One in five adolescents worldwide show signs of disordered eating according to a study in the Journal of the American Medical Association Pediatrics last year.
“We’re seeing it from age 5 clear into being a senior citizen so it really is relevant across the board.”
Jenna Strodtbeck is the director of partial hospitalization programs at Pine Rest Christian Mental Health Services.
Eating disorders have the second highest mortality rate of all psychiatric illness behind opiate addiction, yet families often find services hard to find and must travel out-of-state.
To meet that need, Pine Rest is launching a new Adolescent Eating Disorders Partial Hospitalization Day Program.
“That’s really one of the benefits of partial hospitalization is that the child can come in in the morning and stay until 4-4:30 in the afternoon and then go home so they can still be around their family and their peers, maybe go to the football game afterward. They’re able to stay within their community unit but still get the service that they need.”
The program at the 68th Street Cutlerville Campus will be located in the upcoming Pediatric Center of Behavioral Health.
It will include multiple treatments and family therapies for patients aged 12 through high school graduation struggling with Anorexia Nervosa, Bulimia, Binge Eating, and Avoidant/Restrictive Food Intake Disorder.
Pine Rest added ten new clinicians for the program and expects to serve about 85 children per year.
For more information or to make a referral, please contact Pine Rest Christian Mental Health Services at (800) 678-5500 or visit www.pinerest.org/eating-disorders.
