Eating Disorders Program
Whole Person Wellness and Eating Disorder Program
Camden Center’s Whole Person Wellness and Eating Disorder Program in Los Angeles and San Francisco supports individuals struggling with eating disorders, body image distress, or features of disordered eating related to co-occurring diagnoses.
As a medical organization that integrates primary care, psychiatry, psychotherapy, nutrition, fitness, coaching, and community-based approaches, Camden Center is able to provide truly comprehensive treatment at multiple levels of care, allowing patients not only to recover but to also build happy, productive, and meaningful lives.
THE CAMDEN APPROACH TO EATING DISORDER CARE
Each patient at Camden Center receives a unique team of expert clinicians across multiple specialties assembled to meet their specific needs and goals. No two patients have the same schedule and every patient’s treatment plan is re-evaluated each week, with changes made in real time based upon outcome measure data, patient feedback, and overall clinical progress.
Provided that a patient is medically stable, we utilize a flexible approach to eating disorder support in order to meet each person at their current readiness for change and desired pacing of care. Camden Center’s model is based on the principle that the best outcomes result from dynamically matching treatment to the changing clinical needs of each patient as they progress in their recovery.
Patients in our Whole Person Wellness/Eating Disorder Program have the unique opportunity to opt-in or opt-out of all programming aspects. Without level systems or holding periods that are typical within most eating disorder treatment environments, at Camden Center, patient autonomy is preserved throughout the course of treatment.
PHILOSOPHY AND FRAMEWORK
Eating disorders often begin as a coping mechanism to manage chronic emotional pain resulting from shame-based aspects of identity that are themselves the consequence of developmental stressors and trauma.
Camden Center works to strengthen the “healthy self” through a dual process in which individuals release disordered food and body behaviors while also addressing the underlying emotional, biological, developmental, and functional causes of disordered eating. This can include attending to co-occurring diagnoses such as mood disorders, personality disorders, or addiction as part of a comprehensive plan.
Camden Center uses an eclectic model of care that integrates aspects of several philosophical approaches to the treatment of eating disorders. Health at Every Size (HAES), Intuitive Eating, traditional eating disorder treatment modalities, and the Food-As-Medicine Movement all offer value to treating the whole person. Treatment elements are determined by each patient’s individual differences, needs, and values.
Camden Center also recognizes the importance of differences in interoception, which may be informed by neurodiversity, trauma, and temperament, when exploring an individual's relationship with food and their experience of eating. A sensory assessment completed by an occupational therapist may be conducted as part of treatment at Camden Center, and can provide insight into the most effective ways to support individuals with disordered eating behaviors, while acknowledging and respecting their unique sensory experience.
Nutrition support is also clinically guided, with priority given to establishing body safety and ensuring medical stability. Without prescriptive meal plans or mandated completions, Camden Center patients and providers remain in therapeutic alignment while building foundations for recovery.
All core staff at Camden Center are trained in eating disorder treatment best practices. Our clinical programs have been designed with the understanding that even those patients who do not have eating disorders or disordered eating can benefit from improving their relationship with food and their bodies. Therefore, our policies utilize weight-neutral and eating disorder safe language and philosophies.
PROGRAMMING
Our Whole Person Wellness and Eating Disorder Program includes the following elements of care:
- Medical support
- Psychiatry
- Integrative and primary care medicine
- Registered Dietitian (RD) support and nutrition
- Occupational therapy
- Psychotherapy including Comprehensive Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT), Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR), Somatic Experiencing, and psychodynamic therapy, among other modalities
- Clinician-supported meals
CONDITIONS TREATED:
Camden Center specializes in the treatment of the following conditions:
- Anorexia Nervosa
- Bulimia Nervosa
- Binge Eating Disorder
- Avoidant/Restrictive Food Intake Disorder (ARFID) and other disordered eating patterns secondary to sensory differences and sensitivities
- Body dysmorphia and body image distress, including Body Dysmorphic Disorder (BDD)
- Orthorexia
- Compulsive overexercise
- Unspecified Eating Disorders
To learn more about Camden Center’s Whole Person Wellness and Eating Disorder Program, call 844-861-2256.