Most people with an eating disorder will access community based treatment.
Community based treatment refers to sessions or programs that can occur while a person is still living at home. Depending on the intensity of community based treatment, a person may still be able to attend regular activities, such as work or school/university.
Community based treatment can take different forms. Commonly, it involves seeing a range of clinical health professionals, such as a psychologist, psychiatrist and dietitian. Some people may choose to also include more holistic support in their treatment as well, such as a naturopathy, Chinese medicine, reiki and meditation. Community support options also extend to services provided by EDV and other community health organisations.
Commonly, people with eating disorders will access Medicare subsidies to make community based treatment with private clinical practitioners, such as psychologists and dietitians, more affordable. When accessing treatment from private practitioners, EDV encourage you to work with professionals who use evidence-based treatment models that have proved successful for people with eating disorders.
Finding private practitioners
Given eating disorders are complex mental illnesses, it’s important to find practitioners who are experienced in treating eating disorders. Look for practitioners who list ‘eating disorders’ as a specialty treating area and contact them with further questions, such as what eating disorder training they have received, what specific eating disorders they are experienced with treating, what treatment models they use and what their general approach is. We encourage you to use this consumer checklist developed by the National Eating Disorder Collaboration (NEDC). You can also find clinicians who are Eating Disorder Credentialed, a nationally recognized accreditation from the NEDC and the Australian and New Zealand Academy for Eating Disorders.
Sometimes it can take a few goes before you find practitioners that you click with. If you need help finding suitable practitioners in your geographic area, please get in touch with the EDV Hub.
Contact the Hub
Outpatient treatment
Another form of community based treatment is outpatient treatment. Outpatient treatment is connected to public and private hospitals, and can either be accessed on its own, or as a step-down from inpatient treatment (see below). Many people with eating disorders do not need 24-hour care, but they do need ongoing treatment. These people may attend outpatient units on a regular basis, where they may be seen by a team of health professionals from many different disciplines, or they may see a solo practitioner like a dietitian, a psychologist or a psychiatrist. People are encouraged to maintain everyday responsibilities while attending an outpatient program, like attending school/university or going to work.