Separate Programs for Adults and Adolescents

We offer specialized care for women and girls in all stages of eating disorder recovery. Adult women and adolescents are treated in completely separate programs on our sprawling campus, where we believe they benefit from a homey environment and relaxed atmosphere instead of a sterile hospital setting. Our approach combines proven medical and clinically intensive treatment with life skills training and experiential programs to help patients restore balance in their lives and gain the tools necessary for lasting, long-term recovery.

All programs are led by a caring team of eating disorder professionals, including master’s-level therapists, registered dietitians, and medical care providers. This specialized team creates a comprehensive plan of care specific to the patient’s goals, preferences, and clinical status. The Meadows Ranch is Joint Commission-accredited and known throughout the industry for its outstanding patient safety record and quality of care.

Mother and daughter

Assessing the Patient’s Needs

Our team of treatment experts carefully assesses each patient, determining which level of treatment is right for them at each stage of their journey. Most patients begin with inpatient treatment before moving to residential and eventually stepping down to a partial-hospitalization level of care, but each case is unique. Patients move on their own timeline, based on their individual progress.

Inpatient

At this stage of treatment, critically underweight patients achieve medical stabilization, weight restoration, and nutritional rehabilitation in a safe, home-like environment. Patients receive the highest level of care from our 24-hour nursing staff and our experienced team of doctors, psychiatrists, dietitians, and therapists. This level of care may also include chemical dependency detox services. The primary goal at this stage is to get patients grounded as they begin to build rapport with their clinical team, who will meet them right where they are.

Residential

As they become nutritionally stable, patients are ready to learn how to disempower their eating disorders by uncovering the complex psychological factors contributing to their unhealthy relationship with food. Our spacious residential environment allows patients to feel comfortable and at home while they begin the arduous journey of recovery. Our staff sits down for meals with the patients to monitor their eating patterns and food intake, and to develop an understanding of their thinking patterns. Through these conversations at mealtime, patients learn new, healthy eating patterns.

Our culinary training program helps patients develop the daily living skills to prepare nutritional meals upon their return home. This training includes hands-on use of standard kitchen equipment and the necessary cooking skills needed for success. During this stage, our younger patients also have access to a challenging academic program, facilitated by a licensed teacher in a classroom setting.

Partial-Hospitalization

Here, the staff helps patients develop and practice recovery skills in a supportive environment combined with real-life experiences. This level of care may include going out to restaurants and movies, confronting situations and dealing with the stress without taking it out on the food or themselves. Trauma work is also essential at this level because we want them to gain insight into how an event or multiple events may have led them to this point. Some programs are uncomfortable doing trauma work at this level of care, feeling maybe they’re not ready, but if patients are going to struggle, we want them to do it in a safe environment. We find the danger is more in going home and opening up those wounds where they have less structure and less professional and peer support.  

Journaling

The Importance of Aftercare  

Treatment is just the beginning. Eating disorders don’t develop in a few weeks, and they aren’t resolved in that span of time either. It’s understandable that patients and loved ones want to believe you can participate in 45-60 days of treatment and return home “fixed.” Treatment at The Meadows Ranch is a great beginning, but recovery is a process that will continue for an extended period of time.

That doesn’t mean you need to be fearful about returning to your regular life. Before you prepare to leave treatment, we’ll work with you to create an aftercare plan that includes ongoing support, possibly in the form of an Intensive Outpatient Program (IOP). We’ll reconnect you with your home treatment team or establish one for you, if needed. Post-treatment, you’ll have good and bad days. You won’t be fixed and your life won’t be perfect, but you’ll have the tools you gained and a foundation of trauma work and therapy that will be a springboard to this next exciting season.

Who We Treat

The Meadows Ranch offers two separate eating disorder treatment programs: one for pre-teen and adolescent girls as young as 7 and another for adult women 18 and older. Both programs benefit from the same clinical expertise and dedicated, caring staff, but this allows us to tailor treatment to each age group’s unique needs. Patients from all over the world and from all faiths have sought treatment at The Meadows Ranch.

 

Get Answers to Your Questions

If you or a loved one would like to know more about eating disorder treatment at The Meadows Ranch, give us a call to speak to one of our trained intake coordinators. We’re here to help.

Call 866-390-5100