Press Room > Eating Disorders

Background

CONTACT:
Maggie Moran
Walden Behavioral Care, LLC
781-647-6702

Walden Behavioral Care, LLC ­ Eating Disorders Services

Walden Behavioral Care's Eating Disorders Program provides discrete, highly specialized treatment of patients 13 and older with anorexia, bulimia and binge-eating disorders.

Continuum of Care
Walden is one of the first hospitals in the country to offer the full "continuum of care" for treating eating disorders. We offer inpatient care, residential care, partial hospitalization, and intensive outpatient care.

For those with advanced eating disorders, 24-hour monitoring and nursing care are essential. Treatment at this level stabilizes the patient in preparation for intensive behavioral, medical, nutritional and psychological therapy. Walden is one of only a few hospitals in the country to offer acute inpatient care in a specialized, dedicated program. Inpatient care typically lasts for a few weeks.

As patients progress, they advance to our residential program at Walden Place or our partial hospitalization program. For those who still need a structured, full-time program, Walden Place provides treatment in a comfortable, home-like setting. Partial hospitalization is the recommended treatment for those who are not quite ready to make the transition from fulltime hospital care to independent living. It includes a daily, structured program, but patients return home each evening. Finally, outpatient care is designed to help patients complete their readjustment and maintain healthy eating patterns.

Patients move in both directions within Walden's care system. When more intensive care is needed, it is available for them. As they gain control over their disorder, they move toward independent living. Because we provide a full range of treatment options, we can treat patients who are at any stage in their eating disorder. As a result, patients can stay with Walden and receive the medical care they need from the same team even as they advance toward lasting recovery.

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 relapses. Because all of our programs are under one roof - except Walden Place, which is next door - treatment continues with fewer obstacles and less starting over. There are no disruptions in care.

Walden's "Whole Health Approach"
Patients with eating disorders generally have psychiatric, behavioral, 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. Walden's "whole health" approach concurrently addresses the patient's mental and physical illnesses. A multidisciplinary team that includes internists, psychiatrists, psychologists, nutritionists, social workers, nurses, expressive-arts therapists and mental-health workers 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.