Family-based treatment
Family-based treatment
For teens whose families want to be at the center of recovery, not on the sidelines.
Family-based treatment, also called the Maudsley approach, is a method built around parents. You are not told to stand back while a therapist works with your teen. You are asked to help, and shown how.
The parent role
What parents do, and when
Family-based treatment puts parents in charge of the first weeks. It does not blame them.
Step 1: At first, you lead at home
You plan and serve the meals, and you decide what and when. Your teen is not asked to fight an eating disorder alone. We coach you in each session, with your teen in the room, on what to say at the table and how to stay steady when it is hard.
Step 2: Then your teen takes steps back
As eating steadies, you hand control back a step at a time: one meal, then a snack, then a day. We help you and your teen agree on each step before it is taken.
Step 3: Later, back to being a teenager
When food no longer rules the household, sessions turn to school, friends, sports and the ordinary pressure of growing up.
What it is like, in five points
What sessions look like
Your teen, you and your clinician meet together. We talk about the week at the table, plan the next few meals and practice what to say.
The method
Family-based treatment (FBT), the Maudsley approach. Huong Tran is trained in this approach, in which parents lead the first phase of recovery at home.
What this is not
It is not blame: parents do not cause an eating disorder. It is not medical care either, so your teen's pediatrician follows physical health alongside us.
Length and frequency
Your clinician sets the pace with you. Sessions are usually weekly at first, and the gap grows as things steady. We do not promise a number of sessions.
Insurance, a receipt for reimbursement or paying yourself, with a written estimate first.
Three questions about this service
Do we have to do every meal ourselves?
At the start, parents lead the meals at home, and your clinician helps you share the work between caregivers. It does not have to be one person.
What if one parent is not in the picture?
Another adult your teen trusts can take the parent role: a grandparent, a step-parent, an aunt or uncle. Your clinician helps you decide who.
What if family-based treatment is not enough?
We tell you early, and we refer you to a higher level of care. The next page describes how that works.
Ready to start as a family?
Write to us, and we will find a time for the whole family to meet your clinician.