Treatment Options
Program Design Supporting Emerging Eating Disorder Pathology in Children and Adolescents
Nationally recognized thought leader in the care of individuals with eating disorders, Ovidio Bermudez, MD, FAAP, FSAHM, FAED, CEDS, serves as Medical Director of Eating Recovery Center’s Child and Adolescent Services. In the Q&A below, Dr. Bermudez describes the pervasive gap in services that led to the creation of Eating Recovery Center’s Behavioral Hospital for Children and Adolescents and details the innovative program design that seeks to meet the distinctive needs of the young eating disordered population as the pathology of these illnesses continues to evolve.
Q: Describe the challenges to effective treatment for children and adolescents.
A: It seems to me that one of the challenges for the field of eating disorders is to better understand and address how eating disorders have been changing. These changes include demographic shifts, with the illnesses affecting both genders, all ages and people from all walks of life, as well as changing symptomatology such as growing creativity in ways of avoiding calories and in compensatory behaviors. These changes are particularly salient when it comes to the young, and we expect to see this salience more formally reflected when the DSM-V is rolled out in 2013. At that time, eating-related pathology in children will take a broader perspective than it has in the past to include what had been known as “eating disturbances of childhood” under the umbrella of eating disorders. In my opinion, this shift is a reflection of not just the growing number of children and young adolescents that we are seeing affected by eating disorders, but also of a broader depth and breadth of eating disorder-related symptomatology in this young and relatively poorly studied population. There has historically been a quantitative gap in services, as the number of available specialized beds in the United States for the severely ill young adolescents, and especially for children, has been limited. In addition to the ongoing quantitative gap in service delivery, I believe today we are also realizing the need to tackle the added challenge of a qualitative gap in services. As this pathology evolves, we see quite a number of difficult cases in children and young adolescents that require clinical expertise, creativity, conducive facilities and strong treatment teams to be able to address these cases in a meaningful way once this level of care is required. This is especially true in light of a general lack of evidence to guide us.
Q: How did the gap in services in the treatment landscape inform the program design for Eating Recovery Center’s Behavioral Hospital for Children and Adolescents?
A: To address the aforementioned gap in services, we opened the dedicated child and adolescent eating disorders treatment facility in January of this year. Months of meticulous planning yielded a program that acknowledges what we know to be true in regards to the evolving pathology of these illnesses in young people. Even so, we were surprised by the richness of clinical presentation in the young patients admitted to the center so far. This complexity includes varied family circumstances at play, as well as varied medical and psychiatric comorbidities like self-harm, oppositional defiant disorders, a wide range of food restrictions, diabetes and cystic fibrosis, among other. All of which are accompanied by the expected coexistence of significant clinical anxiety, fears and phobias and the movement-driven, compulsive exercising component. Fortunately, our program design anticipated and is capable of addressing many of these needs and by individualizing care are able to address the diverse array of clinical presentations. The program leverages creative approaches like the use of the small-team “village” structure to maintain a high staff to patient ratio, a family empowerment model and a strong psychotherapy component to address the specific needs of each patient and family. Another example of a creative approach is the use of “video game”-like biofeedback as an anxiety management tool, which has been very well received by our young patients and has served as a means for engaging them in their treatment plans. Optimal medical management and nutritional rehabilitation are also mainstays of the program.
Q: Describe the concept of developmentally appropriate treatment plans for child and young adolescent patients?
A: One of our focuses in assessing and working with readiness for change in the field of eating disorders treatment has been differentiating between willingness and ability. Many young people struggling with eating disorders also struggle with developmental issues like concreteness, alexithymia and acting out behaviors. Assessment and formulation of developmentally appropriate treatment plans is critical in addressing the needs of our young patients at Eating Recovery Center, and thus specialized tracks have been developed to address the developmentally young. It’s about meeting patients where they are at developmentally. I will be addressing the topic of readiness for change in eating disorders treatment in greater detail at the upcoming third annual Rocky Mountain Eating Disorders Conference, which will be held August 19-20, 2011 in beautiful Denver, Colorado. This year will be my third year in attendance and as a speaker, and I would highly recommend this conference to all professionals in the eating disorder treatment field for both its richness of content and outstanding networking opportunities.
Click here for more information about Child and Adolescent Services at Eating Recovery Center.
Posted in About Us, General, Treatment Options •
Eating Recovery Center In the News: The Other Paper
“Fixing Fat Kids”
Ovidio Bermudez, MD, FAAP, FSAHM, FAED, CEDS, Medical Director of Child and Adolescent Services at Eating Recovery Center, recently lent his expert commenary to The Other Paper in an article profiling obesity and bariatric surgery among children and adolescents:
“Most children don’t go to bed one night well and wake up the next morning binge eaters. That’s not the way we get there,” he said by phone from Brazil Wednesday morning, where he was visiting family. “Most people who end up with an eating disorder started with emotional eating. One of the roads to eating related pathology starts with learning to manage emotions with food. That is kind of the way it begins.”
Bermudez said the pathways to obesity are varied and include factors such as genetic traits, lifestyle issues (eating too much and moving too little), physiological traits such as metabolism, emotional issues that facilitate overeating to compensate, and true mental disorders that manifest as eating disorders including anorexia nervosa, bulimia and, in the case of obesity, binge eating.
“After 20-plus years of working with people with eating disorders, under my care, I’ve never had a person with anorexia or bulimia die. But I’ve had several people with obesity die,” said Bermudez. “This is really dangerous. This is a really serious issue.”
Read more here.
Posted in Binge Eating, In the News, Treatment Options •
Eating Recovery Center In the News: EverydayHealth.com
Seeking Help for Eating Disorders: What Are the Levels of Care?
In her weekly EverydayHealth.com blog, The Truth About Eating Disorders, Julie Holland explores a key question to ask when seeking eating disorder treatment: What level of care is best for me or my loved one? Read an excerpt below, or click here to read the blog post in its entirety.
With all the decisions that are part of seeking help for eating disorders, it’s important to do your research, get the details and ask questions. A crucial step in finding the best treatment center is understanding the eating disorders programs or levels of care that are available. Not all treatment centers offer all levels of care nor is every program the right fit for every person.
Posted in EverydayHealth.com, In the News, Treatment Options •
Eating Recovery Center In the News: Marie Claire
”
Starvation Nation”
In the July 2011 edition of Marie Claire magazine, on newsstands now, reporter Sophia Banay Moura profiles Eating Recovery Center as an innovative facility for eating disorders treatment, and details the journey of one patient as she moved through the Eating Recovery Center’s levels of care toward lasting recovery. Selected excerpts from the five-page article are included below, or read the full article here.
This is the reality of anorexia: patients in and out of hospitals for years, unable to grow up, their families desperate to end the secret starvation rituals. But at one new treatment facility, Denver’s Eating Recovery Center (ERC), doctors are fighting the disease with cutting-edge techniques. Patients wear armband sensors that track every calorie they burn (they’re sold as weight-loss tools, ERC is the only place that utilizes them for eating-disorder treatment), and use biofeedback finger probes, which display heart rate and body temperature, to manage anxiety through breathing exercises. In “flexibility training” (originally developed to help traumatic brain injury vitcims), patients take a different seat in each therapy session or brush their teeth with the opposite hand. The change in routine creates new brain neurons, distrupting obsessive thoughts.
The Denver doctors say mixing these different tactics with traditional treatments, like movement and art therapy, is key to stopping the disease. Because today, 40 years after anorexia and bulimia started sending young white women to hopsitals across the U.S., eating disorders have cropped up in kindergartners, senior citizens, boys, Hispanics, and African Americans. No demographic is safe, and medical professionals are scrambling to combat what has become a burgeoning public health crisis. The most provocative analogy comes from Craig Johnson, Ph.D., who compares the spread of the sickness to that of HIV/AIDS. “The pursuit of thinness is ‘contagious’ ” behaviorally, says Johnson, who has done pioneering research on the biological basis of eating disorders, and is now chief clinical officer at the Eating Recovery Center.
“We’ve moved away from this as a Caucasian, upper-middle-class, ‘princess’ disease. It’s everybody’s disease,” says Dr. Ovidio Bermudez, medical director of child and adolescent services at ERC, which treats patiesnt as young as 10. He’s seen 13-year-old boys on the brink of kidney failure after shunning carbs and gorging on protein; 47-year-old mothers undereating and running 15 miles a day after a double masectomy; 30-somthing housewives hospitalized during pregnancy to stop excessive exercise; and diabetic Ivy League med students manipulating their insulin injections. These new conditions – “orthorexia,” “pregorexia,” “diabulimia” – demand a daring, innovative approach.
Read the full article in the July 2011 edition of Marie Claire, on newsstands now!
Posted in About Us, General, In the News, Treatment Options •
The Role of an Intensive Partial Hospitalization Program in a Vertically-Integrated Healthcare System for the Treatment of Eating Disorders
Vertically-integrated healthcare systems, an emerging umbrella term used to describe the delivery of comprehensive recovery services within or under the aegis of a single treatment entity, provide valuable continuity of care for the eating disorders treatment community. In the vertically-integrated model, the treatment provider’s program offerings span critical core service areas including hospital-based services, partial hospitalization services and outpatient services. Integration among these levels of care fosters ongoing medical support and consistency of the treatment approach as the eating disordered patient moves toward lasting recovery.
Dr. Philip Mehler, Chief Medical Officer at Denver Health Medical Center and recognized expert on the medical complications of eating disorders, presented the vertically-integrated healthcare system as a life-saving innovation in the delivery of healthcare in recent testimony during the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee Hearing “First, Do No Harm: Improving Health Quality and Patient Safety.” Dr. Mehler, who oversees Denver Health’s A.C.U.T.E. (Acute Comprehensive Urgent Treatment for Eating Disorders) program, explained that the model creates “a comprehensive approach to patient care” through the development of programs to manage high-risk medical situations and implementation of systems to reduce variability in care.
Kenneth L. Weiner, MD, FAED, CEDS, Founding Partner, Chief Medical Officer and Chief Executive Officer of Eating Recovery Center, conceptualized the Denver-based eating disorders treatment center with the vertically-integrated model in mind. Recognizing that medical complications associated with starvation and purging can often result in high-risk clinical situations, Eating Recovery Center offers intensive Inpatient and Residential programs featuring 24-hour medical and psychological support, as well as a Partial Hospitalization Program and Outpatient programming to help patients practice recovery and re-engage in more healthy lifestyles. Each level of care incorporates a consistent treatment philosophy based in the Pillars of Recovery—values, mindsight and connectedness—and provides a common foundation from which care can be individualized.
“Despite significant variability in how eating disorders present in an individual via symptoms and behaviors, Eating Recovery Center’s vertically-integrated healthcare system brings consistency and integration to the treatment process,” explains Dr. Weiner. “Continuity of care is integral to meeting the diverse treatment needs of eating disordered patients and guiding them toward lasting recovery.”
Dr. Weiner notes that partial hospitalization is a particularly critical stage of the vertically-integrated model in eating disorders recovery because it serves a dual role as both a step-up/step-down level of care as well as a direct-admit level of care. Patients struggling to implement recovery skills during evenings at home or in recovery-focused apartment communities, or those whose physical health deteriorates as a result of disordered behaviors, can step up from PHP to a higher level of care if clinically indicated. Patients that find success in the PHP can progress along the spectrum to levels of care offering more autonomy, such as an Evening Intensive Outpatient Program (EIOP), and eventually onto less intensive outpatient treatment options.
In addition to accepting patients moving within the internal treatment continuum, PHP can be a meaningful direct-admit level of care for patients entering treatment for the first time or transitioning from other eating disorder programs. As a fully-supported non-residential treatment program, PHP can help a medically stable patient to test the waters of recovery while working with expert clinical staff to identify their appropriate level of care.
Echoing the sentiments conveyed by Dr. Mehler in his Congressional testimony, Dr. Weiner maintains that the vertically-integrated healthcare system offers unmatched value for patients, families and referring professionals seeking an eating disorders treatment resource. “This treatment model is characterized by preparedness to effectively and consistently address the needs of the vast majority of eating disordered patients, no matter how acute their illness. When entrusting the well-being of a loved one or a client to an eating disorders treatment program, comprehensiveness, integration and quality of care is of the utmost importance.”
For more information about Eating Recovery Center’s Partial Hospitalization Program, download our informational flyer here.
Posted in About Us, Treatment Options •
Increased Demand for Eating Disorders Care Drives Eating Recovery Center to Expand
Leading Center for Eating Disorders Recovery Relocates Partial Hospitalization Program to Dedicated Facility, Nearly Doubles Program’s Treatment Capacity
In response to increasing demand for eating disorders care, Eating Recovery Center, a national center for eating disorders recovery providing comprehensive treatment for anorexia and bulimia, has expanded its treatment capacity. The Center has relocated its Partial Hospitalization Program (PHP), an 11.5-hour-per-day, non-residential eating disorder program, from its adult behavioral hospital to a new 16,000-square foot facility in Denver’s Lowry neighborhood. The new dedicated facility nearly doubles the PHP’s current treatment capacity.
“This expansion enables us to provide much-needed treatment to more individuals and families who struggle with these devastating diseases,” said Kenneth L. Weiner, MD, FAED, CEDS, chief executive officer, chief medical officer and founding partner of Eating Recovery Center. “Though the program has expanded, the PHP’s high patient to therapist ratio and small group structure ensure that each patient has a highly individualized treatment experience.”
The PHP, now open at 8190 E. 1st Avenue, is designed to help men and women ages 18 and older practice recovery skills they can translate into their post-treatment lives. The program can operate as either a step-down from Inpatient and Residential eating disorders programs or a step up for Outpatient Program participants who need more structure and support. Eating Recovery Center’s PHP accepts patients moving within its own treatment continuum, entering treatment for the first time or transitioning from other eating disorders programs.
While many partial hospitalization programs are comprised of six to eight hours of programming offered five to seven days per week, Eating Recovery Center’s PHP provides 11.5 hours of treatment seven days per week. The nearly full day of programming supports patients through all meals and snacks and offers ample structure to help patients interrupt eating disorders behaviors and restore weight. Patients have the opportunity to practice recovery at night, spending evenings at home or in peer-supported apartment communities provided by Eating Recovery Center.
Unique among PHPs, Eating Recovery Center’s Partial Hospitalization Program is designed by nationally recognized eating disorders experts, supervised by two full-time, onsite psychiatrists, and medically supported by a full-time, onsite nurse. Primary therapists, family therapists, dietitians and internists provide ongoing individualized care.
“The PHP’s integrated treatment philosophy combines medical, psychiatric, nutritional and psychological elements to give patients and families the tools to achieve lasting behavioral change,” said Bonnie Brennan, MA, LPC, NCC, clinical director of Eating Recovery Center’s Partial Hospitalization Program. “This level of treatment is a critical stage in the eating disorders treatment continuum because it helps patients practice their recovery skills and test their abilities in a supported environment.”
Experiential therapies, such as grocery store and restaurant outings, help patients overcome anxieties and develop skills they can translate to their post-treatment lives. Patients learn cooking, portioning and serving food in Eating Recovery Center’s teaching kitchen. Daily meals and snacks, prepared by onsite professional chefs, provide patients with an opportunity to practice making healthy choices in a supported environment. Skills groups and individual therapy help patients process experiences and build a recovery mindset.
The only privately owned eating disorders treatment center providing all levels of care for adults, adolescents and children struggling with eating disorders, Eating Recovery Center also operates a behavioral hospital for adults, a behavioral hospital treating children and adolescents ages 10 through 17 and an outpatient services office.
For more information about eating disorders programs or to learn about Eating Recovery Center’s clinical assessment and admissions process, visit EatingRecoveryCenter.com.
Posted in About Us, General, Press Releases, Treatment Options •
Exploring Outpatient Treatment Options
Contributed by Karen Trevithick, PsyD, Clinical Director of Outpatient Programs
Professionals must manage the competing tensions between their patient’s awareness that his or her illness interferes with daily life and their fear that treatment might disrupt their personal, professional and social lives. Understanding the function of outpatient treatment for eating disorders and for whom it is appropriate can help healthcare professionals ease patients into this higher level of care, which often represents an integral step toward lasting recovery.
Outpatient programs offer comprehensive eating disorders treatment options with the goal of teaching the skills necessary for sustainable recovery. Administered in a flexible setting by a team of psychiatrists, registered dieticians, family therapists and individual therapists, an increasingly common delivery of outpatient treatment is the Evening Intensive Outpatient Program (EIOP). EIOP involves four hours of intensive outpatient programming three evenings per week and allows patients to work, go to school or care for children during the day and sleep at home at night, and can be a meaningful next step in a patient’s treatment continuum or a valuable adjunct to individual therapy.
While all patient cases are unique and require individual consideration within the context of general evaluative criteria, candidates for EIOP treatment are generally characterized as:
• Having healthy systems of support, including supportive friends, family and/or colleagues;
• Not being medically compromised by their eating disorder; and
• Not exhibiting overwhelming symptoms of depression or anxiety.
Furthermore, EIOP is particularly effective in helping patients confront common “triggers” for harmful thoughts or behaviors related to their eating disorder, including:
• Challenging and confronting daily patterns—EIOP provides a safe, supportive environment for patients to address behaviors and feelings relating to destructive daily patterns—including struggles with disordered eating patterns, complete weight restoration or fully connecting with relationships and experience—which is critical to lasting recovery.
• Addressing stressors or crises when they arise—Stressors or crises in a patient’s life have the potential to derail recovery. EIOP can provide the structure and support necessary to help patients confront and manage these unanticipated challenges that emerge on the path to lasting recovery.
• Stepping down from a higher level of care—EIOP can help to foster a positive transition into activities of daily living for adults returning from facilities providing a higher level of care, including intensive inpatient and partial hospitalization programs.
Because EIOP is a group- and skills-based program, it offers an excellent treatment option for men and women who would benefit from intensive recovery services while remaining engaged in their daily lives. Professionals exploring treatment options with patients should start a dialogue about the role the eating disorder has played in his or her life; by identifying data that shows how disruptive an eating disorder has become and taking a firm yet compassionate stance, you can help ease an individual into the recovery process, enabling patients to truly feel successful in their lives again – or to honestly feel success for the first time.
Posted in About Us, General, Treatment Options •
Eating Recovery Center Appoints Karen Trevithick as Clinical Director of Outpatient Services
Newest Team Member Brings Strong Experience in Outpatient Treatment for Eating Disorders
Eating Recovery Center (www.EatingRecoveryCenter.com), a national center for eating disorders recovery, today announced that it has named Karen Trevithick, Psy.D., its new clinical director of outpatient services. In this role, Dr. Trevithick will provide leadership for counseling services, identify and implement strategies for operation, and facilitate counseling and group activities for patients.
“Dr. Trevithick’s past experience both as a psychologist and a clinical director will make her a valuable addition to Eating Recovery Center’s team of professionals,” said Kenneth L. Weiner, MD, FAED, CEDS, chief executive officer and founding partner of Eating Recovery Center.
Dr. Trevithick has more than 10 years of experience in eating disorder treatment. Most recently, she served as clinical director for the Eating Disorder Center of Miami, where she developed and facilitated an intensive group program and provided individual and family therapy for patients struggling with eating disorders, as well as post traumatic stress disorder, depression, anxiety and substance abuse.
Prior to her work at the Eating Disorder Center of Miami, Dr. Trevithick served as a psychologist for Alternatives Counseling Center and as the coordinator for Alexian Brothers Behavioral Health Hospital’s eating disorder program. During her tenure at Alexian, Dr. Trevithick co-developed, managed and cultivated the Center’s nationally recognized eating disorder intensive outpatient and partial programs.
Dr. Trevithick received a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Brandeis University, as well as both a master’s degree and a doctorate in clinical psychology from the Chicago School of Professional Psychology.
About Eating Recovery Center
Eating Recovery Center is a national center for eating disorders recovery providing comprehensive treatment for anorexia and bulimia. Denver-based facilities include a licensed behavioral hospital treating adults, an outpatient office and a licensed behavioral hospital treating children and adolescents. Under the personal guidance and care of Drs. Kenneth Weiner and Emmett Bishop, and the newest additions to our leadership team – Drs. Craig Johnson and Ovidio Bermudez, our collaborative programs provide a full spectrum of services for children, adolescents and adults. Our integrated program offers patients from across the country a continuum of care that includes inpatient, residential, partial hospitalization, intensive outpatient and outpatient services. Our compassionate team of professionals collaborates with treating professionals and loved ones to cultivate lasting behavioral change. For more information please contact us at 877-218-1344 or info@EatingRecoveryCenter.com or confidentially chat live on our website at www.EatingRecoveryCenter.com.
Posted in About Us, General, Press Releases, Treatment Options •
Eating Recovery Center Opens New Behavioral Hospital to Address Growing Trend of Child and Adolescent Eating Disorders
Center’s Experts Offer Five Eating Disorder Facts Every Family Should Know
A recent report from the American Academy of Pediatrics revealed that hospitalizations for children with eating disorders are on the rise, that approximately 0.5 percent of adolescent girls in the United States have anorexia, and that 1 to 2 percent meet diagnostic criteria for bulimia. To address this growing trend, Eating Recovery Center (EatingRecoveryCenter.com), a national center for eating disorders recovery, has opened Eating Recovery Center, a Behavioral Hospital for Children and Adolescents, a hospital specifically dedicated to providing comprehensive eating disorders treatment for children and adolescents – both girls and boys – ages 10 to 17. The hospital opened today in Denver’s Lowry neighborhood, and is now accepting patients.
“It’s important for families to be aware that disordered eating behaviors can start at any age,” explains Kenneth L. Weiner, MD, CEDS, founding partner and chief executive officer of Eating Recovery Center. “Early intervention, expert treatment and ongoing family support are vital to lasting recovery.”
To help parents recognize eating disorders triggers and warning signs, appropriately intervene and seek help, Eating Recovery Center offers these five facts every family should know:
1. Children and adolescents with eating disorders can recover with the appropriate treatment. According to the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, most teenagers can fully recover from eating disorders with appropriate, comprehensive treatment.
2. Weight-focused sports could be potentially harmful. Sports such as track and field, gymnastics and wrestling involve a healthy weight component to be competitive. It is important that parents emphasize the importance of practicing and training in a healthy manner.
3. Adolescents with anorexia or bulimia will likely display warning signs. Adolescents with anorexia are often very driven and high achievers. Warning signs that can be displayed include weight loss, avoidance of activities and friends, and anxiety about gaining weight or feeling “fat.”
Individuals with bulimia may not be as recognizable by weight loss, but often experience dramatic weight fluctuations. They may also try to hide purging behaviors by running water while in the restroom or brushing teeth several times a day. They may also display cuts or scrapes on their knuckles and dental problems.
4. Families play an important role in recovery. Studies show that by intervening when they see a problem and integrating recovery-focused behaviors into family life, families can become agents of change for their children in eating disorders recovery.
5. Eating disorders will often go hand-in-hand with other diseases. Anorexia and bulimia can occur alongside mood disorders such as depression, anxiety disorders and substance abuse, as well as a number of other behavioral conditions. Recovery is possible with early intervention and proper treatment.
Eating Recovery Center’s newest behavioral hospital is led by a nationally recognized expert in child and adolescent eating disorders, Ovidio Bermudez, MD, FAAP, FSAM, FAED, CEDS. Dr. Bermudez serves as the hospital’s new medical director of child and adolescent services. The hospital operates under the direction of Dr. Weiner, and Eating Recovery Center’s chief clinical officer, Craig Johnson, PhD, FAED, CEDS.
Eating Recovery Center, a Behavioral Hospital for Children and Adolescents, is located at 8140 E. 5th Ave., Denver, Colo., and is now accepting patients from across the country.
About Eating Recovery Center
Eating Recovery Center is a national center for eating disorders recovery providing comprehensive treatment for anorexia and bulimia. Denver-based facilities include a licensed behavioral hospital treating adults, an outpatient office and a facility treating children and adolescents. Under the personal guidance and care of Drs. Kenneth Weiner and Emmett Bishop, and the newest additions to our leadership team – Drs. Craig Johnson and Ovidio Bermudez, our collaborative programs provide a full spectrum of services for children, adolescents and adults. Our integrated program offers patients from across the country a continuum of care that includes inpatient, residential, partial hospitalization, intensive outpatient and outpatient services. Our compassionate team of professionals collaborates with treating professionals and loved ones to cultivate lasting behavioral change. For more information please contact us at 877-218-1344 or info@EatingRecoveryCenter.com or confidentially chat live on our website at www.EatingRecoveryCenter.com.
Posted in In the News, Press Releases, Treatment Options •
Eating Recovery Center to Open Innovative Eating Disorders Hospital for Children and Adolescents
World-Renowned Expert, Dr. Ovidio Bermudez, to Lead the New Treatment Center
Eating Recovery Center (www.EatingRecoveryCenter.com), a national eating disorders recovery program providing comprehensive treatment for anorexia and bulimia, today announced that it will open a new behavioral hospital specifically designed to provide eating disorders care to children and adolescents. The hospital is slated to open in late November in Denver’s Lowry neighborhood.
Eating Recovery Center’s newest treatment program will be led by a world-renowned expert in child and adolescent eating disorders, Ovidio Bermudez, MD, FAAP, FSAM, FAED, CEDS. Dr. Bermudez will serve as the hospital’s new medical director. It will operate under the direction of the treatment center’s CEO and co-founder, Kenneth L. Weiner, MD, CEDS, and its chief clinical officer, Craig Johnson, PhD, FAED, CEDS.
“The child and adolescent hospital will offer comprehensive treatment for eating disorders for children and adolescents, males and females. Our comprehensive treatment model will blend traditional approaches like medical stabilization, psychiatric stabilization and nutritional rehabilitation with new approaches like Behavioral Family Therapy in the partial hospitalization phase of the treatment experience,” explains Dr. Bermudez. “We have carefully chosen an outstanding staff and, in addition, will use technologies to enhance patient care. Our goal is to be a center of excellence and to offer the best treatment to the patients and families we care for.”
The child and adolescent facility will offer a full spectrum of treatment options for children and adolescents ages 10 to 17, including inpatient, residential, partial hospitalization, intensive outpatient and outpatient services. In addition to treating eating disorders, such as anorexia and bulimia, the treatment center will address “eating disturbances,” which include such behaviors as extreme pickiness, food fears and food avoidance.
Eating Recovery Center’s multidisciplinary treatment team will work closely with families and referring professionals to collaborate on traditional treatment experiences such as nutritional rehabilitation, medical care and psychotherapy. Eating Recovery Center will also introduce such innovative approaches as:
• Utilizing technology, such as heart monitoring, movement monitoring and biofeedback, to monitor for overactive behaviors and manage anxiety in children and adolescents.
• Introducing Behavioral Family Therapy at a later point in the treatment continuum – after a traditional phase of treatment in 24-hour care – to allow patients to manage nutritional deficiencies and medical issues prior to collaboration with family.
“Recent studies have shown that the involvement of family in the treatment process has a positive impact on recovery,” explains Dr. Weiner. “We will work closely with families to integrate recovery-focused behaviors and sustainable changes into family life, enabling family members and loved ones to become agents of change for our patients.”
Eating Recovery Center’s child and adolescent hospital will be located at 8140 E. 5th Ave., Denver, Colo., and is now accepting patients from across the country.
About Eating Recovery Center
Eating Recovery Center is a national center for eating disorders recovery providing comprehensive treatment for anorexia and bulimia. Denver-based facilities include a licensed behavioral hospital treating adults, an outpatient office and a facility treating children and adolescents scheduled to open in November 2010. Under the personal guidance and care of Drs. Weiner and Bishop, and the newest additions to our leadership team – Drs. Craig Johnson and Ovidio Bermudez, our collaborative programs provide a full spectrum of services for children, adolescents and adults. Our integrated program offers patients from across the country a continuum of care that includes inpatient, residential, partial hospitalization, intensive outpatient and outpatient services. Our compassionate team of professionals collaborates with treating professionals and loved ones to cultivate lasting behavioral change. For more information please contact us at 877-218-1344 or info@EatingRecoveryCenter.com or confidentially chat live on our website at www.EatingRecoveryCenter.com.
Posted in General, In the News, Press Releases, Treatment Options •
