For Professionals: real answers for real moments.
Referral criteria, collaboration, screening cues, and escalation guidance for therapists, dietitians, physicians, campus counselors, and fitness professionals.
When should a therapist refer a client to an eating disorder IOP ?
Consider referring a client to an eating disorder intensive outpatient program when symptoms persist or escalate despite consistent weekly therapy, wh...
Get the answer →How do outpatient therapists collaborate with an eating disorder IOP?
Good collaboration between an outpatient therapist and an eating disorder IOP rests on three things: signed releases so information flows both ways, c...
Get the answer →How can primary care providers screen for eating disorders?
Primary care providers are often the first and only clinicians positioned to catch an eating disorder, and brief, nonjudgmental questions work better ...
Get the answer →Dietitians: when is outpatient nutrition counseling not enough ?
Outpatient nutrition counseling is usually not enough when a client cannot implement the plan between sessions despite genuine effort, when eating dis...
Get the answer →What eating disorder red flags should medical providers act on?
Medical providers should act urgently when a patient with known or suspected eating disorder behaviors shows signs of physiological instability: abnor...
Get the answer →How can campus counselors support students with eating disorders?
Campus counseling centers are often the first professional contact for a student with an eating disorder, and the most valuable things a counselor can...
Get the answer →How do you know when weekly therapy isn't enough for an eating disorder?
Weekly therapy is usually not enough for an eating disorder when behaviors continue or escalate despite months of genuine work, when the client cannot...
Get the answer →How should clinicians approach referring male clients to eating disorder treatment?
Referring male clients to eating disorder treatment starts with recognizing that men get eating disorders across every diagnosis, that their presentat...
Get the answer →What should trauma therapists do when an eating disorder emerges in treatment?
When an eating disorder emerges during trauma therapy, the guiding principle is that nourishment and medical safety come first, because trauma process...
Get the answer →How can coaches and trainers spot eating disorders in clients?
Coaches and personal trainers are often the first to notice an eating disorder, because they see clients' bodies, energy, and food talk week after wee...
Get the answer →Treating Your First Eating Disorder Client
If an eating disorder has surfaced in your caseload for the first time, the essentials are these: treat it as a condition with medical stakes, not onl...
Get the answer →OB-GYNs and Eating Disorder Screening
OB-GYNs are often the only physician a woman sees regularly, which makes gynecologic and obstetric visits some of the best screening opportunities in ...
Get the answer →How Dentists Can Spot Eating Disorders
Dentists and hygienists are often the first health professionals to see physical evidence of an eating disorder, sometimes years before anyone else kn...
Get the answer →Eating Disorders in the Emergency Department
Eating disorders walk into emergency departments constantly, and they almost never announce themselves. They arrive as fainting, dizziness, electrolyt...
Get the answer →Psychiatrists, Medication, and Eating Disorders
For psychiatrists, eating disorders complicate the usual medication picture in ways worth naming plainly: nutritional status can alter how patients re...
Get the answer →Physical Therapists and Compulsive Exercise
Physical therapists are uniquely positioned to spot compulsive exercise, a behavior that often signals or accompanies an eating disorder, because the ...
Get the answer →How HR Can Support Employees With Eating Disorders
When an employee discloses an eating disorder, or a manager brings you a concern, HR's job sits on three legs: privacy, accommodation, and referral. P...
Get the answer →Clergy and Faith Leaders Supporting People With Eating Disorders
People often bring their deepest struggles to a faith leader before any clinician ever hears about them, and eating disorders are no exception. Your r...
Get the answer →Group Practice Collaboration With an Eating Disorder IOP
For a group therapy practice, a working relationship with an eating disorder IOP solves a recurring problem: clients whose symptoms outgrow weekly car...
Get the answer →When a Client Won't Step Up in Care
Few clinical binds are lonelier than knowing your client needs more than weekly therapy and hearing them refuse it. The orientation points: ambivalenc...
Get the answer →Other collections
In Recovery
Straight answers for the moments recovery actually throws at you: relapses, holidays, hard body image days, co...
Browse →For Families & Partners
You love someone with an eating disorder, and you have questions nobody's answered plainly. These are those an...
Browse →Work, School & Life
Recovery happens in the middle of a real life: jobs, classes, weddings, gyms, travel, and pregnancy. Here's ho...
Browse →Getting Started
Am I sick enough? What happens when I call? What does treatment cost? The questions that stand between wonderi...
Browse →Body, Mind & Co-Occurring
Eating disorders rarely travel alone. How they interact with anxiety, ADHD, autism, sleep, hormones, gut healt...
Browse →Every answer here is written by the clinical team at Empowered Treatment and reviewed by Steffani Roller, LPC, IEDS. For foundational guides, visit the Client Education library.
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