Eating Disorder Recovery Takes a Village

Eat With Knowledge is so excited to announce we’ve created a free resource for parents and families in our practice!

Over the past decade, we’ve worked with hundreds of families. It’s been an honor to help so many families navigate eating disorder treatment and recovery.

While we recognize the need for education and support, sometimes it’s hard to get everything in our scheduled sessions. After all, 45 minutes every week goes by fast when we have so much to focus on!

Earlier this year, Elyssa, Laura, Allison, and I got together to brainstorm what we could offer as supplemental support for parents and families. We are excited to announce that we created a workshop for parents called “Working Together As A Team”.

The workshop consists of 6 short videos of supplemental education for parents and families. The 6 videos talk about the following topics:

• Eating Disorders Overview
• Developmental Stages in Eating Disorders
• Treatment for Eating Disorders
• The Dietitian Role in Eating Disorders Treatment
• Meal Support
• Higher Level of Care Guidelines

This resource is FREE and available for any client’s family in our practice. Simply email your Eat With Knowledge dietitian directly. If you have questions about nutrition counseling, feel free to email us as well!

We know that being a parent or caregiver of a child with an eating disorder is not easy. Parents need so much support during the process of eating disorder treatment. To help parents see how “it takes a village” in eating disorder treatment, Eat With Knowledge dietitian Allison Milch wrote about how important it is for families to receive support.

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It Takes a Village, by Allison Milch, RDN, CDN

As the old saying goes, eating disorder recovery “takes a village”. Individuals need a multidisciplinary treatment team at all stages in recovery to provide them well-rounded, comprehensive care.

Parents and caregivers are a vital part of eating disorder treatment.

Parents and caregivers often know their children better than any other member of the treatment team.

They may see the greatest level of distress and pain experienced by their children, as well as experience the greatest amount of resistance from their children when they actively challenge the eating disorder voice. The support of parents and caregivers is invaluable, as parents can help echo recovery-focused principles, create a pro-recovery environment at home, and increase their child’s buy-in to choose recovery every day.

While parents play an important role in eating disorder recovery, it is also important to recognize when family dynamics are complicated and challenging.

Family therapy is a crucial part of eating disorder recovery. Parents can increase their level of support for their child when they receive education about eating disorders and the trajectory of eating disorder treatment, and when they learn how to best meet their child’s needs. No matter how complex a parent-child relationship is, no one person is to blame for the development of an eating disorder, and parents can always be a part of the solution.

There are many ways that parents can play a supportive role in their child’s recovery.

Some suggestions include providing your child a variety of foods at appropriate times every day, based on the dietitian’s recommendations. In addition, parents can ensure their child has a comfortable environment to consume meals and snacks in, such as by setting the table, reducing distractions, offering easy meal conversation, and eating with the child. Lastly, parents can partner with the rest of the treatment team by enforcing team recommendations at home and making sure their child attends all of their scheduled appointments.

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If you are interested in making a nutrition counseling appointment here at Eat With Knowledge and receiving this amazing resource, simply email us! We are here to answer any questions to see if we are a good match for you and your family.