They currently have clinicians in more than 27 states including New York, California, Washington, Texas, Georgia, Florida, Ilinois, Pennysylvania, Washinton D.C., South Carolina, and several more. They offer a variety of transitional and supplemental eating disorder services, including therapeutic meal support, clinical coaching, and in-home cooking for early recovery. Clinical coaching is a key component of the program. During a clinical coaching session, an EDRS expert may conduct behavioral interventions, therapeutic exposures, skills building, and accountability. The services provided during clinical coaching are tailored to your individual needs. While not an exhaustive list, some of the issues addressed during clinical coaching sessions include:
ExerciseBody imageGrocery store exposurePracticing skills learned during treatment in real-life situations to help prevent relapseLearning to tolerate your emotions during triggering activitiesWorking on occupational or educational goals
The EDRS team is made up of licensed mental health counselors, psychotherapists, licensed marriage and family therapists, registered dietitians, licensed counselor social workers, and other trained experts.
How Does EDRS Work?
EDRS offers a variety of services and programs to meet your needs. You can sign-up for a single service or work with a specialist on a comprehensive program. They use a multi-pronged approach when looking at recovery from an eating disorder. More specifically, they focus on the following three categories:
Stabilization
Stabilization focuses on creating a foundation for a full recovery. During this step, EDRS helps you create a foundation of recovery through nutritional stabilization, symptom management, weight restoration (if indicated), specific therapeutic exposures, and decrease isolation.
Maintaining Factors
To help you overcome challenges, EDRS focuses on support and containment in your environment. This step looks beyond symptom management and focuses on tailoring therapeutic support to meet your unique recovery needs. EDRS defines “maintaining factors” as a combination of traits, temperament, and internal and external stressors that fuel the eating disorder. Some examples include beliefs about the positive function of an eating disorder, over-evaluation of weight and shape, perfectionism, and difficulty tolerating negative emotions. Working with your team is critical during this phase.
Integrating Recovery and Life
EDRS looks at integrating recovery and life as a partnership. During this phase, they will help you maintain meal plan compliance, work on recovery skills and coping skills, develop mindfulness and self-care practices, assist with coping skills to manage daily stressors, and help you stay engaged in recovery. They also list the EDRS Core Therapeutic Program Components:
Therapeutic meal supportFood-specific exposuresCase managementTherapeutic skillsTraits and temperamentAccountability check-ins
EDRS does not operate on its own with a client. To access services, you must have an outpatient provider or a team overseeing your treatment. How often you work with EDRS depends on what your outpatient team recommends. Some people connect once a week, while others work with EDRS multiple times a day. To help you stay connected and supported, EDRS may reach out with automated text messages sent throughout the day, daily emails with recovery tools, personal text messages from EDRS staff, or quick phone check-ins before and after your most vulnerable times.
Types of Therapeutic Recovery Support Programs
There are several therapeutic recovery support programs within the EDRS model, including the adult and adolescent program, campus companion program for college students, and in-office psychotherapy and nutrition therapy services in New York. They also offer virtual psychotherapy and nutrition therapy sessions in select other cities.
Adult and Adolescent Therapeutic Recovery Support Program
Because each age and stage of recovery is unique, EDRS created five support programs to meet various needs.
Recovery LAUNCH: This is the first step in the recovery journey. It might entail an overview of what to expect in treatment and recovery, a visit with a therapist or nutritionist, or help connecting with an outside therapist or team to oversee your treatment. Recovery BRIDGE: Support during transitions is key to any stage of eating disorder recovery. EDRS helps support you during changes in care, returning home from residential treatment, or transitioning back to school or work after being in treatment. Recovery ELEVATE: Encouragement is important during all phases of recovery. If you’ve been to treatment, but continue to struggle when you are back in your life, ELEVATE can help by providing a higher level of support. Recovery RESET: Relapses and lapses can happen during recovery. If you get off track during recovery, RESET can help you refocus and move forward. Recovery MAINTAIN: While you make your way towards recovery, EDRS will pair you with a specialist who can work with you on issues like meal exposures, accountability, and skills to help you be free socially. This phase is appropriate for people who are motivated for recovery but may still struggle outside of in-office appointments.
Campus Companion For College Students
Need a support person to meet you on campus? EDRS can help. They have meal companions and recovery coaches who can meet with you on or near campus to assist with therapeutic meal support, sober coaching, and life skills coaching. This program can be helpful if you recently returned to school following treatment, you’re feeling overwhelmed, or you’re struggling with food issues related to restricting, purging, bingeing, or emotional eating. An EDRS clinician can provide accountability and support outside of your therapy and nutrition sessions. They are also trained to provide support to people who have both an eating disorder and substance abuse issues.
In-Office Psychotherapy and Nutrition Therapy Services
If you live in New York and need an outpatient team, EDRS offers in-office psychotherapy and nutrition therapy. They will work with you to determine if EDRS services are covered in-network by your insurance. If not, they can discuss a sliding fee scale with you. In addition to in-office visits, they also offer virtual psychotherapy and nutrition therapy sessions in select cities.
Does EDRS Take Insurance?
Currently, EDRS is in-network with Empire Blue Cross Blue Shield in New York. They will soon be in-network with other Anthem Blue Cross companies in Connecticut, Georgia, Ohio, and Virginia. Additionally. EDRS is working on in-network contracts with Aetna, United Healthcare, Healthfirst Medicaid, and Florida Blue. They have agreements with Cigna in multiple states. For the most current information on insurance and fees, contact a customer service specialist at EDRS.
