanced understanding of diversity in young people’s experiences, and the impact of resource security, ethnicity and culture, place, and gender on accessing support. The maps were analysed thematically to identify recurring themes and key principles for future support. The emerging themes and principles reflect what matters to young people around future care and support. These will be further iterated based on outputs from the co-design workshop alongside synthesising key recommendations for future practice.