For people struggling with eating disorders in Kansas, across the plains and the college towns.
Empowered Treatment in Austin, Texas, provides partial hospitalization, intensive outpatient programming, and transitional housing for adults with eating disorders. When specialized care is hard to find close to home, it helps to know where it exists and how to get there.
When help feels a long way off.
In much of Kansas, the nearest grocery store, hospital, or therapist can be a long drive down a two-lane highway. Specialized eating disorder care is even harder to reach. That gap affects students in Lawrence and Manhattan, nurses in Topeka, workers in the aviation plants around Wichita, and people on farms and ranches across the western half of the state.
When help is far away, it is easy to decide the eating disorder must not be serious enough to justify the trip. But restricting, bingeing, purging, and compulsive exercise affect the heart, the mind, and relationships, regardless of where someone lives. You deserve care built for exactly this problem, and the miles are something we can help you plan around.
You do not need a crisis to ask for help.
Many adults wait until something dramatic happens before they reach out. You do not have to. If you are counting, compensating, or eating in secret more than you would like, or if your doctor has raised concerns, it is reasonable to learn what treatment could look like now.
The first call is private and carries no obligation. Our team will ask about what you are experiencing and explain the difference between PHP and IOP. If you have been seeing a therapist weekly and still feel stuck, read when weekly therapy is not enough.
Your worry is worth acting on.
Families often notice changes before the person does: a parent who has stopped joining meals, a spouse who exercises through illness, a grown child who looks exhausted after visits home. Saying something can feel risky. Our page on how to help someone with an eating disorder offers a calm way to start.
Once your loved one begins treatment, family education helps you understand the illness, what recovery asks of everyone, and how to respond when old patterns show up. It also gives you room to take care of yourself, which matters more than many families expect.
A real house, not a waiting room.
From Wichita, Salina, or Garden City, daily round trips to Austin are not an option, and a hotel can feel isolating during a hard season. Our transitional housing is a home in Austin's Hyde Park neighborhood for adults attending PHP or IOP. You live alongside others in treatment, with support around meals and the hours after programming, so recovery has room to continue between sessions.
Shared living spaces
A room of your ownNutrition and therapy working side by side.
Eating disorders affect thinking, mood, digestion, and energy all at once, so our treatment team works as a unit. Registered dietitians, eating disorder therapists, psychiatric providers, and a family therapist meet regularly to review your progress and adjust care together. Your plan grows with you, from structured support in PHP to more independence in IOP, and ends with an aftercare plan for life back in Kansas.
Partial hospitalization (PHP)
Full treatment days at our Austin center: supported meals, daily groups, individual therapy, dietitian care, and medical and psychiatric monitoring.
About PHP →Intensive outpatient (IOP)
Group programming plus weekly individual and dietitian sessions, built to fit around work, school, and family once more structure is not needed.
About IOP →
“Many people arrive feeling like food has become a puzzle they have to solve at every meal, and my job is to make eating feel more predictable and less loaded. We work on consistency first, then flexibility, so that eating can eventually fit back into the rest of your life instead of running it.”Emily Van Eck, MS, RDNDietitian, Empowered Treatment
Travel, insurance, and the details in between.
Getting from Kansas to Austin
Flying is usually the simplest route, and our team can help you coordinate your arrival with your first day of programming.
- Distance: about 510 miles from Wichita as the crow flies
- Airports: Wichita Dwight D. Eisenhower National Airport (ICT) offers connections to Austin-Bergstrom International Airport (AUS), and people in the Kansas City area often use Kansas City International Airport (MCI) just over the Missouri line
- Once you land: AUS is about 30 minutes from our center, depending on traffic
- Housing: transitional housing in Hyde Park is available alongside PHP or IOP
Checking a Kansas plan
We help you understand your benefits before you plan travel, including how your insurer handles care delivered in another state.
- Request a benefits check online, or call and we will handle it together
- If your coverage is through a Kansas-based plan, ask how it treats out-of-network PHP and IOP in Texas; we will help you know which questions to ask and how to read the answers
- The Kansas Department of Insurance Consumer Assistance Division takes inquiries and complaints about insurance coverage
- If you are on Medicaid, coverage for treatment outside your home state is usually limited, so call and we will help you sort out what applies
Staying connected back on the plains.
When treatment in Austin winds down, ongoing support matters. These statewide resources across Kansas can help you and your family build a plan that holds.
- Kansas Department for Aging and Disability Services: Behavioral HealthThe state agency that oversees behavioral health services, crisis programs, and community mental health supports across Kansas.
- NAMI KansasFamily-to-Family classes, family support groups, and NAMI Connection groups for people living with mental health conditions.
- Kansas Department of InsuranceA Consumer Assistance Division and hotline for insurance inquiries, coverage problems, and complaints.
- 988 Suicide & Crisis LifelineCall or text 988, any time, from anywhere in the United States. In an emergency, call 911.
Common questions from Kansas.
How far is Austin from Kansas, really?
Wichita sits about 510 miles from our center as the crow flies, and western Kansas is farther. Flying is usually the most practical route, and our team can help you time your arrival around your start date and think through visits from family.
I live in a small Kansas town. How would I find support after treatment?
We start planning aftercare early, so there is time to identify a therapist, dietitian, or psychiatric provider you can reach from home. Groups such as NAMI Kansas can also connect families with support. The goal is to leave Austin with appointments in place, not just a list of names.
What is the difference between PHP and IOP?
PHP is about 30 hours a week of structured therapy, supported meals, and psychiatric care. IOP is 9 hours a week plus weekly individual and dietitian sessions. Our levels of care guide explains how people move between them.
Do men get treatment for eating disorders at Empowered?
Yes. Eating disorders affect men as well as women and people of all genders, and Empowered treats adults. Men are often diagnosed later because the signs can look different, such as a focus on muscle or training. Read more about eating disorders in men.
More for Kansas
Articles and guides for readers in Kansas.
Help can start with one conversation.
Call our team to talk about what you or someone you love is facing. We will listen, explain your options, and never pressure you to decide on the spot.