Our Approach to Eating Disorder Care and Treatment
1
Medical Management
Due to the acute nature of Eating Disorders and the symptoms that are commonly associated with them, we encourage all of our clients to have a family doctors or Naturopaths as part of their team to help with medical management. We help our clients by providing information for their physicians like documents and material to help them monitor their condition if they are not specialized in the treatment of Eating Disorders already. Through regular blood work, medication management and monitoring of vitals and referrals these professionals are an integral part of the team. It's very important that individuals know that we are not a medical facility and although we are all registered and regulated, monitoring client's medical stability is beyond our scope.
2
Team Approach
Eating Disorders do not exist in isolation and neither does the team required to treat them. We highly encourage all of our clients to be connected with one of our nutrition professionals for regular monitoring. Our Nutritionist can provide the follow up and support you need to make important changes with food. Best practices suggest that anyone with an Eating Disorder work with both a Therapist and a Dietitian to ensure timely and holistic care. We recommend meeting weekly or bi-weekly with your nutrition support in the acute stages of your treatment which would be at least 3-4 months. We recognize that you may not be ready to do the work and our stepped approach to care allows our clients to work through understanding their illness along with making change in a way that feels manageable. Please see our Road Map below.
3
Psychotherapy
The work that goes into getting better from an Eating Disorder goes far beyond food and our bodies. The work you will do with your therapist will uncover deeper themes and an understanding of the self to allow you to heal. Our therapists are trained in Dialectical Behavioural Therapy, Cognitive Behavioural Therapy , Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, Emotion Focussed Therapy, Family Based Treatment for Eating Disorders and are all trauma informed. These therapies are the most commonly used in the treatment of Eating Disorders and together with your therapist you will determine the best fit. We recommend meeting weekly or minimum bi-weekly for sessions for anyone with an active Eating Disorder. Regular therapy for quite a while is required to build the skills necessary to prevent relapse.
4
Carer Support
Lastly, we offer support for Carers of those impacted by an Eating Disorder. Our monthly workshop helps to teach family members and other support people the skills necessary to understand and support someone living with an Eating Disorder. This group is professionally led and a combination of skills and support amongst peers. If group based support is not for you, we see great value to offering psychotherapy and support to those caring for someone with an Eating Disorder.
If you have landed on this page you have been touched by the devastating effects of an Eating Disorder. At CCP all our therapists are Eating Disorder Sensitive and many of our clinicians are highly trained and skilled to treat this complex illness.
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Our approach to care is based on incorporating this 4 step collaborative model of care to provide evidenced based treatment on an outpatient basis.
Road Map
A glance into what getting support for your Eating Disorder may look:
At CCP we have nutrition support and psychotherapists here to help us support our client's who have identified symptoms of an Eating Disorder. We are very aware of the limitations of an Eating Disorder Diagnosis and believe that anyone who feels they are experiencing signs of an Eating Disorder deserves care. The process of getting better requires a careful and collaborative approach. We know that individuals are not always ready to make changes when they first approach us for care and have designed our program with this in mind.
Below is an example of the road map we follow: Each individual case is unique.
Session 1:
Intake session:
Gather information related to history with food, current patterns around food and assess current motivation and stage of change.
Sessions 2-4
Eating Disorder identification:
What is disordered eating? What behaviour is present? Identify ED symptoms, the functions of the ED symptoms, rules around food.
Session 3-5:
Influences:
Explore and introduce of Diet culture and the functions behind the behav The aim is to help client to understand the pathology behind behaviours without the need to change. Topics like; fear of weight gain, weight stigma, body image discomfort are all explored here.
Sessions 3-6:
Making change:
Empower clients to better understand where they are in the stages of change. Help client's to identify their ideal relationship with food and what it looks like. Map out a road map of what ideal eating looks like for them.
Session 3-7:
Implementation:
Create a hierarchy of goals and a rough plan for what changes will come each week. This is where the structure and routine will be setting in and a plan for support will be explored.
Session 3-7 onwards: Assess goals and challenges that come up with achieving goals. Work on an effective and collaborative definition of what support is needed to achieve these goals. Accountability coaching, meal support, meal prep ideas, recipes etc are all covered here and throughout.
**This is meant to be a road map not a prescriptive approach to care. Each client will move through these stages at their own pace.
We are here.
We know it's scary.
The research and funds dedicated to building treatment and awareness for this illness is lacking substantially. Based on years of experience and the research we do have, these are the best steps to take in treating and managing Eating Disorders. We understand as a private facility accessing these services may be a challenge, Eating Disorders cannot afford to wait. Early detection is the key.