NEDA TOOLKIT for Parents
Costs aside, other factors may be important to the
patient in selecting a treatment center: the treatment
center’s philosophy (or religious affiliation, if any),
multidisciplinary approach to care, distance from
home, staff/patient ratio, professional qualifications of
staff, their experience in treating eating disorders, and
adjunct therapies offered. Some treatment centers
provide therapies in addition to psychiatric counseling
and pharmacotherapy, like equine therapy, massage,
dance, or art therapy. These therapies may be
appealing, although you may want to consider
whether they’re covered by your health insurance.
Some important questions to ask treatment centers
are provided at the end of this document. If you are
considering traveling some distance to a center, you
may want to ask these questions by phone before you
invest the time and expense in traveling. Also, if the
patient is going to enter some type of facility, knowing
how the facility plans for discharge is important.
Discharge plans can be complicated and require much
coordination of care among different healthcare
providers. That takes time. Effective discharge
planning needs to start much earlier than a day or two
before the patient is expected to be discharged from a
facility. Professionals in a Multi-disciplinary Care
Team Primary care physician (i.e., family doctor, internal
medicine doctor, pediatrician, gynecologist)
Psychiatrist Nutritionist
Clinical psychologist
Psychopharmacologist (psychiatrist, clinical
psychologist, or pharmacologist with special
knowledge about medications used for mental
disorders) Social worker
Claims advocate for reimbursement
Other professionals who administer supplemental
services such as massage, yoga, exercise
programs, and art therapy
Also important in your considerations are the type of
care team a facility typically uses. Below is a list of the
types of professionals that are generally
recommended to be on the care team to ensure well-
rounded care. Once a treatment facility decision has
been made, there is another checklist of questions in a
separate document in this toolkit—Questions to ask
the care team—that you may want to ask the care
team. Lastly, there are some questions a family may want to
ask the treatment facility and care team separately
(i.e., not in the presence of the patient). We have
created a separate checklist in another document in
the Parent Toolkit: Questions parents may want to ask
treatment providers privately. Depending on the
patient’s age, you may need written permission to
speak about the patient with a treatment facility or
member of the care team.
Page | 57