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New Treatment Option for Eating Disorder Patients

freeimages.com/Grazyna Suchecka

There is now a new treatment option for Rochester-area residents recovering from eating disorders.

An intensive outpatient program is being offered by the Western New York Comprehensive Care Center for Eating Disorders.

The program is designed for patients who no longer need hospitalization but are not ready to transition to weekly therapy.

The center's director, Mary Tantillo, PhD., also CEO and founder of the Healing Connection, says one aspect of the treatment will include family members who learn how to help their loved ones at meal time.

"We give them language. We say to them, 'Ask your loved one what they would feel safer starting out with.' Maybe there is a whole tray of food in front of you, but it's overwhelming, so you can say, 'Which one of these foods can we start out with so you might feel better in the beginning?' "

The intensive outpatient program is targeted for middle, high school, and college students, and working adults. The four-day-a-week late afternoon/evening schedule is designed so they can maintain a regular school or work schedule. Those enrolled in the program will take part in individual and family therapy, nutritional counseling, and attend sessions to learn about body image and coping skills.

It's based at the Healing Connection in Fairport, which is holding an open house September 30.

Tantillo says the intensive outpatient program makes sense from both a clinical and emotional standpoint. “It's also smarter from a dollar standpoint because you will hopefully be preventing relapses by slowly transitioning people. And people with eating disorders don't like quick transitions."

Beth Adams joined WXXI as host of Morning Edition in 2012 after a more than two-decade radio career. She was the longtime host of the WHAM Morning News in Rochester. Her career also took her from radio stations in Elmira, New York, to Miami, Florida.