Terrified of the desperate families presenting to the emergency department in great distress.

Families with nowhere else to turn.

Medical staff without the knowledge or training to help ... beyond treating the physical symptoms of a very serious mental illness.

"We didn't know anything about it," the doctor admitted during a forum on eating disorder services in the region last week.

The gaping hole in specialised training on eating disorders for GPs, paediatricians, dieticians, health professionals and teachers was among the issues raised at the March 11 roundtable, organised by Indi MP Helen Haines.

The former nurse and rural health researcher listened to "heartbreaking" stories from families and individuals with lived experiences and clinicians who spoke of the lack of access to treatment and recovery services for eating disorders in the region.

Dr Haines plans to push the federal government for $6 million to fund a specialist treatment and recovery facility on the Border.

Currently the closest treatment available is Melbourne or Geelong.

Annette Baker travelled the highway to hell from Albury to Melbourne over and over again, scrambling to get help for her daughter Mary.

She recalls the "torture" of packing their family of five into the car every week for a year to attend an outpatient program at the now-closed Oak House.

The 12-year-old spent a week at Albury hospital on a feeding tube before being sent to the Royal Children's for two months and then advised to sign up for a program at Surrey Hills.

The Maudsley program - it was "the thing" of that period - was meant to be inclusive of families, Annette says.

"During her first visit, Mary was humiliated; we had to give her breakfast and she was forced to eat it in front of all of us," she says.

Food, food, food ... always the focus on food.

Annette still weeps as she recalls the physical minefield of grappling with Mary's eating disorder when the real battle was being waged in her daughter's mind.

Tuesday marked 11 years since 15-year-old Mary took her life.

In the three years before she died, Mary Baker did not once pick up any food by herself and eat it.

Annette and husband Stuart took morning tea, lunch and afternoon tea to school.

"There was this focus on food and not anything else," says Annette, who has previously recalled that one insensitive doctor suggested a milkshake and a can of Coke would sort out their daughter.

"We knew nothing and we were not guided; we didn't know it's one of the most serious mental illnesses."

The Bakers also didn't know at the time that anorexia has the highest rate of suicide of any psychiatric disorder.

They hadn't yet met former Australian of the Year Professor Patrick McGorry, who maintains eating disorders are the hardest mental illness to treat.

And they didn't know that "the earliest intervention possible" is the key to tackling an eating disorder.

"We were strung along and strung along ... until it was too late," says Annette, who is now a tireless campaigner for major changes to the country's mental health system.

It took years for Wahgunyah resident Natasha Kirk to be diagnosed, let alone receive any type of assistance for her eating disorder.

"Living rurally meant limited access and availability of services," the mum of six says.

"The timing of eating disorder treatment is crucial as it is very hard for the sufferer to reach out for help, and if and when they do if the service is not readily accessible the opportunity is missed, and the eating disorder tightens it grip.

"Hence, I had many years of illness progression that led to a severe and enduring battle with anorexia.

"A local facility would reduce the physical, emotional, mental and financial cost to all involved and ultimately save lives.

"Travelling for care provides a monumental barrier for all involved.

"We need a facility that can provide care at every stage and facilitate the sufferer integrating back into their local community with a team-based approach and ongoing support at each stage of the illness."

Ms Kirk says if she had the opportunity for early diagnosis and intervention then "my severe and enduring illness trajectory would have been reduced".

"Travelling for care and having to leave my children at home absolutely prolonged and exacerbated the immense and complex illness I was dealing with," she insists.

"Leaving my children to access further care was debilitating on every level."

There are more than a million Australians currently experiencing an eating disorder and less than a quarter are getting treatment or support, according to The Butterfly Foundation.

Dr Haines "is extremely aware that the Border region lacks sufficient access to treatment and recovery services for eating disorders".

At last Saturday's roundtable, Albury psychologist Bronwyn Wood revealed she was forced to turn away 43 referrals for eating disorders in 2021.

It's a story repeated in psychologist and psychiatrist rooms across the region.

Books - and doors - are closed as the demand outstrips available services and families are forced through the revolving doors of ill-equipped GPs and emergency departments.

Associate Professor Leah Brennan, who led the discussion and heads the Body Image, Eating and Weight Clinical Research Team, says the prevalence of eating disorders in the region has skyrocketed during the pandemic.

She says delayed access to treatment contributes to more severe and enduring illness with significant impacts on physical, mental and social well-being.

"There are few eating disorder services available locally and these limited services can't keep up with demand; their waiting lists continue to grow," Professor Brennan says.

"If people with an eating disorder can access effective treatment as soon as possible after the onset of the eating disorder they have a very good chance of making a full recovery."

Dr Haines says the roundtable "shone a light" on the critical lack of services for people experiencing eating disorders in the area.

"It was very moving and very powerful," she says.

"Eating disorders are complex and serious mental health conditions that affect people's lives in profound ways.

"They can happen to anyone, of any age, of any gender and from any background.

"And, because there are no specialist services in early intervention, treatment or rehabilitation, the burden falls to families, to carers, to siblings ..."

Dr Haines says the next move is to advocate for a physical centre to be built on the Border - one with early intervention resources and education, in-patient beds, a specialised medical and allied health team and follow-up support in the community.

"We've seen what happened when the community got behind a headspace centre," she says.

"We talk about needing more mental health services - this is a concrete project that would meet an urgent local need."

More than a decade after losing her daughter, Annette says "we haven't come a long way" in providing services to support diagnosis, treatment and recovery from an eating disorder locally.

Services that might have saved Mary's life.

Services that Dr Haines now wants on our doorstep.