• When were you there?
• Oct 2024-Dec 2024
• What level(s) of care did you do (e.g., inpatient, residential, PHP, IOP)?
• Virtual IOP
• How many patients are there on average?
• Smallest group had three people, largest was probably about eight
• What genders does it treat?
• All
• If applicable: Do they support the gender identities of transgender and nonbinary people?
• I think from what I could tell but unsure
• How often do you see a medical doctor, psychiatrist, psychologist (therapist), nutritionist, nurse, etc?
• Therapist is supposed to be once a week for 45 minutes and nutritionist is supposed to be once a week for 30 minutes
• What is the staff-to-patient ratio?
• One provider runs each programming day, so one provider per group/meal, regardless of how many patients are in the group. Some days that’s a small ratio, other times it’s a larger one.
• What sort of therapies are used (e.g., DBT, CBT, EMDR, ACT, exposure therapy, somatic experiencing, etc.)?
• Honestly, none of the above. Groups consisted of the provider sharing their screen with a powerpoint and us taking turns reading it aloud or sometimes them reading to us. Some of the powerpoints included watered down concepts from DBT, CBT, and ACT, but none of it was in depth and none of it was tailored. If you have received quality DBT, CBT, or ACT elsewhere, you will be disappointed. Sometimes group consisted of them playing Youtube videos or TED talks (sometimes the same one more than once). Make of that what you will.

Describe the average day: I just want to add a disclaimer that my understanding is that ERC’s virtual IOP varies significantly by state, so I can only speak to how things were done in my state! The program ran three evenings a week and was three hours long, so you’re supposed to log in at the designated time (program NEVER started on time and often we wouldn’t be admitted to the Zoom room until ten minutes after the official start time), do the first group, break to prepare dinner, eat dinner, and then do the second group. Individual sessions with providers take place outside of program hours. There is one therapist and one nutritionist for the whole group, and they altered the schedule each week. So therapist would run all groups/meal of day 1, dietitian would run all groups/meal of day 2, and they would alternate who did the groups/meal of day 3 every other week.

• What were meals like?
• The meal was dinner in my state, and what they were like depended on who was running it. The therapist for my state wouldn’t allow for silence nor conversation, so there were constant games (think NYT games) and she required participation from everyone and would call on you if you weren’t participating. The dietitian was better about allowing normal conversations. The overall format was the same: check in which consisted of everyone rating their hunger and saying what they’d be eating and setting a goal, a 15-20 minute break to prepare your meal, 30 minutes to eat together on camera, and then a check out where everyone rates their hunger and says whether or not they met their goal.
• What sorts of food were available or served?
• Your own food
• What is the policy of not complying with meals?
• I’m not sure. I thought eating everything was required but oftentimes during checkout, others would say that they weren’t able to finish their meals, and occasionally people sat there not eating altogether which was definitely hard for me to see.
• Are you able to eat vegetarian? Vegan?
• I’d assume so
• What sort of groups do they have?
• Body image, nutrition education, nutrition process, and open process. The groups were objectively very poor, and often consisted of silence. They were supposed to last about 55-60 minutes per group. Once every other week there was theoretically a cooking group when the dietitian would cook something with the whole group, but that was weird and usually ended up being people making their own meals (or doing something else nutrition-related) independently during that time instead of everyone making the same thing. We were supposed to vote on what to make, but the dietitian overruled the group vote all but once.
• What was your favorite group?
• Honestly none of them, but the most tolerable group was open process when others had things to share and we could give feedback to one another.
• If applicable: Is the program trauma-informed?
• I’d say not
• What did you like the most?
• I guess the flexibility in terms of it being evening hours, but even that was limited because providers weren’t very flexible in terms of when they’d meet with you individually.
• What did you like the least?
• Just about everything else. This was my worst experience with a treatment program. I was very unimpressed with my therapist and dietitian. Their understanding of eating disorders seemed extremely superficial and limited, and this program had little if any therapeutic benefit. I am not an eating disorder, I am a person who has an eating disorder, and there’s so much to me and my being aside from that which was never acknowledged. The therapist was the worst I’ve ever worked with, and the dietitian would regularly end groups 30 minutes early. They didn’t communicate with my outside team which was an issue for me, and I found them to be extraordinarily poor working with me as a neurodivergent individual. I could go on and on about this but a rant wouldn’t be very helpful for anyone else.
• Would you recommend this program?
• I would not, but just because it wasn’t a good fit for me doesn’t mean it won’t be for you, and it’s possible that the providers would be better in your state than mine!
• What level of activity or exercise was allowed?
• Since it’s virtual, you could do anything I suppose, but activity/exercise was never discussed with my ERC team (reflecting on that now, that seems like a problem).
• Do you get to know your weight?
• If you have your own scale you could. If you have a blind scale or a doctor who can do blind weights, then I guess you wouldn’t have to.
• If applicable: How fast is the weight gain process?
• No idea, I didn’t gain weight.
• What was the average length of stay?
• Eight weeks is a hard limit for them, they won’t extend beyond that. (You probably won’t want them to anyway once you experience it for yourself.)
• What was the average age range?
• Seemed to be teenagers through middle aged adults?
• What is the electronics policy (e.g., cell phones, iPods, Kindles, laptops, tablets)?
• You’re supposed to be joining the Zoom from a laptop but sometimes people would join from their phones.
• For PHP/IOP: What support do they provide outside of programming hours?
• None as far as I know.
• What kind of aftercare do they provide? Do they help you set up an outpatient treatment team?
• None (borderline negligence here).
• Other?
• I hope I included everything here. If I think of anything that I forgot later, I’ll add an addendum.

Alright, figured I should update this one as well while I’m thick in “treatment memories” mode.

When were you there?
 April-June 2023

What levels of care did you do (e.g., inpatient, residential, PHP, IOP)? 
Virtual IOP (as a step down from HLOC with ERC)

How many patients are there on average? Oh gosh I don’t recall exactly. 6 or 8?

Does it treat both males and females? If so, is treatment separate or combined?
Yes, all together

If applicable: Do they support the gender identities of transgender and nonbinary people?
They definitely do.

How often do you see a medical doctor, psychiatrist, psychologist (therapist), nutritionist, nurse, etc? 
it’s virtual, so no doctor or nurse appts, but you have individual therapy twice a week (or maybe once?), dietician once a week, and have rounds with both once a week.

What sort of therapies are used (e.g., DBT, CBT, EMDR, ACT, exposure therapy, somatic experiencing, etc.)?
pretty standard DBT/ACT/CBT

What were meals like?
Meals took about an hour. We had 15 minutes to prepare our meals, and then would get back on zoom and would submit photos of our meals in RR, which the dietician would check and tell you if there were any edits to make. Then we would all check in, rate hunger fullness etc. We had 30 minutes for the meal, and then would submit our “after” photo in RR and would check out with hunger and fullness cues. We would play games sometimes if conversation was lagging, but it was overall pretty okay. I liked that we didn’t have to show our plates to everyone, especially since we all were preparing our own things for our own meal plans.

What sorts of food were available or served?
You provide your own food for this program for all meals in program (3 meals/week) and all out of program meals. It’s just IOP, so that feels appropriate. You work with your RD, who writes your meal plan based on exchanges, and prepare a meal to meet that plan.
 
What is the policy of not complying with meals? 
I mean.. I guess just recommending going back up to a HLOC. That’s what they did for me. There’s not much they CAN do since it’s virtual.

Are you able to eat vegetarian? Vegan?
Im not sure at this level of independence if veganism would be allowed, but in their res and php they allow vegetarian but not vegan.

What privileges are allowed?
virtual so.. all? You can do what you want outside of program.

Does it work on a level system? 
no

What sort of groups do they have?
main therapies groups (DBT, act, CBT), process, cooking group

What was your favorite group?
ehhh haha I didn’t really love any of them. It came on the tails of 16 weeks at HLOC so I was pretty burnt out and already knew a lot of what was covered. Groups felt pretty basic.

If applicable: Is the program trauma-informed? 
Im not certain.

What did you like the most? 
I really loved my therapist and dietician. They were very helpful and supportive and our sessions always felt productive.

What did you like the least?
I wished groups had been better and more helpful. Like.. how to navigate recovery in a home setting when you’re NOT surrounded by a bunch of other people who get it. How to do restaurants. How to intervene when you start to slip. That sort of thing. Also, and this is no fault of this program, but rather the nature of virtual treatment in general, but there was too much freedom. I relapsed quickly midway through.

Would you recommend this program?
I think it would be potentially helpful for someone who needs to 1) brush up on their recovery and have a little more accountability because they feel shaky, and 2) someone who qualifies for this level of care stability-wise that hasn’t done previous DBT/act/CBT work or treatment but needs more support could definitely get something out of the groups. I also think virtual treatment is only helpful if you are incredibly self motivated and can hold yourself mostly accountable. I did residential, then PHP in supported housing, and then came home and did this and the jump down to this level of freedom was JARRING. And they really can’t do anything to motivate you to course correct virtually.

What level of activity or exercise was allowed?
its virtual so you can do whatever you want, but they’ll probably make recommendations.

Do you get to know your weight? 
They send you a blind weight scale to use for weight reporting to your care team, but since it’s virtual, no one can stop you.

If applicable: How fast is the weight gain process? 
Depends on the person and medical need I’d assume. I was on a high meal plan because that’s what I came home with, but I’d assume they start you on the base meal plan and then monitor your weight and adjust accordingly.

What was the average length of stay? 
12 weeks I think! Maybe 10. But it was the same for everyone.

What was the average age range? 
really broad range, 18+ to 60s/70s

For PHP/IOP: What support do they provide outside of programming hours? 
you can send your team a message, but there isn’t a ton of immediate support when you’re out of program hours.

What kind of aftercare do they provide? Do they help you set up an outpatient treatment team? 
Not really… I left with only a dietician and the instruction to “find a therapist, psychiatrist, and PCP.”

I copied these questions from another thread, but am happy to answer any others that anyone may have.

Any info on ERC Denver Adolescent PHP or IOP/virtual?