Working at an Eating Disorder Facility (the horrible practices they don't want you to know)

When I first graduated college with a bachelor's degree in Psychology, my dream was to work in a mental health facility in order to help people manage their diagnoses. That dream came true. In the Fall of 2020, I worked at an eating disorder location in Northern Virginia and let me tell you, working at a residential facility was not the walk in the park that I had imagined. When I first showed up to this facility, I had hoped that I would be able to start helping the clients immediately. Instead, I was faced with multiple challenges.

The first challenge that I faced at this facility was that newcomers were looked down upon. It didn’t matter that I had worked at a residential facility in the past or that I had a Bachelor’s degree or had done countless hours of research on mental health diagnoses and topics. No. Absolutely none of that mattered. Instead of being welcomed with open arms, I was shunned by the more “experienced” staff members. This made my position easy: show up, do the work, watch the other counselors, and go home. I was essentially the fly on the wall that no one else cared about and therefore, I was able to watch the other counselors as they wrecked havoc on the lives of the facility’s clients.

Now, before we continue, I’d like to mention that not all residential eating disorder locations are run the way that the one I worked at is run. There are some locations that actually have good treatment plans for their clients and actually help their clients recover. This location, however, was not one of those.

Any ‘good’ eating disorder facility will coach their clients through meal times and provide therapy throughout the week. This location did this, but also forced the clients to eat 3,000 - 4,000 calories per day in order to increase their overall weight. This can cause major mental health and physical health repercussions.

Imagine eating 1,000 calories per day and suddenly being forced to eat 3,000+ calories a day. (Yes, I mean forced). Clients were told that they had to drink Boost drinks or Cliff bars if they did not complete their meals and if they refused this, they were put on something called "Couch Rest" (the clients referred to it as "Couch Arrest") which meant that they were unable to join in on group therapy or move around at all until the next meal. If they did not complete the next two meals at 100% completion, the clients were forced onto Bed Rest (essentially being forced to go to their room until they completed a full meal).

Anyways, eating this much food when you have a diagnosis of Anorexia (or even if you don’t have a diagnosis of an eating disorder) can cause major pain and problems within your digestive system. In fact, after working full time at this location and eating a similar diet as to the ones the clients ate, my stomach started hating me! I was constantly full and after one month of working there, my stomach felt as though it was going to explode. It simply could not get the food out of my body fast enough before I shoveled in more food. I’m sure the clients felt the same way because they constantly had to put hot pads on their stomachs in order to feel the slightest amount of relief.

On top of that, they were forced to eat multiple Cliff bars or drink 10+ ounces of Boost Plus if they did not complete their meals. Cliff bars and Boost Plus are meant as meal replacements. They should not be eaten in addition to eating 2,000+ calories a day, especially if you weigh less than 150 pounds! The amount of sugar in an 8 ounce bottle of Boost Plus alone (24 grams) is the same as the total amount of sugar that the WHO (World Health Organization) recommends as a daily intake. This facility was (and probably still is) forcing clients to drink 16+ ounces per day (50+ grams of sugar)!

Clients at this facility are also taught how to measure food by using “handfuls.” Somehow, the facility thought that by trading measuring cups for handfuls that clients would be able to outgrow their old measuring habits that had caused them to be there in the first place. Instead, they simply traded one measuring system for another. The insanity behind this thought process still baffles me to this day.

In conclusion, not all eating disorder facilities are created equally. Some teach clients how to eat properly and some simply fatten them up to make them look healthy upon discharge. Before you end up signing yourself into a residential facility or any mental health facility, please do yourself a favor by reading the reviews and asking the location about their treatment plans.