Family Week at Residential Treatment: What Happens?

Blog Contributor: Heather B. Morrow, Outreach Coordinator at Laureate Eating Disorders Program

The Laureate Eating Disorders Program is an internationally recognized program in Tulsa, Oklahoma designed to meet the needs of women and girls with anorexia nervosa, bulimia and other eating-related difficulties. The program spans acute care hospitalization, residential care and partial hospitalization, with separate tracks for adolescents and adults.

Since 1990, our staff has helped patients and families understand eating disorders and how to recover from them.

Family Is Essential to Recovery

We believe family involvement is an essential element in the successful recovery from an eating disorder. Each family is special and unique, and often there are very complex patterns of relating and communicating.

Just as the eating disorder affects the whole family, we believe the whole family affects the eating disorder. This is why every month we host “Family Week,” a three-day family involvement and education program that is one of the most highly rated elements of our entire treatment program.

Family Week Activities

During Family Week, which is hosted on campus, families experience an intensive education about eating disorders, including:

• A comprehensive review of eating disorders that addresses history, misconceptions, detailed explanations of each illness and an overview of the neurobiology of eating disorders.

• An overview of medical and psychiatric considerations in the treatment of eating disorders, including how malnutrition affects the body and co-occurring conditions like depression, anxiety and obsessive-compulsive disorder.

• A thorough understanding of nutrition therapy for eating disorders and an understanding of the Laureate philosophy of nutrition therapy. Adolescent parents will be educated about the “exchange” system in preparation for their daughter’s discharge.

• Understanding insurance and eating disorders. This lecture helps families understand how to navigate communication with their insurance company and how to advocate for themselves.

• An in-depth explanation of the philosophy and day-to-day activities of the adolescent and adult programs.

• Family member and loved ones support groups

• Men and women’s separate support groups

• Table Talk – this session is a time for family members to ask patients questions without your loved one being present and vice versa.

• Recovery speaker – the last day of Family Week a special guest speaker will attend and talk about her experience with recovery from her eating disorder.

To learn more about Family Week at Laureate Eating Disorders Program, visit our website: www.laureate.com/eatingdisorders or call us at 918-481-4079.

---

The opinions and views of our guest bloggers are shared to provide a broad perspective of eating disorders. These are not necessarily the views of Eating Disorder Hope, but an effort to offer discussion of various issues by different concerned individuals