Eating Disorder Support: For Parents, Families, & Loved Ones

New! Call for a Free Eating Disorders Assessment! By popular demand, McCallum Place now offers free eating disorder assessments either by phone or in person with our trained admissions clinicians. If you’ve been considering getting help, now may be a good time to move forward in your journey to recovery. Call Liz or Monique to schedule yours today at either 800-828-8158

McCallum Place Family Education and Support Programs:

McCallum Place is pleased to offer the following programs to our patient’s family members as a means of support and education and recommend all families participate. We value the important role family has in the treatment process and encourage the family to partner with our clinical team in becoming part of the solution. We recognize higher recovery rates are often associated with providing families the support and education they need around this disorder and have found that treatment works best when the family is involved. We have specifically designed the following family programs because we believe our families are a great resource to one struggling with an eating disorder.

"The family therapy experience was very helpful because it opened up an avenue to freely talk to my parents. Though I always had a good relationship with them, my therapist set up an environment to help them understand my thoughts and the eating disorder."
– MR, age 20

Bi-weekly individual sessions:

• All families are strongly encouraged to meet with the patient’s clinical team (i.e., individual therapist, dietician, and psychiatrist) on a bi-weekly basis. Please call or email the patient’s assigned therapist and assigned psychiatrist to schedule your bi-weekly sessions in advance.
• All families of minors (patients under the age of 18 years old), will have one family session per week that will take the place of one of the patient’s individual sessions per week. This family session can be facilitated in a mode that best meets a particular family’s needs (e.g., via phone, or shorter sessions of 30 minutes, etc.).

Multifamily Weekly Support Group:

• McCallum Place offers a weekly Monday evening multifamily group. This group takes place in our Therapy Suite every Monday (excluding holidays) from 4:30 pm - 5:30 pm in the Conference Room. There is no need to RSVP; however if you are unable to attend due to long distance, please contact Chris Colombo to arrange your participation via phone conference call at 314-968-1900.

Family Day:

Don’t’ miss our Family Days, a comprehensive set of five distinct curricula for family, friends and significant support persons of McCallum Place patients. Each Family Day focuses on how to practically and effectively help family members best support their loved ones by looking at medical complications, research, communication strategies, resources, practical tools, and support around the time and resources families invest in eating disorder treatment.

• McCallum Place Family Day is held at our Therapy Suite, 231 W. Lockwood Ave, Ste. 201 in Webster Groves, on the second Saturday of every month from 8:00 am - 3:00 pm. Continental breakfast is provided. Reservations are strongly encouraged to help us plan for attendance. To RSVP, please contact Chris Colombo at 314-968-1900.

   

  Family Skills: Topics for Focus in Therapeutic Work With Families Struggling with Eating Disorders

  by Dr. Kim McCallum, MD

   

   

  ·       Become familiar with individual core struggles

  ·       Understand ED Mindset and function of behaviors

  ·       Recognize common internal struggles that interfere with recovery

  ·       Recognize hungry brain and how it complicates treatment

  ·       Learn to cope with body image distortion

  ·       Model and embrace healthy eating, understand special nutritional needs of recovery

  ·       Learn about the role of exercise in illness and recovery

  ·       Be mindful of developmental concerns

  ·       Expect and learn to adjust to varying levels of motivation

  ·       Get real… know what causes eating disorders, learn to debunk myths

  ·       Break the silence, identify vulnerabilities in the family

  ·       Understand temperamental risk factors

  ·       Create a protective family culture; be aware of how our culture is toxic

  ·       Identify boundary struggles, learn how to develop healthy boundaries

  ·       Learn key components of treatment

  ·       Learn when to step in and step back

  ·       Learn to move towards responses with emotional balance

  ·       Commit to self care

  ·       Consider Family Based Treatment or Family Therapy

   

Additional Family Support Group:

• While not affiliated with McCallum Place, the Eating Disorder (ED) Family and Friends Support Group is intended as a forum to offer information, education, and a place to talk about how knowing a person with an eating disorder is affecting your life. It is free and open to parents, spouses, other family members or friends of a person with an eating disorder. The Support Group meets the second Wednesday of each month from 6:00 pm to 7:30 pm in a room provided by the St. John's Mercy - Edgewood.
• The Support Group is moderated by family members, not professionals, and is not intended as therapy or professional advice. It is affiliated both with ANAD (National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders) and NEDA (National Association of Eating Disorders). It is not associated with St. John's Mercy, but the use of its facility for these meetings is gratefully appreciated.
• DIRECTIONS: Edgewood is located at 970 Executive Parkway Drive in Creve Coeur. From I-270, go west 12 miles to Mason Road (just past Barnes West) - Left on Mason Road - Two blocks to Executive Parkway Drive on the right - Second building on the right is 970, marked "Edgewood."
• For more information, contact Greg or Chris Luzecky at (314) 842-3676 or gluzecky@swbell.net