The UHN Intensive Eating Disorders program provides intensive treatment to people 17 years or older who are experiencing moderate to extreme anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, avoidant restrictive food intake disorder, and other eating disorders.
Note: Our program does not offer treatment for those who: require life-saving medical treatment, have a mild severity eating disorder, or are experiencing obesity or binge eating disorder.
How to join the program
Your doctor or nurse practitioner will submit a referral form. If we determine that your needs cannot be met by our program or your referral is incomplete and we cannot accept it, we will let your referring doctor or nurse practitioner know.
If your referral is accepted, we will call you to book your first assessment appointment. Patients are triaged and booked for their initial assessment when an appointment becomes available.
What to expect
Our program includes:
- Initial assessment and treatment planning meetings
- Inpatient treatment (as recommended)
- Virtual intensive outpatient treatment
Initial Assessment and Treatment Planning
Before your treatment begins, meetings will be scheduled with you and the care team. These meetings will help the care team to understand your mental health concerns and treatment goals. Based on these meetings, the care team will match the type of treatment (Inpatient Treatment or Virtual Intensive Outpatient Treatment) that meets your care needs.
The meetings will include:
- An initial assessment, to help us better understand your mental health
- A medical history and review of your current health status
- A treatment planning meeting that includes identifying your treatment goals
When will my treatment begin?
After your initial assessments, you may be placed on the waiting list for Inpatient Treatment
or Virtual Intensive Outpatient Treatment, and admitted from the queue when the next spot is available. A treatment planning meeting will take place closer to the time of admission.
Wait times for assessment and treatment are always changing. We will provide you with an estimated wait time until your initial assessment after we receive your referral. After your initial assessment, we will provide you with an estimated wait time to treatment.
While you are waiting to start your treatment, your referring doctor or nurse practitioner will continue to monitor you. This helps to make sure you will receive emergency medical care if you need it while you wait.
Treatments we offer
Our program offers Inpatient Treatment and Virtual Intensive Outpatient Treatment.
The treatment we provide:
- Is based on the best current research
- Is based on each patient’s needs (we work with each patient to create their own care plan)
- Will help you learn skills and coping strategies that you can use to reach your individual recovery goals from your eating disorder, and in other areas of your life (employment, education, household responsibilities, leisure activities, and activities of daily living)
Inpatient Treatment
You will stay overnight at the hospital for approximately 3 to 6 weeks. How long you will stay at the hospital will depend on your needs and treatment progress.
During this time, we will work with you to:
- improve your physical health
- make sure you are getting enough nutrition
- help you restore your weight
- gain skills to eat well and manage your weight at home
What types of treatment will I receive?
During your stay, you will receive:
- supervised meals and snacks (5 times a day)
- individual cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) for eating disorders with a program therapist (4 times per week)
- group dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) led by a program therapist
- individual nutrition education and counselling with a dietitian (2 times a week)
- activities of daily living (ADL) sessions with an occupational therapist
- meetings with your care partner(s)
- education on posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and how it may relate to your eating disorder (as needed)
Your team will also help you to prepare to leave the hospital (discharge planning).
At the end of your stay, you may be referred to our Virtual Intensive Outpatient Program or your community providers will take over your care depending on your goals and treatment progress.
For more information about the unit, read the
Welcome to 8 South: Mental Health Inpatient Unit brochure.
Virtual Intensive Outpatient Treatment
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we redesigned our in-person, group-based day program to a virtual format so that we can continue to provide care while keeping our patients and staff safe. This virtual format makes our program easier for patients to access (low barrier). Care is provided Monday to Friday.
You will participate in treatment through videoconference for 12 weeks. During this time, we will work with you to:
- help you restore your weight (as needed)
- eat regularly
- prevent binge eating and purging, such as vomiting or misuse of laxatives (medicines that help move stool through your bowel)
- help overcome your fears about foods
- address your concerns about weight and body shape
- help you apply skills to take control of your own health
What types of treatment will I receive?
Virtual Intensive Outpatient Treatment offers a combination of one-on-one therapy multiple times per week and intensive treatment.
The one-on-one therapy will include:
- Cognitive Behavioural Therapy-Enhanced for Eating Disorders (CBT-E)
OR
- Cognitive Behavioural Therapy for Avoidant Restrictive Food Intake Disorder
Depending on your needs, these therapies will focus on helping you get on a pattern of eating regularly, change the way you think about body weight, body shape and food, or help you restore your weight. You will have one-on-one therapy for the entire 12 weeks.
The intensive treatment will include:
- daily meal support
- daily skills coaching or group dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) led by a program therapist
- nutrition self-management skills-building
- one-on-one nutrition education and counselling with a dietitian (as needed)
- one-on-one occupational therapy (as needed)
- education about posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and how it may relate to your eating disorder (if needed)
You will participate in the intensive treatment for the first 4 to 8 weeks.
A social worker may also work with you to make sure you are getting the services you need (this is called case management).
Contact
For more information, please call 416 340 3477 from Monday to Friday, 9:00 am to 5:00 pm EST.
