Eating Disorder Hospital

Walden Behavioral Care: A "Hospital Within A Hospital"

Walden Behavioral Care is a "hospital within a hospital", set on a medical campus owned by Children's Hospital Boston at Nine Hope Avenue in Waltham, Mass., a conveniently located suburb of Boston.

Our facilities include:

• The Alcott Center, 22 beds for inpatient treatment dedicated to patients with eating disorders.
• The Thoreau Center, 23 beds for inpatient treatment dedicated to patients with psychiatric disorders.
• Walden Place, a group of luxury apartments adjacent to the hospital for residential care of patients with eating disorders.
• Walden Partial Hospitalization and Intensive Outpatient Center, where Partial Hospitalization and Intensive Outpatient programs are available for treating our patients.

Not A Typical Hospital Institutional Environment

Visit us and you will find that Walden is not in a typical institutional hospital setting. We believe the environment is important to the treatment of our patients. With bright colors, an abundance of natural light and many quiet spaces, we offer a hospital setting designed to give patients plenty of privacy and help them feel comfortable and safe.

Our hospital is among the first anywhere to offer a complete "continuum" of care.

Walden's Eating Disorder Treatment Program offers inpatient hospitalization, residential, partial hospitalization and intensive outpatient care all on one campus. We follow this approach because:

• Treatment needs change as the patient progresses
• Patients sometimes have setbacks and should have an opportunity to return to their previous level of treatment
• Everyone responses differently to treatment
• Different patients have different types of eating disorders; what works well on one patient at the Eating Disorder Treatment Center may not work well on another

Walden's Eating Disorder Hospital's "Continuum of Care"

Our eating disorder hospital provides discrete, highly specialized treatment of patients 13 and older with anorexia nervosa, bulimia, binge-eating disorder and other eating disorders. Because of the range of services we offer, patients can move from one treatment option to another as they progress toward recovery. They can also receive more intensive care in case of a setback.

Because our eating disorder hospital provides this full range of treatment options, we can treat patients who are at any stage in their eating disorder. As a result, patients can stay at the eating disorder hospital and receive the medical care they need from the same team even as they advance toward lasting recovery.

This continuity is important. When patients have to move from one program to another, it's almost like starting over. Practitioners who treat them have to get to know them and gain their trust. That can take time and can result in setbacks.

Patients with eating disorders have both mental health issues and medical conditions that need to be addressed as part of an overall wellness program. An individual with an eating disorder may, for example, also have depression or an addiction. Our hospital's "whole health" approach concurrently addresses the patient's mental and physical illnesses.

Our multidisciplinary team helps patients develop the skills necessary to gain control of destructive eating behavior, improve their support system, increase self-esteem, and establish a stable foundation for long-term recovery.

What the Walden Eating Disorder Treatment Hospital Offers

At the Walden Eating Disorder Treatment Hospital, we offer four levels of eating disorder care:

Inpatient Hospitalization for patients who require medical and psychiatric stabilization. At our inpatient hospital, The Alcott Center, a team of eating disorder specialists evaluates each patient and a case manager is assigned. Disordered eating patterns are interrupted and patients are monitored continuously. A treatment plan is developed for each patient that includes behavioral therapy, psychotherapy, nutritional counseling and medication.

For those with advanced eating disorders, medical stabilization, and 24-hour monitoring and care, are essential to the patient's health. Walden's Eating Disorder Treatment Center is one of only a handful of hospitals to offer inpatient care in a specialized, dedicated unit.

Residential care for patients who no longer require hospitalization and make a step toward independent living. The Eating Disorder Treatment Center's residential program at Walden Place provides recovering residents with a home-like setting where they can practice the coping skills they learn in therapy sessions, even while they are in a structured, supervised program.

Partial hospitalization for patients who are ready to begin the transition back to independent living, but still need a structured program to stay on track. Partial hospitalization at the Eating Disorder Treatment Center focuses on coping skills, such as teaching patients to deal with the triggers that cause disordered behavior.

Intensive outpatient care for patients who are recovered to the point where they can live independently. Patients continue to receive psychotherapy and support from the Eating Disorder Treatment Center, ongoing education about coping strategies, structured meals and planning for relapse prevention.

Are You Researching Intensive Outpatient Eating Disorder Treatment Programs To Help Someone With An Eating Disorder?

If you suspect you or someone you know has an eating disorder, contact us at Walden Behavioral Care at 781-647-6700 or Info@waldenbehavioralcare.com.

Besides our Intensive Outpatient Eating Disorder Program, Walden offers inpatient, residential, and partial hospitalization programs, providing discrete, highly specialized treatment for patients 13 and older with anorexia, bulimia, binge-eating disorder and other eating disorders.