Love the therapist you're with?

Despite being the only eating disorder treatment for adolescents that has an evidence base, few families have access to a Family-Based Maudsley therapist. I live in a major US metropolitan area, and I know of only 2 within 2 hours of here.

Yes, basically, I'm making a full-time unpaid occupation of building a market for something for which there is very little supply. "If you come, they will build it."

Families unwilling to participate in the wait-in-the-lobby-we'll-call-you-in-if-ED-says-so approach often have to do a sort of "build-your-own" approach.

1) ask your current clinical team to have an adult-adult meeting to explore changing the approach to a family-based one, bring literature.
2) interview all the therapists in your area (again, I know) to canvass their openness to a new collaborative approach.
3) travel to a clinic that does assessment and helps you set up FBT/Maudsley support at home (UCSD, Boswell, etc.).
4) explore phone or video conferencing with a Maudsley clinician not in your area.
5) consider a short inpatient stay at a Maudsley-friendly clinic where the emphasis is on medical stabilization and training the family for smooth transition to home-based care.

The right professional support can mean the difference between success and failure for your child - and also between being burned out afterward or being strengthened as a family.

The wrong support...well, enough said. You deserve the right support. Don't settle for less.

Comments

  1. Laura, first and foremost however, people have to have heard of Maudsley. They have to know the name. They have to know how to gain information. They have to know what they want in order to ask for it. This is where your site is so invaluable. We have to get on somethingfishy, on mamavision, on youtube on ALL these other sites ("good" and "bad" ones) where parents and family members "lurk" and hunt desperately for information on what ED's are and how to help their children. I was a searcher and I've reams and stacks of info and Maudsley never came up (2003).
    Its name just HAS to be out there. Then people will ask. "If you build it, they will come...." sort of thinking. Your powerful web site and personal book are a huge, giant leap in the right direction. Now we ALL need to spread the word in all the many ways we can think of....

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  2. Great advice. Sadly, it is often up to parents to discover Maudsley on their own. It shouldn't have to be that way. Treatment professionals should present ALL the options to parents (or sufferers who are over 18) and let them decide. That's how it's done with all other illnesses. In fact, it's normally malpractice for a medical treatment provider to fail to inform a patient about a treatment method that has been shown to be successful. Providers don't necessary have to give a particular kind of treatment, if there is controversy, but it is required that all the reasonable options be disclosed and discussed with the patient.

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