Eating Disorder Intensive Outpatient Services
The Empowered IOP program offers a comprehensive, trauma-integrated approach to eating disorder recovery.
In addition to healing behaviors around food, we also address the underlying emotional, cognitive, relational, and nervous system patterns that have served to establish and maintain these behaviors.
Our structured pyschoeducation curriculum helps our clients:
Understand the function of their eating disorder.
Build emotional awareness and regulation.
Examine thought patterns and core beliefs.
Reconnect safely with their bodies.
Strengthen relationships and boundaries.
This important work helps to reconstruct our client’s identity and self-worth as they step out from the shadow of their eating disorder.
In addition to our psychoeducation groups, we also integrate weekly individual therapy, weekly nutrition counseling, weekly food and nutrition focused groups led by a registered dietitian, daily process groups, supported group meals, and twice-monthly yoga to help support the mind-body connection.
Together, these elements help our clients build skills, autonomy, and resilience to decrease reliance on their ED. At Empowered, recovery is not just about symptom reduction, but rather deeply healing our client’s relationship with themselves, their body, and food.
Our goal is to help our clients develop an empowered, sustainable, and values-driven life far beyond their eating disorder.
If you’re new to the concept of an IOP, you might be wondering how it works. An Intensive Outpatient Program (IOP) provides structured, comprehensive therapy without requiring you to live full-time at a facility. It bridges the gap between inpatient residential treatment and traditional weekly therapy.
Think of IOP as the best of both worlds: it offers intensive, focused care and robust daily support, but with the vital flexibility to return home each evening. This allows you to deeply engage in your mental health recovery while still staying connected to your daily responsibilities like work, school, or family, applying what you learn in real-time.
With IOP, you get the opportunity to:
Dive deeper into healing: With multiple daily sessions, you can truly tackle challenges head-on, process complex emotions, and build skills without feeling rushed or overwhelmed.
Maintain your independence: You’ll live at home, go to work or school, and immediately use what you learn in therapy to navigate real-life situations.
Join our community: Eating disorders are often extremely isolating. Overcome this by engaging in our supportive and compassionate community, where we build and celebrate healthy and satisfying interpersonal relationships.
Build lasting skills: The structured nature of our program helps you develop practical, actionable tools to manage stress, regulate emotions, improve relationships, and confidently navigate life’s ups and downs.
The Empowered program includes:
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Small Client to Staff Ratio
We believe that effective and sustainable care is an individualized approach. Our staff is able to provide unique support to each of our clients based on their personal history, needs, and goals.
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Weekly Psychotherapy Groups
Our IOP consists of three hours a day, three days a week. These sessions will include psychoeducation, a focus on experiential activities, and process groups - as well as a therapeutic meal.
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Individual Therapy
Individual therapy is at the core of what we do at Empowered, taking a deep dive into the trauma, attachment wounds, and co-occuring disorders that so often pre-date an eating disorder. Each client will participate in at least one individual therapy session weekly.
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Weekly Dietitian Meeting
During these weekly sessions, you and our dietitian will work together to unravel disordered eating patterns, rebuild trust with your body, challenge “food rules”, develop meal support strategies, and create a path forward that feels safe and sustainable.
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Therapeutic Meals
During each of the three outpatient sessions per week, our clients will participate in a group meal to practice the skills they’ve learned in a safe and supportive environment. Our dietician will provide additional support during these meals, as well as the rest of our team. Our goal is to build confidence and a community around eating and mealtimes.
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Experiential Approach
At Empowered, we know life isn’t confined to a room, and your healing shouldn’t be either. We include experiential activities to help foster self-discovery, resilience, and a connection to the world around you.
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Family Support and Education
Eating disorders can wreak havoc on families and relationships. Our team will work with each individual and their loved ones to help support, educate, and heal these relationships, as well as help create a sustainable and effective plan and support system for moving forward.
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Restorative Yoga
Participate in mindful movement that is focused on connecting to and celebrating your body. We will practice together twice a month to help cultivate presence, awareness, and appreciation for our mind, body, and breath.
You are more than your eating disorder, and your disorder is about more than food.
Empowered is here to help.
