Project Description
Transitioning from higher levels of care to lower levels, such as outpatient services, for eating disorder treatment can be a stressful experience for both patients and families. The staff at Reasons use a multitude of resources to help ease the transition and provide support during a difficult time.
Our Partial Hospitalization and Intensive Outpatient Programs are where patients get to re-experience the world with their newly acquired skills obtained in higher levels of care. These programs only run for part of the day giving patients a chance to practice their skills in a real world setting and improve their relationships with food, family and friends, and their bodies.
We offer opportunities to practice eating in a community setting while in the treatment environment as well as eating meals in out-of-treatment environments such as home, at a restaurant, and with friends and loved ones.
While in these programs, patients are actively involved in skills groups and experiential groups including yoga, drama therapy, somatic awareness, as well as process groups. In these process groups, patients can share their successes and struggles faced while in their out-of-treatment environments and obtain feedback from their peers and therapists about these experiences. They can then more deeply explore the struggles they face in the out-of-treatment environment.
One of the goals of our outpatient services is to identify the unique needs of each patient by figuring out what each person struggles with and succeeds with as he or she returns to an out-of-treatment environment. Involvement in a less intensive program allows patients to discover what they need to be successful during their transitions back to work, school, and life in general outside of treatment. This gives patients the ability to discover more about themselves as they experience life separate from an eating disorder.
In Partial Hospitalization and Intensive Outpatient services, patients still work closely with dietitians, therapists and other supports. We focus on continuing to motivate patients during the transition in care levels and also ensure they are moving forward in their recovery.
These programs are a fantastic intermediate step between more intensive programs and their real lives as patients continue to utilize support systems within the treatment environment and at the same time begin to build a strong network of support outside of it. Furthermore, it gives patients the chance to rebuild relationships that may have been affected by the eating disorder.
These programs emphasize supporting patients on their continuing journey through recovery.
We feel committed to the idea that relapse is not a failure and that there will be bumps in the road especially during the transition to spending more time outside of treatment. As a treatment program, we are there during this time to provide support, challenge, and structure to support a fully recovered life.