Eating Disorder Treatment: An Individualised Approach

Treatment for eating disorders

There is no one size fits all approach to eating disorder treatment. Treatment will depend on your eating disorder presentation and symptoms, access to services and your financial resources, among other things.

Starting treatment for an eating disorder can be challenging in many ways. Often, I hear people say they aren't "sick enough" to receive treatment or don't know if they want to recover. Another challenge to starting treatment is understanding your treatment options and how to access them.

Treatment takes place in a variety of settings; community treatment (i.e., living at home while accessing support services), inpatient (i.e., hospital admission), residential or day programs. Regardless of the setting, treatment often involves a multidisciplinary team. Treatment team members are professionals who specialise in eating disorders and consists of a combination of recovery coaching coaching/peer mentoring, psychological support, nutrition education and physical health management.

At a minimum, anyone who is struggling with disordered eating or an eating disorder should have their physical health monitored by a GP. While an eating disorder is a mental health diagnosis, they have numerous implications for physical health, and health status can change quickly.

What are some strategies for dealing with eating disorders?

Sometimes finding out what works best for you requires trial and error.

As hard as it can be, it’s important not to give up trying when it comes to treatment.

As an eating disorder recovery coach, I help clients to overcome the practical challenges faced in recovery and move towards their vision of recovery. Clients are supported to identify, set and achieve specific yet flexible goals; flexibility helps to challenge black-and-white thinking, which fuels disordered eating. Text support is provided outside of sessions, allowing clients to access in-the-moment support when they are struggling. While also teaching the skill of reaching out to others instead of relying on the eating disorder.

I take an individualised approach with clients to meet their specific needs, meaning the focus of my work with clients varies. Some clients need support to identify and challenge diet culture, grocery shop, or improve body image, while others need help following their meal plan (through meal support) and reducing exercise. I’ve also worked with clients who initially were not ready to make any changes, so our focus was on increasing motivation, hope and readiness to change.

Cost of eating disorder treatment

As someone who understands firsthand the barriers to accessing eating disorder support, I strive to offer an affordable service and provide the full benefit of my credentials and experience to those I support.

Outside of one-hour recovery coaching sessions, ensuring clients are well supported requires preparation and planning before sessions, post-session follow-up, regular communication with treatment teams, timely text support, continued professional development and developing resources for client use inside and outside sessions.

If you are thinking about accessing recovery coaching services, please reach out to ensure you receive the most up-to-date pricing. I charge per one-hour session, and there is no additional charge for text support outside of sessions. There is no lock-in period. I encourage you to schedule sessions at a frequency that works for you and best supports your recovery.