Your Visit |Overview
The Eating Disorders Program is committed to helping you and your family. Our specialists employ a multidisciplinary approach for evaluation and treatment to help develop an individualized treatment plan that’s right for your child. Our program is located in the Adolescent/Young Adult Medical Practice and incorporates outpatient medical visits.
What to expect at your first appointment with the Eating Disorders Program
While no patient's experience is exactly like another's, below is a general idea of what you will experience when you have an appointment at Boston Children's Hospital’s Eating Disorders Program.
About a week before your appointment, you will receive an email containing forms to fill out. Please fill these out before coming to your appointment, and bring contact information for any providers you are seeing (therapist, nutritionist, pediatricians). Having all this information will help your appointment go smoothly.
Your initial consultation may include:
- Complete physical exam to check for any medical side effects related to eating difficulties. We will also look at other potential medical conditions (celiac disease,hyperthyroidism, etc.) that could affect eating.
- A mental health consultation with a counselor experienced in treating adolescent eating disorders to assess your specific mental health needs and check for other possible psychological problems such as depression,obsessive-compulsive disorder, anxiety or substance abuse that tend to be seen with eating disorders.
- A nutrition evaluation with a registered dietitian. The dietitian will assess your current eating patterns, evaluate your nutritional needs, help you take the initial steps toward developing a plan for healthy eating and answer any of your questions about food. The dietitian can also discuss harmful myths associated with eating and eating disorders and help you create an individualized plan to achieve healthy eating habits and a healthy lifestyle.
Your subsequent appointments
After your initial evaluation, we will help you set up a treatment plan. Our specialists will work with your primary care provider to ensure a comprehensive treatment program, and may also give you a referral to a medical or psychiatric healthcare provider in your community or in another program at Boston Children’s.
Your treatment may Include:
- Ongoing individual and family therapy
- Medical monitoring
- Nutritional support
- Psychiatric assessment