Virtual ‘Free To Be’ – An Adult Intensive Outpatient Program for Binge and Emotional Eating
Now offering both afternoon and evening programs!
Here at Walden Behavioral Care, we recognize the benefits of tailored programming for patients with binge eating disorder (BED), emotional eating, compulsive eating, and food addiction. There are a variety of therapeutic, nutritional, and medical approaches that effectively treat this type of eating problem.
We have designed a treatment program to address the common core features of binge eating disorder, emotional eating, compulsive eating, and food addiction:
- Shame: Belief that the challenges you experience around food and eating reflect a characterological defect that has possibly delayed seeking help and resulted in a long length of illness prior to treatment.
- Guilt: It is a very common experience to have a depressed mood following an emotional eating episode. Sometimes people feel bad about their eating in the midst of an episode, but they are unable to stop.
- Self-blame: Patterns of compulsive eating are often attributed to a lack of willpower or mental strength. For some, the weight loss industry has contributed to this belief system via promises of permanent change (that we know to be impossible).
- Mis-identification: Difficulty identifying the behaviors as eating disordered is very common. Many people experience relief when they realize that there is a diagnosis to explain their experience.
- Secretiveness: The tendency to hide food addiction from friends and family is common, resulting in isolation and loneliness while negatively impacting important relationships.
What You Can Expect from the Program
- Our program is offered 3 days per week (Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday) from either 12:30-3:30 PM or 5:30-8:30 PM via our HIPAA compliant online telehealth platform.
- Group members connect via video to attend two groups and a therapeutic coached meal, each program day.
- Clients meet via telehealth with an individual therapist for case management once per week.
- Clients meet with a registered dietitian for nutrition counseling every other week.
- Groups may include:
- Cognitive behavior therapy groups
- Weekly nutrition groups
- Re-connecting to body – movement groups
- Expressive arts therapy
- Body image
Our Promise to You
Our targeted binge eating disorder program is designed to increase:
- Hope: Binge eating is very responsive to treatment, we just have to figure out what works best for you. We provide many different approaches to decreasing and eradicating binge eating behavior that will result in improved mood, sleep, and increased energy.
- Control: Control over your behaviors around food and eating will increase a sense of control over your life more generally. We will teach you the skills, techniques, and activities that will help you reclaim control around food.
- Self-worth: Living with loss of control or compulsive eating can have a negative impact on mood and self-worth. The time and effort devoted this program and the changes that will result are sure to have noticeable impact on the way you think about yourself.
- Community: The group setting provides many opportunities for validation of emotional experience, normalization of behaviors and history, and support from peers. The safety of openly discussing patterns of behavior with people who have a similar struggle is powerful. Eating together reclaims meals as social gatherings and increases a sense of self-efficacy around food.
