For people struggling with eating disorders in Vermont, in the Green Mountains and beyond.
Empowered Treatment in Austin, Texas, provides adults with eating disorders partial hospitalization, intensive outpatient programming, and transitional housing. For people in a small state, care at a distance can offer both specialized support and a measure of privacy.
In a small place, privacy can feel scarce.
Vermont's towns are small enough that the pharmacist, your neighbor, and your doctor may all know one another. That closeness is part of what makes life there meaningful, from Burlington and Montpelier to the Northeast Kingdom. It can also make it harder to admit that eating has become a struggle, especially if you are the person others count on to have things handled.
Eating disorders affect college students at UVM and Middlebury, people working on farms and in ski towns, healthcare staff in Rutland, and adults who have managed symptoms on their own for years. They are not about vanity or discipline. They are illnesses that tend to deepen when kept secret, and they respond to specialized, consistent treatment. Reaching out is a way of choosing yourself.
It is okay if you are not ready to say it out loud.
Some people call us before they have told a single person in their life. That is completely fine. You can ask questions, hear how treatment works, and decide later what you want to do. Taking in information does not obligate you to anything.
Our team will listen, explain the difference between PHP and IOP, and help you think through timing. If you are a student, our page on college students and treatment may help you think about school and recovery together.
Families are part of the recovery team.
When an adult you love has an eating disorder, it can feel like you have been given responsibility without any instructions. You may be unsure whether to bring it up, or how to respond to defensiveness. Our page on talking to your adult child about their eating offers concrete guidance for parents.
If your loved one chooses treatment in Austin, our family education program helps you understand the illness, what recovery tends to look like, and how to support it without taking it over. It also helps your household get ready for the day they come back to Vermont.
Space to recover, with company.
Traveling from Vermont for treatment means settling into a new city for a while. Our transitional housing is a real house in Austin's Hyde Park neighborhood for adults in PHP or IOP. You share it with others in recovery, which offers connection without the familiarity of a small town, and you return each day to a place built around supporting meals, rest, and routine.
Shared living spaces
A room of your ownTreatment that includes the people you love.
Our team brings together eating disorder therapists, registered dietitians, psychiatric providers, and a family therapist who helps loved ones understand and support recovery. Everyone works from a single plan, so nutrition, mental health, and family dynamics are addressed together. As discharge approaches, we coordinate with you on aftercare providers in Vermont so the progress you make in Austin can continue.
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 →
“Families often come to us feeling scared and unsure of their role, and a big part of my work is helping them shift from worry into steady, useful support. When parents, partners, and siblings understand what the eating disorder is doing, home can become a real ally in recovery.”Chase O'Neal, LMFT-AssociateFamily Program Therapist, Empowered Treatment
The trip from New England and the coverage.
Getting to Austin from Vermont
Flights from Vermont usually connect through a larger hub, and our team can help you plan your arrival around your first day.
- Distance: about 1,660 miles from Burlington as the crow flies
- Airports: Patrick Leahy Burlington International Airport (BTV) is the state's main airport for reaching Austin-Bergstrom International Airport (AUS), and some people in southern Vermont fly from airports in neighboring states
- Arriving: plan on about a 30-minute ride from AUS to our center, depending on the time of day
- Settling in: transitional housing is available while you attend PHP or IOP
Vermont coverage and care in Texas
Coverage for out-of-state treatment varies by plan. Our team will check your benefits with you and explain them in plain language.
- Go to verify insurance to get started, or call and we will take it from there with you
- For a Vermont-based plan, ask about out-of-network benefits for PHP and IOP in Texas; we can help you know what to ask and what the answers mean
- The Vermont Department of Financial Regulation helps consumers file insurance complaints and offers a line for insurance questions
- Our explainer, does insurance cover eating disorder treatment?, walks through common terms
Support in Vermont when you return.
Planning for life after Austin is part of treatment. These statewide resources in Vermont can help you and your family stay supported.
- Vermont Department of Mental HealthAdult and family mental health services, crisis resources including 988, and a peer support warmline.
- NAMI VermontFamily-to-Family classes and family support groups for people who care about someone with a mental health condition.
- Vermont Department of Financial RegulationConsumer resources on insurance, including how to file a complaint and information on surprise billing protections.
- 988 Suicide & Crisis LifelineCall or text 988, any time, from anywhere in the United States. In an emergency, call 911.
Questions we hear from Vermont.
Will people back home find out I am in treatment?
Your care is confidential. What you share with others is your choice, and our team can help you think through what to say to employers, friends, or neighbors. For work conversations, see telling your employer about treatment.
Is Austin a big adjustment after Vermont?
It can be. Austin is a large, growing city with hot summers and very mild winters compared with New England. The structure of programming and life in our transitional house can make the change more manageable, and our team talks about adjustment openly.
How involved can my family be?
Families can be quite involved. Our family therapist and family education help loved ones understand the illness and their role in recovery. Read what to expect when a loved one is in treatment for more.
What happens after I leave Austin?
We plan the transition well before your final day, often stepping down from PHP to IOP first. Your aftercare plan can include a therapist, dietitian, and psychiatric provider in Vermont, plus family support. Read about what recovery actually means.
More for Vermont
Articles and guides for readers in Vermont.
Reaching out is a private first step.
Call to speak confidentially with a member of our clinical team about what is going on. There is no cost and no obligation.