Eating Disorders

Making healthy living a priority

Germaine Lawrence has over 20 years of experience successfully treating adolescent girls with life-threatening eating disorders, including anorexia and bulimia. We have a proven treatment approach that leads to real change in girls’ lives.

We believe families are vital resources and are essential to their daughter’s recovery from an eating disorder. We require families to take an active role in the treatment process, including participation in onsite and in-home meal coaching, family therapy and other family activities.

Our program is designed to teach girls to live without an eating disorder. We help girls resume normal eating habits and a healthy lifestyle, while also addressing their cognitive, emotional, and social needs.

Outcomes

We have been very successful with girls who have relapsed after previous placements. Over the past three years, 85% of students in our eating disorder program successfully completed their treatment and returned home or to a community setting.

Family Involvement

On Campus meal coaching. We ask parents to attend at least four meal coaching sessions on campus. These sessions include coaching on what constitutes a well-balanced meal, what are appropriate portions, how to set limits on eating disorder behavior, and how to monitor meals and post-meal activity to prevent unhealthy behaviors.

In Home meal coaching and visits. Our staff provide coaching in the home to help parents develop the confidence and strategies they need to respond effectively to their daughter’s eating disorder.

We encourage home visits as preparation for discharge and our therapists work with parents to make home visits successful. With our help, parents develop meal expectations, household rules and consequences. If a problem arises during a home visit, our staff are available to provide support through in-home coaching, phone consultations or by having the student return to campus.

Family Therapy. Clinicians use individualized interventions to best meet family members’ needs. We have adopted Common Sense Parenting® (CSP), a widely recognized and highly effective parent training model that teaches parents easy-to-learn techniques and logical strategies to address everyday issues of communication, discipline, decision-making, relationships, and self-control.

Parent Support. We offer monthly parent support and education programs on campus. Sometimes we bring in experts in the field to talk and answer questions from parents. We also provide opportunities for parents to talk among themselves, share their experiences and get support from other parents. We hold monthly family dinner nights, which are a time for families to visit, share a meal, enjoy social activities and talk about common issues of concern.

Therapeutic Approach

We conduct an extensive assessment of each student, not only of her experiences with her eating disorder, but also related mental health needs including depression, substance abuse, anxiety and PTSD symptoms.

Individual therapy. Using cognitive behavioral methods, including dialectical behavior therapy (DBT), clinicians help girls to learn to regulate their emotions without resorting to eating disorders or other high risk behaviors. Through role plays and skill coaching, they teach girls concrete grounding techniques, emotion regulation strategies, effective interpersonal skills and decision making skills.

Group Therapy. Clinicians lead groups on topics such as Healthy Body Image, Basic and Advanced Eating Disorder Recovery Groups, DBT, and Appropriate Risk Taking. Groups provide a safe forum for girls to practice skills to effectively manage their emotions, navigate relationships, and take leadership.

Relapse Prevention. Clinicians engage girls and families in developing and implementing relapse prevention plans that discourage the reoccurrence of eating disordered and other unhealthy behaviors by identifying triggers, warning signs, and positive behaviors.

State-of-the-Art Treatment Center

The Hirshberg Treatment Center exclusively treats girls with eating disorders. Our state-of-the-art facility is specially designed to provide a safe, home-like environment. Our 18 bed treatment center features kitchen and dining areas, living room, indoor recreation space, classrooms, and therapists’ offices. Our campus provides opportunities for team sports and other outdoor recreation.

Activity Programming

We provide a rich array of age appropriate activities that help girls develop the skills they need to be successful in life.

Expressive Arts
Expressive art therapies help girls experience and express emotions that may be difficult to put into words. Expressive therapies include art, drumming, drama, photography, writing, and other creative expressions. We hold an annual art show and sale to showcase our students’ work.

Sports
Sports are a large part of our culture, and we help girls gain confidence and proficiency in recreation activities. Being active helps girls build their self-esteem, learn appropriate levels of exercise and develop skills that will help them successfully relate to their peers. It directly promotes a positive body image and awareness.

We offer ongoing yoga classes, running club, and off-campus horseback riding. In addition, girls have the opportunity to take part in a number of team sports, including volleyball, softball, basketball and soccer.

Community Service and Involvement
Girls take part in a variety of community service projects. The Hirshberg Treatment Center has raised money to help organizations such as Amnesty International, Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, and Community Servings.

As girls progress in their treatment, we offer increased opportunities for volunteer and paid jobs both on campus and within the local community.

Length of Stay

Lengths of stay vary. Some girls successfully leave in less than six months. Others stay for over a year, depending on their treatment needs.

Accredited school program

Students receive full credit from our on-campus, accredited school. Our program is aligned with the Massachusetts Curriculum Frameworks and approved by the state Department of Education. We transfer credits to and from local schools. We offer:

• A full range of academic programs, including mathematics, English, social studies and sciences.
  
• School electives in art and physical education.
  
• Summer school curriculum.
  
• Class sizes of no more than ten students.
  
• Tutors who work with girls who need extra assistance with academics, MCAS, SAT or foreign language instruction.
  
• College prep support.
  
• Special education program and support for Individual Education Plans.

Superior Expertise
New England’s leading experts guide the treatment at our program, including:

• Mona Villapiano, Psy.D., a licensed psychologist who has developed and directed inpatient, partial hospital, and evening treatment programs in the area for over 20 years. She co-authored Eating Disorders: The Journey to Recovery Workbooks.
• Dr. Sara Forman, Germaine Lawrence’s Medical Director and Director of the Adolescent Outpatient Eating Disorder Program at Boston Children’s Hospital. Boston Magazine (February 2006) named Dr. Forman as one of Boston’s Best Physicians.

Germaine Lawrence has extensive on-campus medical expertise.

• We provide on-site medical monitoring. Our medical protocols are modeled after those used at Boston Children’s Hospital.
• On-call physicians at Boston Children’s Hospital are available for consultation at any time.


• Board-certified child psychiatrists treat our students and consult with staff and families.


• Experienced nursing staff are on site 16 hours/day.

For more information about our Eating Disorder program, contact Nike Balogun, Director of Admissions at 781-648-6200x127 or nbalogun@germainelawrence.org.

Testimonials

- Sara Forman, MD

“I highly recommend Germaine Lawrence. I have worked with adolescent girls with life-threatening eating disorders who, following the intensive treatment at Germaine Lawrence, remained out of hospital and partial programs, completed high school, entered and completed college, and most importantly, recovered from their eating disorders.

- Mona Villapiano, Psy.D.

“During my daughters stay at Germaine Lawrence, we found a consistently caring and professional approach in helping us all learn how to manage her eating disorder. The family support was crucial in her ability to manage at home when she completed the program. Germaine Lawrence has developed a very supportive home training program with meal coaching in the home. We found this to be the key ingredient in having success in managing this illness.”

- Mother of a former student

Member of MEDA: Multiservice Eating Disorder Association

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