What to Expect From Eating Disorder Treatment in New Jersey: A Compassionate Guide for First-Time Clients
Starting eating disorder treatment is one of the scariest and most overwhelming things I have gone through as a recovered eating disorder therapist. When I first began my journey, eating disorder treatment in New Jersey was not common, nor were eating disorders ever talked about. The unknown of who to start with and the overwhelm of what therapy will look like, leaves you feeling alone and terrified. However, seeking help from an eating disorder specialist, was one of the best decisions I have ever made. My goal here is to make the beginning that much less overwhelming, by breaking down the therapy process, what sessions involve and how therapy helps you recover.
The First Step: Reaching Out for Help
The courage it takes to make that first call or send that first email is huge. An eating disorder specialist in NJ will offer a free consultation to talk about their process, answer questions and tell you about themselves. You can expect questions such as:
What led you to reach out for support?
If everything was better tomorrow, what would that look like?
What does your history of recovery look like?
A few questions that you could ask are:
Do you accept my insurance?
What is your availability?
What does your experience working eating disorders in athletes look like?
These questions are simply to get to know each other and to see if you are a good fit. However, sometimes it can be hard to tell in 20 minutes. Usually, I suggest giving 3-4 sessions to see if there is a good therapeutic connection.
The Initial Intake Session
The first session is really about getting to know each other, building a relationship and gathering a history around food, body image, your sport and overall health. Everything that is said within your therapy session is confidential, unless there is any suspected abuse to a minor occuring. Don’t worry, your therapist will go over this with you! You don’t need to know all the answers or share everything all at once. Therapy unfolds gradually and at your own pace. It takes time to build trust and feel comfortable to share vulnerable things.
Understanding the Therapeutic Approach
Eating disorder therapy is collaborative work. It is not done to you, but rather with you. An eating disorder therapist understands how food and your body impact you every single day. They are there to support you and not judge. Let’s start with the most popular evidence-based approaches that eating disorder therapists use. These include Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Cognitive Processing Therapy, Radically Open Dialectical Behavioral Therapy, and Family Based Therapy. Thats a lot, so let’s break it down.
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)
CBT uses the connection between feelings, thoughts and behaviors to change the way we respond to core beliefs about others and the world.
Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT)
This is a trauma-based approach that is used to work through the core beliefs around a traumatic event by challenging the connection between thoughts and emotions.
Radically Open Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (RO-DBT)
This evidenced-based approach was originally creating for eating disorder treatment. It focuses on those with over-controlled temperaments. RO-DBT connects how social interactions are impacted by social signaling and emotional expressions, as it works towards openness and flexibility.
Family Based Therapy (FBT)
This family approach works to re-nourish an individual through the support of parents or caregivers. FBT is a three-phase treatment that takes control out of the hands of the eating disorder and into the hands of the caregivers in order to re-introduce food and flexibility.
No one approach works perfectly for everyone. It is important to find an eating disorder therapist that works with an approach that feels most comfortable for you.
Setting Goals Together in Eating Disorder Treatment
Establishing both short and long term goals are important in eating disorder treatment. It is important to work on these goals together, so they feel like your own. Short term goals consist of things such as building trust creating safety and addressing immediate concerns. These may entail nutrition, medial safety or reducing harmful behaviors. Long term goals can look like repairing your relationship with food, reducing anxiety around performance or reclaiming our identity outside of the eating disorder. Growth is not linear. Every small wins matter.
What Ongoing Sessions Look Like
The structure of a typical session will depend on which approach you are taking. For approaches such as CPT RO-DBT or FBT, there are specific structures to sessions. For other approaches or eating disorder therapists that take a combined approach, sessions may be more conversational with skills and activities sprinkled in. These activities may include values work, meal support, or identifying and managing triggers. In-between sessions there may be homework such as practicing exposures with food and emotions or challenging disordered thoughts. The frequency of sessions typically depends on your goals and needs. Weekly sessions tends to be the starting point and then later shifting to every other week.
A Healing Journey: What Clients Often Gain
This all depends on your own goals. However, these are a few things that clients often come to me looking to work towards. The healing process can lead to rebuilding trust with your body. Strengthening mental health, consistent fueling and proper coping skills can help your body learn that it can rely on you to nurture and care for it in appropriate ways. Eating disorder recovery also means reconnecting with values of who you are, on and off the field and around body image.
How to Start Your Journey of Eating Disorder Treatment in New Jersey
Starting eating disorder therapy is a brace step towards healing. You don’t have to go through this process alone. If you are looking for a consultation to learn more about eating disorder treatment in New Jersey, I am here to help. You deserve to live with food freedom!
Get to know your eating disorder therapist in the first session.
Learn how to challenge your negative beliefs of your body!
If you are looking for eating disorder treatment outside of New Jersey, don’t worry! Serendipity Counseling can still help. Individual therapy sessions are offered virtually to anyone in NJ, PA, MD, FL, VT or AZ.
Other Services: How to Get More Support
Serendipity has many different ways of support outside individual therapy. There are options such as featured podcasts about eating disorder therapy, blog posts and eating disorder recovery books. You can also check out our support groups specific to athletes navigating their relationship with sport.
About the Author: An Eating Disorder Specialist in NJ
Kate Ringwood, LPC is an eating disorder therapist that specializes in helping folks through recovery while navigating their sport. She has her own unique experience through recovery as an athlete, that led her passion to helping others. Kate offers a compassionate, yet challenging approach to navigating negative beliefs around food and body to help you towards food freedom!
