Anatomy of Care for Students With Eating Disorders
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Health professionals often direct students with severe eating disorder symptoms to inpatient treatment facilities. But students with less severe symptoms often find their on-campus treatment options lacking. In many cases, these options don’t extend beyond meeting with a mental health counselor who may or may not have experience in eating disorders.
What does quality, campus-based outpatient care look like instead? Experts say it involves complementary therapies and a collaborative approach.
“Eating disorders are complex, bio-psycho-social illnesses,” says Elizabet Altunkara, director of education for the National Eating Disorders Association (NEDA). “College counseling programs need to have providers who can identify the signs of an eating disorder and a multidisciplinary team dedicated to supporting these students.”
