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If any business encapsulates the coming together of purpose and profit, it’s Kerrie Jones’ Orri.

A life in three chapters

Kerrie describes her career so far as a story in three chapters. After successful careers in both performing arts and public relations, Kerrie began a transition into psychotherapy. Despite having explored three seemingly different paths, Kerrie sees synchronicity in the threads of human communication, connection, and understanding running through them all.

A focus on eating disorders

Having grown up around dancers in the performing arts, Kerrie was always interested in eating disorders, having seen many of her contemporaries suffer with them from a young age.  

Now, Kerrie is adamant that the lack of sufficient understanding and resource around mental health illnesses in the UK leads to early warning signs being missed. With her team estimating that between 1.24-3.2 million people have a diagnosed eating disorder in the UK at any one given time, these deficiencies in treatment impact a huge number of people.

Kerrie was shocked to learn in her earlier years in psychotherapy that despite eating disorders having the highest mortality rate of any mental health illness, GPs were given little to no training in the area. 

Although the people working within the NHS are exceptional, Kerrie explains, the expert-led care needed for treating eating disorders isn’t being provided. 

Inspiration for Orri

While working in impatient units at The Priory, Kerrie saw a lot of ‘revolving door’ patients. This term was used to describe those who would be discharged, only to be readmitted months later. This was often the result of a delay in patients being able to see therapists and dieticians after being discharged, causing old habits to resurface. 

After seeing this happen time and time again, Kerrie knew eating disorder treatment had to be done differently. She believed that once a patient was physically stable, treatment needed to be done alongside their everyday life to ensure it was sustainable. This was her inspiration for Orri.

Creating a home away from home

Kerrie explains that one of the biggest misconceptions about eating disorders is that they are about food, when often they are an attempt by the sufferer to sooth, and protect themselves from, some kind of pain.  

Therefore, the concept for Orri centred around creating a warm, kind community that those suffering from eating disorders could come to for a safe haven.

Despite being reluctant when they first arrive, Kerrie explains that clients begin to feel so at home at Orri that within a couple of weeks they don’t want to leave.

While having doctors, nurses and monitoring equipment on site, Kerrie and the team have worked hard to soften the environment to make it as comfortable for clients as possible.

Kerrie is proud that Orri encourages clients to use their voices. She explains that when the team are interviewing a candidate for a position, clients will always do the second interview and their opinion of candidates holds an equal weighting.

From taking this kind, clinician-lead approach, 85% of people who come through treatment at Orri recover.

Currently, 75% of Orri’s income is privately funded. Therefore, a real priority for the Orri team is social outreach work offering free group therapy in under privileged areas.

Clinician turned businesswoman

Kerrie explains that she still struggles to identify as a founder and CEO. Being a clinician turned business-owner, there are gaps in her knowledge, she explains, so having the right people around her is essential. 

When it came to raising money for Orri, Kerrie was navigating new territory. She describes the process of finding investors as similar to “speed dating”, trying to find out who would be the right fit.

After getting down to four offers, Kerrie and the team chose Gresham House as they not only felt that they understood the business, but that they asked challenging questions. This reassured Kerrie that they had experience that would help to pick up on any blind spots.

The future for Orri

Kerrie describes her plans for Orri as “ambitious but cautious”. In the next 3-5 years, they plan to grow their online and outpatient services, as well as open up additional sites both in and out of London. Ultimately, Orri’s mission is recovery for all suffering with eating disorders. This means ensuring that everyone who needs treatment can get it whether that be directly through Orri or through their work to raise awareness and incite change.