Eating Disorders & Eating Problems
Resources
the NATIONAL EATING DISORDERS ASSOCIATION
Eating Disorders Screening Tool
Why are eating disorders so hard to treat?
Globally, about 10% of people will experience an eating disorder during their lifetime. And yet, eating disorders are profoundly misunderstood. Misconceptions about everything from symptoms to treatment make it difficult to navigate an eating disorder or support someone you love as they do so. Anees Bahji shares what is— and isn't— true about eating disorders. [Directed by Laura Jayne Hodkin, narrated by Bethany Cutmore-Scott, music by Stephen LaRosa].
Trauma, Resilience, and Nourishment
This course sets the foundation for future Leah’s Pantry courses. Some historical context of food security and community nutrition approaches are introduced, followed by a discussion of the meaning of food in our lives, the role of trauma and adversity in individual and community relationships to food, and an overview of the stress response. Activities include videos, readings, and personal reflection opportunities.
Audience: For agency staff, volunteers, and community leaders. Note that this training is already included, at no additional cost, in our certification programs for NPP, Around the Table, and Around the Table: Nourishing Families. [If an agency has multiple participants, each participant must register separately so their registration email address can then be added to our online training system.] Click here to register
Prerequisite: None Total Training Time: 90 minutes
The Renfrew Center’s Spanish-Speaking Virtual Support Group
Held Bi-Weekly on Mondays • 5:30 pm – 6:30 pm (ET)
Those who are impacted by a loved one with an eating disorder—siblings, parents, spouses, friends, partners, significant others, or caretakers—often need additional support during the treatment process. This group is offered weekly to anyone viewed as a Support Person who speaks Spanish.
Attendees receive guidance from clinical staff and each other, while learning how to effectively communicate with their loved one and help them move forward in their recovery. Participants also discuss The Renfrew Center Unified Treatment Model for Eating Disorders® and gain an understanding of how it serves as the foundation for their loved one’s treatment.
Attendees will need access to wi-fi, and a device with a camera, microphone and audio capabilities.
For more information about The Renfrew Center’s Spanish-Speaking Virtual Support Group, please call 1-800-RENFREW (736-3739) or contact us online.
New Directions in Eating Disorders Treatment: Introducing Our Virtual Parent Training Course (NEDA)
This is a self-guided resource that was affordable, easily accessible, and based on empirically-supported models of eating disorders treatment. With those goals in mind, we created a comprehensive virtual training course for parents of children and adolescents with anorexia nervosa. The course is based on the principles of Family-Based Treatment (FBT), the gold-standard treatment for youth with anorexia (National Institute for Health & Care Excellence, 2017), and Temperament-Based Treatment with Supports (TBT-S), which focuses on understanding temperament and personality traits to facilitate recovery (Hill, Knatz Peck, & Wierenga, 2022; Kaye et al., 2014). The course is designed to help parents better understand eating disorders and learn and implement skills to help their child recover. Unlike traditional treatment, the course content is delivered through brief videos featuring clinicians, researchers, and experts by lived experience as well as accompanying handouts to help apply material at home. While the course is not a replacement for treatment, we believe it could be particularly beneficial for parents who are not connected with a Family-Based Treatment provider.
No family should have to navigate eating disorder recovery alone, but the unfortunate reality is that many families do. We could not be more grateful to NEDA for supporting our efforts to change this. While there is much more work to be done to ensure treatment access for all, we are proud to have created a resource that delivers expert knowledge with passion and empathy and provides parents with skills and strategies that are often gatekept from people without access to specialized care.
If you are interested in participating in the study, please email Terra Towne, Ph.D. at ttowne@health.ucsd.edu.
5 Tips for Coping with an Eating Disorder During the Holidays
When you’re in recovery from an eating disorder, the holiday season, though it may bring significant joy and excitement, may also present challenges and potential obstacles. The season also brings cooler and darker months, which presents its own hurdles for individuals with mood disorders and/or eating disorders. In addition, we see increases in the emphasis on food, social (and social media) pressure, and diet talk and culture. Not to mention that there is a lot of pressure for the holiday season to be the best time of the year! Unfortunately, this can be daunting for individuals struggling with mental health issues.
“The best thing you can do if you know that you will find yourself faced with these types of pressures is to be prepared,” says Dawn Delgado, National Director of Clinical Development for Center For Discovery, a provider of residential and outpatient treatment for eating disorders, with locations across the U.S. “Reasonable and realistic steps for coping will allow you to remain strong and maintain the progress you’ve made.”
New YEar’s HELP GUIDE- ANAD 2023
The New Year's is a cause for great celebration, but one that is often accompanied by a complex set of emotions. Whether it's the sadness from the end of the holiday season, the pressure to live up to a "new year, new me" standard, mixed emotions after reflecting on the previous year, or slipping into toxic new year's resolutions, it goes without saying that the New Year's can be especially difficult if you have or are trying to recover from an eating disorder