1. When were you there? July 2022 – September 2022
2. What level(s) of care did you do (e.g., inpatient, residential, PHP, IOP)? PHP
3. Is it wheelchair accessible? Yes
4. How many patients are there on average? 5-10 in each group.
5. What genders does it treat? All Genders.
6. Do they support the gender identities of transgender and nonbinary people? Yes.
7. How often do you see a medical doctor, psychiatrist, psychologist (therapist), nutritionist, nurse, etc?

• No individual therapist or dietician is provided.
• There is a family therapist who does family therapy once a week.
• There are two therapists to run each group and provide individual check-ins as needed.
• You see a medical doctor or nurse practitioner either once a week or once every other week (they serve as your psychiatrist as well).
• I think you usually see the nurse once weekly and as needed.

1. What is the staff-to-patient ratio? Approx 1:5
2. What sort of therapies are used (e.g., DBT, CBT, EMDR, ACT, exposure therapy, somatic experiencing, etc.)? Art therapy, music therapy, yoga, DBT, CBT, ACT.

Describe the average day:

1. What were meals like? There is a cafeteria area. It is usually 3 clients + 1 therapist to a table. You have 30 minutes for meals and 15 for snacks, you play games at the table while you eat.
2. What sorts of food were available or served? Very restricted. You eat the same thing every day and there is not much room for variation. Except if you have selective eating/ARFID, then you can customize your meal plan and have your parents send in food.
3. Did they supplement? How did that system work? Supplement is given if you don’t complete, you have 5 minutes to drink it. Most people get food add-ons at the beginning of treatment in the form of a smoothie or yogurt in addition to the regular meal to aid in weight gain. Sometimes they may let you try to finish an add on while you are in the next group.
4. What is the policy of not complying with meals? 100% completion is expected if you are not on an NG tube. People with NG tubes do not attend the meals, they watch movies in the group room instead. This usually lasts for 1-3 weeks until your team decides that it’s time for you to attempt meals. If you don’t complete fully after the first day or two of attempting meals, you will go back to not attending the meals for 1-3 weeks. If you remain on an NG tube for too long, you’ll be referred to a higher level of care. However, there is a lot of variability depending on the person and their situation.
5. Are you able to eat vegetarian? Vegan? I’m not sure.
6. What privileges are allowed? There aren’t really any special privileges.
7. Does it work on a level system? No.
8. What sort of groups do they have? Lots of different things, I don’t remember the names of most of the groups but there are a wide variety of activities that you do pertaining to art therapy, music therapy, yoga, DBT, CBT, & ACT.
9. What was your favorite group? Probably some type of group therapy activity, I’m not sure.
10. If applicable: Is the program trauma-informed? I don’t know.
11. What did you like the most? How understanding and accommodating they were to my autism, sensory needs, and selective eating.
12. What did you like the least? The lack of individualized therapy and goals in that regard.
13. Would you recommend this program? It depends. I would recommend this program for people who are younger, neurodivergent, or who have a different ED besides anorexia or bulimia such as ARFID.
14. What level of activity or exercise was allowed? There are two activity levels allowed. On admission you are on the ‘mellow plan’ which is essentially no unnecessary movement. After a while, you could be put on the ‘age-appropriate activities plan’ where you can do more things for leisure, outside of sports and such.
15. What did people do on weekends? You are at home on the weekends, no programming.
16. Do you get to know your weight? No.
17. If applicable: How fast is the weight gain process? I don’t know. I was already mostly weight restored when I came because I came from a lengthy hospital stay so I didn’t have to gain much weight.
18. What was the average length of stay? Extremely variable, 6-12 weeks.
19. What was the average age range? There are three different groups separated by age. Teens, tweens, and little kids. You pretty much never interact with people outside your group.
20. How do visits/phone calls work? N/A for PHP
21. What is the electronics policy (e.g., cell phones, iPods, Kindles, laptops, tablets)? No personal electronics during programming except for school time.
22. For adolescents: Did they provide time to do schoolwork or offer academic support? Yes. You have school time every day and academic support provided by tutors.
23. For inpatient/residential: Are you able to go on outings/passes? N/A for PHP
24. For PHP/IOP: What support do they provide outside of programming hours? They provide housing in the Ronald Mcdonald house for those who live too far away. They give you and your parents a guidebook of rules to follow outside of program. There is also medical transport available to drive you to and from program everyday if needed.
25. What kind of aftercare do they provide? Do they help you set up an outpatient treatment team? I can’t speak on this because I was in a unique situation where my insurance cut me off abruptly and I mostly already had an outpatient treatment team.
26. Are there any resources for people who come from out of state/country? Families too far away stay at the Ronald Mcdonald house, there is also medical transportation provided to drive clients to and from program everyday if needed.
27. If applicable: How is the program responding to COVID? (Less patients, virtual programming, no visitors, masks, social distancing, etc) Masks 24/7 and weekly COVID testing.