Her family lives in a small town near the Victorian border, where her teenage daughter Lily* is fighting a complex and serious eating disorder.

"You really need a lot of support. And [to] feel like you have a lot of support. And at times it hasn't felt like that," Allison said.

Now aged 17, Lily was first hospitalised in 2018 in Melbourne, where she received intensive medical help after her anorexia "fought back massively" and spiralled.

After she was stabilised she was transferred to Bendigo and then Sydney, where she has since received long stints of treatment on multiple occasions.

"We're a Border town and anything to do with mental health, because we're in NSW, has to be in NSW. It can't be Victoria, even though places there are closer," Allison said.

Child and Mental Health Service clinician Danae Laskowski said this was a "big issue" for Border communities like Allison's, which is significantly closer to Melbourne than Sydney.

Ms Laskowski, who is based in Deniliquin and works with eating disorder and mental health patients across the Murrumbidgee Local Health District, has been supporting Allison, Lily and their family.

Allison said Ms Laskowski had been her family's "link to Sydney", where Lily has spent months at a time away from home and school.

Ms Laskowski encouraged people in the Murrumbidgee to seek help if their lives were affected by an eating disorder, where she said support was available.

She also praised the rural outreach team in Sydney for their support of Lily and her family.

"I think traditionally it was very 'city-centric', the services available. But the goal of NSW Health to ensure that all people have access to appropriate services, it is happening," she said.

Allison said Lily was slowly starting to move towards recovery, even though the disordered thoughts were "still there".

"We've still got a little bit to go yet," she said.

"I feel like we've got support. Whereas at the beginning it was a bit scary.

"Mums are meant to fix everything. And you just can't fix it."

A new program has recently launched in the MLHD in partnership with national eating disorder research institute InsideOut, which will trial Family Based Therapy (FBT) over telehealth.

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FBT is recognised as the best practice method of treating children and adolescents with anorexia.

Wagga psychologist Angela Farrell said InsideOut researchers were now looking for suitable families, who need to have a child under the age of 18 with a a diagnosis of anorexia and live in the Deniliquin or Griffith catchment areas.

Families will need to do at 20 weekly FBT sessions over at least six "pretty intensive" months.

"COVID-19 has forced a lot of what would have been face-to-face treatment to go to telehealth anyway," Ms Farrell said.

Ms Farrell said the trial would examine whether Telehealth could be as effective for rural families as delivering FBT face-to-face.

"If the results are just as beneficial then that becomes a very realistic delivery mode for an intervention like FBT," she said.

"So those families can still access support and get good outcomes."

If you are interested in learning whether you or a relative are eligible to take part in the Murrumbidgee's FBT trial, you can contact Angela Farrell at Angela.Farrell@health.nsw.gov.au

*Names have been changed at the family's request

If you are concerned by body image or eating disorder issues you can call the Butterfly National Helpline from 8am-midnight, 7 days a week on 1800 334 673 for support.

Lifeline: 13 11 14