Renfrew Center has multiple eating disorder treatment centers in the USA. This page is for reviews of their outpatient treatment programs, which include partial hospitalization, intensive outpatient, and outpatient treatment.
For reviews of Renfrew’s Pennsylvania residential location, click here:
For reviews of Renfrew’s Florida residential location, click here:
Updated reviews about Renfrew Center greatly appreciated! Please post below, and mention which location you attended. For ideas of questions for a review, click here: How to Write a Review.
Current Renfrew Center IOP/PHP locations include:
If you have done virtual treatment at Renfrew during COVID, we would love to hear from you! Share your experience below.
Renfrew – Boston, MA IOP
I was told Renfrew was great with allergies and allergy safety by the Renfrew Dietitian. She said multiple times I had nothing to worry about. I pushed for more information about where they ordered the food from, what the kitchen operations were like, what safety precautions they took, etc. because I have a life-threatening anaphylactic dairy allergy. My dietitian would not answer any of these questions saying she thought my ED wanted those answers. She completely dismissed my very real physical health limitations. The third night in the program, I was served a regular supplement (with dairy) instead of their dairy free supplement. I immediately went into anaphylactic shock. The team was clearly not prepared to handle a medical emergency. The dietitian did not know how to use an EpiPen. The entire staff did not know how to use an EpiPen. Luckily, I was not incapacitated yet and was able to administer two EpiPens to myself. They waited 5 minutes to call 911. The last thing I remember is my hands turning blue and the young EMT panicking. I woke up in the ICU and learned I was on a ventilator.
Very negligible and inflicted lasting trauma without any accountability. I would not recommend Renfrew to anyone that has a serious food allergy.
Renfrew Boston review
When were you there? Spring 2025
What level(s) of care did you do (e.g., inpatient, residential, PHP, IOP)? PHP
If applicable: Is it wheelchair accessible? I think so. You have to go up a few steps to get in but there is an elevator.
How many patients are there on average? 10-15 PHP, plus maybe 5-10 day IOP patients who join for a few hours.
What genders does it treat? No cis men as far as I know but there were a few AFAB male-identifying patients and non-binary patients.
If applicable: Do they support the gender identities of transgender and nonbinary people? I can’t speak from personal experience, but it seemed like it to me. You start almost every group by giving your name and pronouns and the staff seemed to do a good job respecting that.
How often do you see a medical doctor, psychiatrist, psychologist (therapist), nutritionist, nurse, etc? Therapist, psychiatrist, and dietitian 1x/week for half an hour.
What is the staff-to-patient ratio? I have no idea… I will say it didn’t seem understaffed while I was there.
What sort of therapies are used (e.g., DBT, CBT, EMDR, ACT, exposure therapy, somatic experiencing, etc.)? Renfrew mainly uses UT (unified treatment), which is kind of like a combination of CBT and DBT.
Describe the average day:
8:45 weights/vitals
9-9:30 breakfast 9:45-10:45 group 10:45 snack 11-12:15 UT group 12:45-1:15 lunch 1:15-1:30 Awareness & Acceptance (meal processing) 1:30-2:30 group
What were meals like? There is a kitchen with two long tables that you sit at, with seats mostly randomly assigned, although they do seem to try to sit newer patients next to staff. There is one staff member per table who eats with you. Food is always cold, even things like grilled cheese or pizza, but there are three microwaves that patients can use. Renfrew discourages table games so sometimes meals were pretty silent.
What sorts of food were available or served? Breakfast is on a weekly rotation: cereal, toast or bagel, oatmeal, pastry selection, granola. Lunches are on a four-week rotation and include things like salads, pizza, pad thai, sandwiches and wraps, pasta, quesadillas, breakfast for lunch (pancakes and eggs), burrito bowls, falafel and hummus, veggie/turkey burgers, among other things. Twice a week there is dessert.
Did they supplement? How did that system work? The default was 2 Boost+ if you complete less than half of your meal, one Boost+ if you complete more than half. Some people did Clif bars instead. You just have to get the OK from your dietitian.
What is the policy of not complying with meals? You are offered a supplement at the end of the meal which you have to sit with for few minutes while people fill out their food journals. When I was there, most people did not complete meals or supplements. There didn’t really seem to be any consequence for that, although I assume if you lost a significant amount of weight they would recommend residential at some point.
Are you able to eat vegetarian? Vegan? Vegetarian yes, vegan no.
What privileges are allowed? If you complete for three days in a row, you could move to IE and eventually to FO (see below).
Does it work on a level system? For UT groups, there’s E, A, and T stage, with E stage being more didactic learning of skills, A stage being applying those skills to exposures, and T… honestly I have no idea what T is and as far as I know no one was on that stage the whole time I was there. For meals, everyone starts on trays, which means all your food is plated for you. Once you have completed for three consecutive days, you move to IE (I think that stands for Interdependent Eating). Your main is plated for you but you portion your sides. Eventually some people make it to FO (Fix Own), where you can pick pretty much whatever you want and portion for yourself. I’m not sure exactly what the qualifications are to move to FO.
What sort of groups do they have? UT every day, Relational Group, Trauma, Weekend Planning, Weekend Review, Nutrition, Art, Topic Group, Body Image.
What was your favorite group? Art.
If applicable: Is the program trauma-informed? I can’t speak to this from personal experience because I do not have a history of trauma. They did have a separate trauma group 1x per week for people with identified trauma.
What did you like the most? Honestly I really did not like this program. I guess it got me eating a bit more so I should be thankful for that.
What did you like the least?
-Lack of open process groups. UT gets very repetitive.
-Therapy and dietitian sessions only 1x/week for half an hour.
-Almost no one (either PHP or IOP) consistently completed meals, and it seemed like there was no consequence. That really messed with my head, although that might be a me problem.
-The food was not great.
-Adults and adolescents combined.
Would you recommend this program? I guess it’s better than nothing. If you aren’t motivated I would recommend looking for a program that would put more of an emphasis on meal completion. You could very easily get away with making basically no progress at this program.
What level of activity or exercise was allowed? None in program. I assume outside of program it was individualized.
Do you get to know your weight? It’s individualized. I did viewed weights personally but it’s at the discretion of your team.
If applicable: How fast is the weight gain process? I don’t know. I didn’t gain any weight while I was there (and not because I wasn’t underweight).
What was the average length of stay? They recommend 30 days of programming.
What was the average age range? I’d say most people were in their late teens or early-mid twenties, though there were some exceptions.
What is the electronics policy (e.g., cell phones, iPods, Kindles, laptops, tablets)? You can bring whatever electronics you want as long as you didn’t bring any to meals or groups.
For adolescents: Did they provide time to do schoolwork or offer academic support? I don’t think so.
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? I can’t speak to this because I already had an OP team when I started.
thanks so much for doing this!!!
Renfrew Boston (virtual, php)
A lot of these I’m not sure about since I was there for such a short time. I do answer them in my Chicago review, however, locations vary.
When were you there?
January/February 2021
What level(s) of care did you do (e.g., inpatient, residential, PHP, IOP)?
PHP
How many patients are there on average?
It was pretty big, I want to say 20+
Does it treat both males and females? If so, is treatment separate or combined?
Unsure, we didn’t have any males.
If applicable: Do they support the gender identities of transgender and nonbinary people?
Yes, I’m nonbinary/queer and they were excellent with pronouns. They had queer clinicians. They also have a group called SAGE that is a queer open process group.
How often do you see a medical doctor, psychiatrist, psychologist (therapist), nutritionist, nurse, etc?
Medical: your own dr., labs, and vitals as needed. Psychiatrist: I think weekly or bi-weekly? I wasn’t there long enough to know. Dietitian: weekly. Therapist: weekly I think
What is the staff-to-patient ratio?
Don’t know specifically, but there were 2+ clinicians at every meal and always a clinician with camera off during the group that you could message for support.
What sort of therapies are used (e.g., DBT, CBT, EMDR, ACT, exposure therapy, somatic experiencing, etc.)?
Renfrew’s treatment protocol (like everywhere else) combines CBT, DBT, ACT, and ERP. I found Renfrew to have strong CBT.
Describe the average day:
What were meals like? What sorts of food were available or served? Did they supplement? How did that system work? What is the policy of not complying with meals?
Are you able to eat vegetarian? Vegan?
I am going to combine these questions as it’s easier to explain and more cohesive if I do it this way. It’s long.
Renfrew had a rotating meal schedule. We got the menu for the next week at the end of the day Friday. We still did make our own food following our meal plan needs (the meal plans were A, B, and C. Our meals weren’t exactly the same but we were eating similar types of foods as each other. Also we were supposed to eat snacks if we were prescribed them, during the breaks in programming, I think they were 15 mins.
Renfrew Boston Meal Plan (portions were dependent on meal plan)
Breakfast:
– cereal with milk or yogurt, fruit, nuts (or other fat spread)
– toasts or bagel, a dairy, a fruit, a fat
– oatmeal, dairy, fruit, fat
– thursdays were pick your own (following your mp exchanges obviously)they recommended waffles or pancakes, omelettes, pop tarts, bakery muffin/pastry
– granola or nature valley bars, dairy, fruit, fat
– dairy options: milk, yogurt, egg, cottage cheese
– fruit: hand fruit or juice
– fat: nuts, nut butters, seeds, butter, cream cheese, nutella, cookie butter, coconut flakes
Breakfasts were the same every cycle
Lunch:
Cycle 1:
– burger day w/toppings and sides
– pasta day
– taco day
– thursdays were pick your own plus a dessert
– sandwich day plus a dessert
Cycle 2:
– pizza day, a side, sweetened beverage
– grain bowl or noodle bowl or stir fry
– sandwich day with dessert
– thursdays: pick own with dessert
– “mexican”- nachos, quesadilla, taco, rice bowl
Cycle 3:
– “pick two” (+a dessert day)
– soup, salad, sandwich
– breakfast for lunch, you could pick:eggs and toast pancakes or waffles
– restaurant foods (could be from a restaurant or like frozen/homemade) lots of options but proteins could be: mozzarella sticks, chicken tenders, or wings plus a condiment. sides were fries, chips, or croutons. veggie was salad w/ dressing or veggie with dip.
– pick own with dessert sandwich day
Meal Prep/Monitoring/Check in+out/Supplements:
We got the menu at the end of the week for the next week. A lot of the items they advise prepping the night before because I believe we only got about 15-20 minutes to make lunch. I generally prepped everything because it wasn’t nearly enough time to make, portion, plate and send a photo as well as using the bathroom before the meal.
The Boston location was pretty big (it was 2021 so no one had the in-person option), so they separated lunch into 2 or 3 breakout rooms. I think it was assigned based on how much support you needed. If you needed more, they put you in a room with less clients. I think my breakout groups were ~18 clients. They had an email account that you sent a ‘before’ meal photo of your plate(s) to, if you needed to add more of something one of the dietitians would email you back from that account and ask you to send another photo with your additions. Renfrew uses ‘food emotion journals’ and you send them to your RD weekly. You were to fill them out on your own during meals. Meals were just normal conversations. There was at least one dietitian on screen talking and engaging in conversation and there were 1 or 2 with cameras off who were there for check ins and support. Also sometimes a therapist was the on camera person leading, and they would show you their meals and eat along with you. At the halfway mark they asked everyone to tilt their computer cameras to their plates and bowls. A dietitian might DM you, if it looked like you were having a hard time/might not complete. You could also just DM the dietitian yourself if you wanted support. I really liked that aspect. At the end of the meal they had you email the account a photo of your plate (and if you had stuff left). They also gave us a few minutes to finish up food emotion journals.
I have no idea what they did around completion/supplementing because I wasn’t in a place to be able to accept supplements. My dietitian was much more personalized with being able to work at my own pace to meet the exchanges.
What privileges are allowed? Does it work on a level system? How do you earn privileges?
None, it’s virtual so you have freedom to do whatever you want.
They have three stages for how you engage with their unified treatment protocol group E, A, and T stage. But it’s not levels, no.
What sort of groups do they have?
The groups included mindfulness, nutrition group, expressive arts, movement (yoga), body image, relational group, meal process, multi-family group. They had a college track for young people in school and a trauma track if applicable.
What was your favorite group?
SAGE (LGBTQ group)
If applicable: Is the program trauma-informed?
Yes, from what I remember
What did you like the most?
The caliber of the clinicians was high. My team was extremely accommodating for this being my first time in treatment.
What did you like the least?
I hated the psychiatrist I had. I also thought the size was a little overwhelming.
Would you recommend this program?
Honestly I wouldn’t recommend virtual PHP to anyone because I don’t think the support is adequate for that LOC.
What level of activity or exercise was allowed?
Worked it out with your dietitian, dependent on your medical stability and your ED history.
What did people do on weekends?
No weekend programming.
Do you get to know your weight?
Yes, you self report weights weekly (or more if requested per RD)
If applicable: How fast is the weight gain process?
Individualized but probably ~2lbs/week
What was the average length of stay?
Unsure
What was the average age range?
Majority young people in their early 20’s, the rest varied (30s, 40s, 50s)
What is the electronics policy (e.g., cell phones, iPods, Kindles, laptops, tablets)?
Don’t use your phone/be on other tabs during program.
For PHP/IOP: What support do they provide outside of programming hours?
Team members available via email during business hours.
What kind of aftercare do they provide? Do they help you set up an outpatient treatment team?
I discharged to a HLOC but the team was helpful in facilitating that. However, they heavily pushed Renfrew residential. I did 2 aftercare group cycles at this location and the therapist was very helpful (met with me 1:1, gave referrals for therapists, etc.)
Are there any resources for people who come from out of state/country?
n/a but it seemed like a huge pro that people from all over Mass could utilize this program.
If applicable: How is the program responding to COVID?
Virtual Program
Renfrew Chicago PHP (Virtual)
When were you there?
march-may 2021
What level(s) of care did you do (e.g., inpatient, residential, PHP, IOP)?
PHP & IOP
How many patients are there on average?
about 10
Does it treat both males and females? If so, is treatment separate or combined?
They treat all genders combined.
If applicable: Do they support the gender identities of transgender and nonbinary people?
Yes
How often do you see a medical doctor, psychiatrist, psychologist (therapist), nutritionist, nurse, etc?
Medical: your own dr., labs, and vitals as needed. Psychiatrist: I think weekly in PHP, as needed in IOP. I didn’t have an OP prescriber and they were very good with having me see the psych frequently to adjust my meds. Dietitian: weekly. Therapist: twice weekly in PHP, once weekly in IOP.
What is the staff-to-patient ratio?
1:7 or so (one staff per group/meal).
What sort of therapies are used (e.g., DBT, CBT, EMDR, ACT, exposure therapy, somatic experiencing, etc.)? Renfrew’s treatment protocol (like everywhere else) combines CBT, DBT, ACT, and ERP. I found Renfrew to have strength in CBT.
Describe the average day:
What were meals like? What sorts of food were available or served? Did they supplement? How did that system work? What is the policy of not complying with meals? Are you able to eat vegetarian? Vegan?
I’m vegetarian, the RD just makes sure its not ED driven. You’d have a harder time with veganism but you make your own meals so nothing is stopping you from using non-dairy alternatives.
The meal plans work on exchanges/supplementation and the virtual PHP/IOP menu was on a three week rotation. They give you the handouts for how to meet them and they also gave a really helpful snack list with categories of 2 exchange snacks and 3 exchange snacks. And for proteins with meals you usually have to have X amount and on the information given they give examples of common X protein portions. I liked it a lot. It gave me a bit of confidence and guidance.This kocation I felt like they didn’t meet me where I was, and I felt shamed for ‘noncompliance.’ I felt the Boston site was able to set reasonable boundaries and challenges, and felt supported to work through roadblocks. Here, I was left to stagnate.
Renfrew had a rotating meal schedule. We got the menu for the next week at the end of the day Friday. We still did make our own food following our meal plan needs (the meal plans were A, B, and C. Our meals weren’t exactly the same but we were eating similar types of foods as each other. Also we were supposed to eat snacks if we were prescribed them, during the breaks in programming, I think they were 15 mins.
Renfrew Chicago Meal Plan (amounts were dependent on your meal plan)
Breakfast
– cereal with milk or yogurt, fruit, nuts (or other fat spread)
– toasts or bagel, a dairy, a fruit, a fat
– oatmeal, dairy, fruit, fat
– thursdays were pick your own (following your mp exchanges obviously)they recommended waffles or pancakes, omelettes, pop tarts, bakery muffin/pastry
– granola or nature valley bars, dairy, fruit, fat
– dairy options: milk, yogurt, egg, cottage cheese
– fruit: hand fruit or juice
– fat: nuts, nut butters, seeds, butter, cream cheese, nutella, cookie butter, coconut flakes
Breakfasts were the same every cycle EXCEPT one Wednesday cycle the oats are replaced with pastry day and one Thursday cycle instead of pick your own is breakfast sandwiches
Lunch
Cycle 1:
Pizza Day
-Sandwich Day with dessert
-Grain or Noodle Bowl/Stir Fry
-Pick Your Own with dessert
-Take Out or Frozen Meal Day
Cycle 2:
– Pick Two (soup/salad/half sandwich)
– Sandwich Day with dessert
– Grain or Noodle Bowl/Stir Fry
– Pick Your Own with dessert
– Breakfast for Lunch – Omelette or Pancakes/Waffles
Cycle 3:
– Burger Day with Sides
– Grain or Noodle Bowl/Stir Fry
– Taco Day (Could do taco bowls as long as you included your starches)
– Pick Your Own with dessert
– Take Out/Frozen Meal with dessert
Meal Prep/Monitoring/Check in+out/Supplements:
I always prepped ahead. In this location I also continued to see my OP dietitian weekly, but it was discouraged by my Renfrew team. I didn’t vibe with my dietitian at this site. I found her to be rigid and inflexible. Whereas Boston/OP RDs understood where I was at and were willing to work with me and acknowledge how hard I was working/how far I’d come. I felt that my program RD treated me as non-compliant, treatment resistant, and stubborn.
However, the Chicago location was more flexible with how you ~met~ the menu. I remember one client who had the same meal almost everyday, and it was just some variation of a salad with most of the meal components in it and the same sides. We had, at most, ten clients. We had just the one RD and she always led lunch. Sometimes a therapist would lead breakfast. As you trickled in as you finished prepping the RD would have you show your plates and say what was in your meal. This is where she would like, ask you if you had X amount of peanut butter or something and if you weren’t sure she’d ask you to add more. I will say for both locations the check-in for meal components was helpful because doing virtual on your own it’s easy to let certain things slip your mind, unintentionally.
Once everyone was checked in we’d go around and say how you’re feeling, anything you’re bringing into the meal (emotionally or triggers), your intention, and rate our hunger/fullness. This dietitian’s FAVORITE question when someone reported high fullness before a meal was, “and is that physical, emotional or both?” Valid question but I also felt like this was a way to surreptitiously imply ~that’s your ED talking~. But, that’s my beef. So, we’d eat and usually just chat about how we were, our lives outside of treatment, etc. We’d do a halfway check. Because it was so small (usually 6 clients) the RD was able to speak directly to us in the room. You could DM too. She would correct table behaviors and check in around pacing a lot. Breakfast was 45 minutes, Lunch was 50. At the halfway point if you had a lot left she’d ask if you thought you could complete or if you wanted to just go ahead and supplement. I thought that was nice because it gave you more time to complete the supplement. Otherwise you would show plates at the end and re-rate your hunger/fullness. If you didn’t finish you were asked to have 1-2 supplement drinks depending on percentage left. You had like, maybe 5 minutes to drink it. Maybe a little more some days. Often I was unable to finish my supplement in the given time. But on the days I had an individual session right after lunch the RD would tell my therapist or psychiatrist and have them follow up and have me finish in session.
If you were prescribed an AM snack you could stay on camera and have your snack with the clinician/others who also needed to have a snack.
What privileges are allowed? Does it work on a level system? How do you earn privileges?
None, it’s virtual so you have freedom to do whatever you want.
They have three stages for how you engage with their unified treatment protocol group E, A, and T stage. But it’s not levels, no.
What sort of groups do they have? The groups included mindfulness, nutrition group, expressive arts, movement (yoga), body image, relational group, meal process, multi-family group. They had a college track for young people in school and a trauma track if applicable. They weren’t good at identifying trauma that is less known. I have medical trauma that was not attended to at all.
What was your favorite group?
Relational Group
If applicable: Is the program trauma-informed?
Somewhat, but I think their core programming (UT) isn’t as trauma sensitive
What did you like the most?
The Chicago location’s biggest pro is its size. I benefited from the real time interruption of behaviors and encouraged to voice the ED thoughts. The RD helped with healthy re-frames AND it was really cool because we were encouraged to support each other, offer re-frames, encouragement, advice, etc.
The psych np was incredible (she’s since left), I don’t have enough good things to say about her. She really cared and worked to adjust some of my meds and I’m a difficult case. One of the group therapists was really good and kept it real, she had lived experience which I thought was cool. After PHP my therapist left so I switched to the site director and she was actually amazing. I got more done in a month than I had in the psat two months. She encouraged me to email her, even over weekends, and replied to each thoroughly. She gently guided me out of the program even though I was doing awfully, she saw that it was the kindest thing because I wasn’t benefiting from it at all anymore. She is, unfortunately, also not there anymore.
What did you like the least?
So many things. I thought the groups were basic and not run very well with the exception of one therapist. As a PHP it wasn’t suitable for someone who actually needed the support of a PHP. It just didn’t translate virtually, and I continued to struggle with behaviors. If you were having a hard time at a meal it was hard to actually voice your thoughts in fear of triggering someone.I felt shamed for the degree I was struggling. I was honest the whole time but I felt it mostly earned me the disdain of the RD. At our discharge session she told me “well, you got what you wanted… a functional eating disorder.”
Would you recommend this program?
I would not recommend this site at all.
What level of activity or exercise was allowed?
They had yoga weekly. Other than that your team determined your level of movement based on medicals, weight, and meal plan compliance.
What did people do on weekends?
No weekend programming.
Do you get to know your weight?
Yes, you self report weights weekly (or more if requested per RD)
If applicable: How fast is the weight gain process?
Individualized but ~2lbs/week
What was the average length of stay?
8-10 weeks
What was the average age range?
Mostly 18-22, some 30’s and 40’s clients
What is the electronics policy (e.g., cell phones, iPods, Kindles, laptops, tablets)?
Don’t use your phone/be on other tabs during program.
For PHP/IOP: What support do they provide outside of programming hours?
You can email your team after program/during business hours.
What kind of aftercare do they provide? Do they help you set up an outpatient treatment team?
They give you referrals and check to make sure you’ve made OP appointments.
If applicable: How is the program responding to COVID? (Less patients, virtual programming, no visitors, masks, social distancing, etc)
Virtual Program
The differences between the Boston and Chicago sites for me:
TL;DR:
both locations:
work on a three week rotating menu where you all eat similar things.
amounts depend on your meal plan: A, B, or C.
staff eat with you
boston:
you stick to the menu more
it is bigger, meaning it’s harder to get real time feedback on your meals/behaviors. you mostly have to wait to have your individual sessions to get into that.
email meal photos
more post meal processing
chicago:
offers more flexibility (eg. you’re out of an ingredient you can sub/make the meal fit the theme less)
is smaller so you get more real time feedback, support, and behavior interruption.
show meal on camera
not a ton of post meal processing
Renfrew @ Home PHP/Day IOP Review
I was in virtual PHP via R@H Jan-Feb 2024.
In general, there were around 8-12 patients in virtual PHP and about 5-6 in virtual day IOP when I was there. PHP and day IOP are combined from approximately 11 am-2:30 pm, so the second half of the day.
Renfrew treats cis girls and women, trans girls and women, and nonbinary individuals, from what I could tell. Pronouns are asked about in every group’s check-in, and people were pretty supportive in my experience.
In virtual PHP, you see your therapist once every week for an hour, and see your psych NP and dietitian each for 30 minutes weekly. In virtual IOP, you see your therapist once a week for 30 minutes, and dietitian for 30 minutes every other week, from what I could tell.
There’s always at least two staff in groups/meals, one of whom is leading the group/meal and the other is backup. If there are lots of patients, meals may be split up into two breakout rooms.
The therapy used is Unified Treatment, so Renfrew’s heavily-CBT blend of a variety of different therapy techniques and somewhat “relational practice.” Homework is assigned daily–always 2 ARCs, an EDA, and completing one’s FEJ, with typically another workbook page or two to be completed.
For meals, breakfast is on a one-week rotation. Monday is sweetened cereal, Tuesday is a bagel or muffin, Wednesday is oatmeal or grits, Thursday is waffles or pancakes, and Friday is granola with milk or yogurt. With the entree, you have a dairy, 1-2 fats, a fruit, and potentially an additional starch. Meal plans are exchange-based, with specific amounts for meals specified in the meal plan; there are meal plans A-C, with C being the highest, and I think most people were on 2-3 snacks per day. Each snack is to consist of 3-4 exchanges at minimum.
You’re expected to have all of the groceries on hand to meet your meal plan, and to replenish them as needed.
Lunches are on a four-week rotation, with dessert required at lunch twice per week; dessert counts as 1 fat. Common foods for lunches include pasta, grain bowls, sandwiches, pizza, salads occasionally, sometimes takeout, typical American fare. Of note, every meal at Renfrew is required to have a dairy–glass of milk, cup of yogurt, cheese stick, or 2 slices cheese. You can be vegetarian, but I’m pretty sure you can’t be vegan.
If you do not complete during the 30 minutes for meals, you can finish during A&A (Awareness and Acceptance, the time after the meal during meal group to reflect on how it went) or supplement; the supplement/meal replacement used is Boost Plus. I don’t entirely know how the supplement protocol works specifically, but it seems to be a pretty typical policy, in terms of 2 Boost Plus for very little food consumed and 1 Boost Plus if about half has been consumed, and then you have to show that the Boost bottle’s empty.
You are required to be sitting up and on camera at all times, save when you are in the bathroom.
The policy around bathroom use is that you need to message backup, who will bring you into a breakout room and have you turn your sound on and camera off, and ask you to bring your device to outside the bathroom door and leave it cracked while using the bathroom, and once you’re done you turn your camera back on and return to group.
Groups include breakfast, values, expressive arts, weekend planning, weekend review, trauma group, body image, nutrition, UT (daily for 75 minutes), lunch, music, and community meeting, with the optional groups for BIPOC individuals and LGBT individuals, respectively. I liked when we did art or were able to talk in breakout rooms; it was nice to be able to chat more openly without a clinician around. I didn’t have a particular least favorite group–I didn’t find the UT modality particularly helpful, and was lucky that my program therapist was willing to do more general talk therapy with me.
Being virtual was nice to some degree, and I’m glad that I had the step-down support available, as I was transitioning from a different residential program. That said, I think that because of the lack of space for patients to connect at all outside of program, in ways that aren’t true of in-person programming, it felt pretty isolating and artificial to be vulnerable and then log off immediately at 2:30 each day. It can also be challenging to hold yourself accountable in a virtual setting.
Also, because many patients have come from Renfrew res, sometimes the milieu dynamic was challenging as someone who hadn’t been to res there and couldn’t relate to those particulars.
The recommended length of stay is 6-8 weeks in PHP, and 8-10 weeks in IOP. I’d say when I was there, about half the patients were young adults, with the other half being mostly in their late 20s/early 30s, a few middle-aged adults.
From what I could tell, there was no support provided outside of programming hours to clients.
Most people do blind weights in my experience, and the way that was done varied depending on the patient’s situation. If you need any outpatient clinicians, I think they’d help you find them to help with step-down.
I was coming into program pretty motivated to recover, and found myself frustrated with how one-size-fits-all it seemed to be, in terms of adherence to the UT framework. For me, it was helpful in terms of the meal support aspect and some psychoeducation around emotions, avoidance, etc. and connecting with others, but the latter was diminished by the fact that we were strongly discouraged from connecting with others outside of program. It was a fine program, good for what it is, but it isn’t a program that I would necessarily want to return to if I had to seek a HLOC and had other options.
This is helpful K, thank you for taking the time to explain. I’m surprised about the food restrictions tbh. I have AN and ARFID and the appeal of virtual programming in the past has been that I could eat my safe foods (sensory-wise), and a lot of the foods described in the meal rotation above aren’t things that I have ever/will ever eat. I also find it strange that they discouraged connecting with other clients outside programming as that’s usually a helpful element of treatment. Thanks for taking the time to write this and for all the details you included!
Wait so in virtual iop here you had a specific meal plan of what you had to eat?
Can someone provide a review of Php esp nyc location but would love to learn more in general and if you can email me photos of the meal selection sheet tysm
Does anyone have any experience at Renfrew in Paramus, NJ?
Any recent virtual php experiences??
I’m considering the in-person PHP in Manhattan, New York but I’m wondering if they ever accommodate veganism (for strictly ethical reasons) and have dairy free supplements or would let me bring my own (obviously approved by the dietician).
Renfrew Boston PHP/IOP (in-person)
When were you there?
september-december 2024
What level(s) of care did you do (e.g., inpatient, residential, PHP, IOP)?
PHP/IOP
If applicable: Is it wheelchair accessible?
They have a wheelchair lift, some of the doorways seem narrow so i’m not sure
How many patients are there on average?
12 PHP give or take, more with IOP added
What genders does it treat? Do they support the gender identities of transgender and nonbinary people?
all genders, they respect gender identity and have a gender and sexuality group
How often do you see a medical doctor, psychiatrist, psychologist (therapist), nutritionist, nurse, etc?
therapist and dietitian once a week for all levels, psychiatry once a week for PHP only
What is the staff-to-patient ratio?
they had maybe 7 therapists, 3 dietitians, 3 interns, and a milieu manager
What sort of therapies are used (e.g., DBT, CBT, EMDR, ACT, exposure therapy, somatic experiencing, etc.)?
Unified Treatment (UT) protocol. It’s a manualized conglomeration of CBT, DBT, ACT, and ERP concepts. They have their own terms they use for everything and assign UT homework daily. They have an art therapy group. ARFID group seems to be ERP based. Trauma 2 (for folks with identified trauma they are working on) is based in CPT.
Describe the average day:
PHP 8:45-2:30, 2 meals, 1 snack, 3 groups +individual sessions
IOP 8:45-12:15 OR 10:45-2:30 OR night hours (not sure what time)
If you did day IOP you could pick any 3 days, night IOP was Tuesday, Thursday, Friday
What were meals like?
Call you in by what eating level you are on. Trays- everything portioned for you and placed at the table. IE/interdependent eating- the main dish is portioned for you at your spot but you portion some or all of the sides. Fix-own: you can basically do what you want I think. I think people either brought in their own food, chose from what was available in the kitchen, or got to choose from the menu of the restaurant. You choose your menu a week in advance, there’s usually 2 main options per day (a meat and non-meat) and you can choose between 2 or 3 options for each side. You go in, find your spot by where your menu is placed. You fill out your food emotion journal and staff collect that and check off your plate. 1 staff member is at each table. You have 30 minutes per meal. It’s usually light conversation. The staff will approach folks individually if they are struggling. I didn’t think the meal support/coaching was that good and they didn’t really correct table behaviors. At the end of the meal they give you back your food journal to write in and pass supplements. You have the duration of the post meal processing (Awareness and Acceptance- A&A) to complete the supplement.
What sorts of food were available or served?
All the meals were brought in from local restaurants. Menu included: Falafel hummus plate, stir fry, salads, breakfast for lunch (pancakes and eggs), greek hummus wrap, pad thai, burgers, taco bell, indian, pizza, alfredo pasta, grilled cheese, pb & j, falafel wrap, burrito bowl. I’m vegetarian, there were meat options served as well. The dairy sides were milk, chocolate milk, yogurt, cheese stick. Fruit was juice, clementines, grapes, apple juice, apples, bananas. Breakfast was the same weekly: cereal, toast or bagels, oatmeal, pastry day, yogurt and granola. Breakfast fat options were almonds, walnuts, peanut butter, or nutella. We had two desserts a week. Snacks had two options per day on a schedule. There were things like: chex mix, trail mix, fruit + pb or nutella, chips or pretzels and hummus, cereal with milk, goldfish, cheese sticks, pastry, poptarts, pb sandwich crackers, applesauce, juice, yogurt, etc.
Did they supplement? How did that system work?
Two boost plus for less than 50% meal completion, one boost plus for 50% or more completion, one boost plus if you lose more than a pound. They have boost plus, breeze, and orgain and some other specialty options. you can also supplement with clif bars if you clear it with your RD. They are open to different ideas too. You would also get a gatorade added on if your vitals were not good that day.
What is the policy of not complying with meals?
Offered supplement
Are you able to eat vegetarian? Vegan?
Vegetarian yes, maybe vegan. They have dairy free milks, yogurts, etc. if you have an intolerance.
What privileges are allowed?
Portioning part of your meals
Does it work on a level system?
No
How do you earn privileges?
Completion
What sort of groups do they have?
Specialty: ARFID, substance use, LGBTQ+, college, BIPOC, trauma
Regular: weekend planning/weekend review, creative arts, topics, trauma informed community, relational, body image, nutrition, values
What was your favorite group?
the specialty ones: trauma, LGBTQ, BIPOC
If applicable: Is the program trauma-informed?
In theory but I found a lot of things not actually trauma informed, especially for complex trauma. They’re huge into exposure and confronting triggers even when it’s not safe nor healthy to do so.
What did you like the most?
Trauma 2 group and the clinicians who ran it. As well as the other specialty groups I was in: SAGE and BIPOC. It offered good community experiences that were different from a lot of typically straight whitewashed ED spaces. The community in general was also genuinely positive overall.
What did you like the least?
UT felt pointless and a waste of time; we didn’t even really learn skills from it. True CBT, DBT, or ACT would be better. Also 2-3 therapists and the milieu manager were good but the rest were very average to poor. All the therapists except one are basically fresh out of grad school.
Who would you recommend this program to?
Someone stepping down from a HLOC in a good place or someone just looking to get back in a more stable eating rhythm. Not great if you’re really struggling, they just recommend a HLOC and aren’t resourced to pull someone out of a spiral.
What level of activity or exercise was allowed?
Nothing was incorporated in the program.
What did people do on weekends?
5 day a week program
Do you get to know your weight?
They do both blind and viewed weights, you decide with your team
If applicable: How fast is the weight gain process?
Depends but about 2lb/week was the goal until weight restored
What was the average length of stay?
PHP minimum 30 days, can extend to 40+
IOP 8-10 weeks
What was the average age range?
Mostly late teens and early twenties. Few people 30+
What is the electronics policy (e.g., cell phones, iPods, Kindles, laptops, tablets)?
Keep phones in cubbies during groups and meals
For adolescents: Did they provide time to do schoolwork or offer academic support?
College programming group just to offer a space to explore the difficulties of balancing recovery and school
For PHP/IOP: What support do they provide outside of programming hours?
None
What kind of aftercare do they provide? Do they help you set up an outpatient treatment team?
Not sure of aftercare, they make sure you have a team/appointments set up
Are there any resources for people who come from out of state/country?
No
If applicable: How is the program responding to COVID? (Less patients, virtual programming, no visitors, masks, social distancing, etc)
Nothing
Other?
I felt really frustrated by my time here in comparison to my 2021 virtual. They tried to offer me additional support but it fell short. I had/have major GI problems so they let me take my supplements with me to group after meals, let me do Boost Breeze, and after weeks of not completing a single meal they reduced my expected meal plan completion which all helped alleviate my physical struggle. My dietitian tried to be somewhat creative but seemed very lost. I did step up to PHP from IOP after a month but didn’t make any improvements and was basically not challenged, not supported to eat more, and the rest of the staff gave up on coaching me through meals. I saw other clients get interventions such as 1:1 meals or even the ability to challenge fear foods at meals and snacks. I get that realistically if I wasn’t eating enough they didn’t want to challenge other things, but it’s not like I was getting enough support to eat more either. I left AMA because I was progressing backwards.
Definitely not ideal for someone who would be stereotypically labeled “treatment resistant” also they don’t handle co-morbidities that well.
How does the virtual iop work? What are the supoorted meals like? Do you get to pick your own meals based on your exchanges? How long is a day?
I’ve been in IOP at Renfrew in Charlotte. I would not recommend. I only clicked with one of the staff members – most if not all are interns. My therapist would go back on her word and switch what she was saying like every week. I went from being told she wanted to give me more time in IOP to a week later being told I have no choice and have 2 days to decide if I’m going to agree to residential or have to leave treatment altogether. It was a total 360 from our previous conversation and beyond unfair and just left me so confused. I had only been in treatment for like 4 weeks. I have orthorexia and unfortunately they didn’t tailor treatment to that at all – it was one size fits all but orthorexia, afrid etc really needs a different more specialized treatment approach
I’m looking into IOP programmes, and thought I’d share the information I received from Renfrew in case it might be helpful to those looking into treatment options. I inquired specifically about the IOP programme in New York, so I can’t speak to any other locations, nor Renfrew’s PHP in New York. Here is what the Renfrew representative shared with me:
They do accept medicaid insurance, but only Fidelis and Empire/Anthem providers.
They accommodate vegans.
Programme hours are Mon, Wed, Thur, 3.30-6.30pm
They do not provide housing.
Meals are provided during programme. Patients don’t prepare their own meals (there’s no kitchen); they’re prepared off-site and delivered to the treatment centre.
Patients meet with a therapist and dietician weekly for individual sessions. There are no doctors (including psychiatrists) or recovery coaches on staff for this programme.
Renfrew does not provide any support outside of programme hours.
Average length of stay is 8-10 weeks.
They currently have 10 patients, but was told this number can vary quite a bit, with a lot of patient turn over. I was told that they never have a waitlist.
The admissions process, from the initial assessment to being admitted, is a week at most.
Hello!
I live in Boston and am wondering if anybody has recent experience with Renfew’s in person PHP/IOP? I am stepping down from Alsana RTC in CA and considering which PHP to do in the Boston area. I would love to know about the food piece – how strict they are about meal completion/supplementation, how the food is, examples of meals/snacks at the PHP or IOP level, efficacy of groups, what the milieu is like, etc
Hi, I have been to the Boston Location a few times. They make breakfast there…things that don’t need to be cooked like waffles, yogurt, cereal, pastries. For lunch, they order from restaurants near by. You choose your menu prior and they order will all of your exchange’s. Meal Completion is obviously encouraged but they can’t make you do anything. They are very good about meal support and making you feel supported. If you eat less than 50%, you get two Boosts and if you don’t complete but eat more than 50%, you get one Boost. They will encourage you to drink the boost. Snacks are all supplied by Renfrew…goldfish, cheez-its, juice, crackers, cheese sticks, cookies, yogurt, clif bars, etc. The groups are good but can be repetitive if you step down from a renfrew residential site (which I did). Other than that, you get what you put into it. The treatment model includes homework that really helps if you do it! I haven’t been there in a while but I have met some awesome people in the community there.
Wondering if anyone recently has done virtual php or iop and could share their experience
Does Renfrew offer transitional housing for people in the day programming?
I believe at some point years ago they did, but I can’t find any current information about it so as far as I know they don’t anymore. However they probably can recommend extended stay hotels that they may have discounts at. People also will stay at AirBnbs or in sober living houses (for example, halfway houses). Renfrew does also have virtual PHP.
Has anyone done their virtual at home program?
I’m probably starting vIOP in about a week! I’ll gladly do a write-up when I am able.
Great, thank you so much!
So, this unfortunately is not going to work out. I don’t know if this is only happening in North Carolina, but a major insurance carrier abruptly stopped covering virtual IOP, leaving in-person as the only option. The intake coordinator told me that they had to discharge several people because of this and they aren’t accepting new folks with this insurance into vIOP unless they are self-pay.
I think this will likely be happening with multiple insurances due to the federal pandemic emergency ending. It’s truly unfortunate. Covid or no, many people live too far from any IOP to commute and it’s not worth it for most people to get lodging for something that lasts 9 hrs per week. Therefore without virtual as an option the entire IOP level of care is inaccessible to huge swaths of the country. A lot of people can’t afford to get lodging for PHP, which insurance doesn’t generally cover even if the PHP itself is, making virtual necessary for them. A lot of people also cannot drop their whole life and go to another location for treatment for various reasons, meaning all HLOC are no longer an option for them without virtual even if virtual PHP or IOP could have worked for them. Most of the time in 2023 it has nothing to do with covid. Both virtual and in person are vital options. I will get off my soapbox now.
Hi, I’m writing to ask about their IOP,
what is the schedule and timing like? Is it flexible? Thanks
Has anyone done virtual IOP with Renfrew? Would you please be willing to share your experience?
I will be starting day treatment at the Renfrew Center Mt. Laurel location next week. I’ve read some pretty horrible things about Renfrew in general, but can anyone share their experience at Mt. Laurel specifically? What is the meal/eating protocol?
Hey I’m going to start day treatment at the Mt. Laurel location soon. Do you have any reviews on it or anything I should know beforehand?
Has anyone been to the Pittsburgh location? Would you recommend it?
Can anyone give a review of the IOP program in Manhattan? There are very few in person IOP’s, and I’d really like to go to one, instead of jumping straight from PHP to OP. However, my last experience at Renfrew’s IOP was terrible, so I’m dubious. Then again, it’s been several years, so I’m wondering whether it’s better now. Also, do they accommodate ethical vegans?
I was in their PHP for about 4 weeks not too long ago. The PHP and the IOP overlap, if you do the day option. It’s pretty standard. You arrive in the late morning, have one session of their group therapy module, then lunch, then another group or two.
Is the IOP during the day or night? When doing PHP do you need to have breakfast there?
also for virtual do you show your meal on camera?
Are any of their virtual programs licensed in Virginia?
I hate that I am even here asking this because I have not had success at Renfrew’s Mt. Laurel NJ partial in the past (left treatment early a few times and swore I would never return) but I am spiraling and my insurance is refusing to pay for Monte Nido’s partial due to it still being virtual so MN’s assessment only looked at IOP and Res and they recommended Res which I don’t want or need right now.
So onto my questions: has anyone been at that Renfrew (Mt. Laurel) location maybe 5 years ago and again more recently? If so, has it changed? Is it any better? What’s it like now? Thanks.
I was recently discharged from virtual PHP through the Atlanta location. I liked my dietitian and felt the meal plan was reasonable. They give you a rotating menu each week that you’re supposed to adhere to, which my eating disorder obviously hated but was good from a recovery perspective. The program felt structured and educational, unlike some I’ve done which were a total free-for-all. Unfortunately after a misunderstanding where I said I was contemplating discharge, they immediately processed a discharge, ignoring their own 72 hour waiting protocol. I only found out when I tried to log back in the next day. I asked if they could undo it and they told me only if my husband was involved in the conversation and recovery. They know there is some tension there and I said it was something I wanted to work toward, but that I was uncomfortable with the notion I needed my husband present and involved in order to access my own healthcare as an adult. I expressed my concerns and they said they could see my perspective, but then doubled down on his needed to be involved at every step in the process. This felt like a huge red flag to me and does not align to my feminist values. I am no longer seeking readmission and felt it was only fair to share my experience. Maybe some of the other sites are different. I hope so, because there really were some solid aspects of this program.
Surprisingly had a similar thing happen with PHP virtual from charlotte. Needed my husband in on the “big talks” and required him to do counseling with me. There were some things I was unwilling to share with him, and basically had to beg and plead for them not to divulge that info to him (and it was NOT info needed to keep me safe).
hi do you have any info on the in person php there?
any insights about Atlanta Day Program for early teens?
how long do patients typically stay in day treatment?
i need intensive treatment but i don’t have very much medical leave left at work. trying to figure out what’s possible. thanks!
Programs will usually work with you if you have logistical limitations. Don’t give up because you think it won’t work. Length of stay always varies wildly based on so many extenuating factors that for any facility it’s usually impossible to give much of an average, other than things like inpatient being shorter than residential, or something.
Has anyone been to the nashville (tennessee) location?
I know this is way after the question was asked but I did PHP and IOP at the Nashville location in 2018. It was a really hard process and they source their meals from a particular restaurant that I don’t love, but I’ve been in recovery ever since and ultimately don’t regret the choice to go through the program.
Anyone have any recent experience with the White Plains, NY or NYC PHP/IOP locations? What are the PHP hours and are both locations offering an in person option or are they still virtual? Thanks so much!
any recent reviews or info on center city philly or radnor pa php?
Does anyone know where the location is for the PHP program that focuses on college age (for friend)? Where is the one that focuses on midlife (for me). Thank you
Does anyone have experience with the Chicago (Northbrook, IL) location for PHP and/or IOP?
Hi! I’m considering Renfrew IOP. Few questions if anyone has info:
Thanks in advance!
Unless this has changed since I was at Renfrew (2019 most recently), in IOP you continue to see your OP therapist. You will have a therapist at Renfrew but you only meet with them for 15-30min once a week for more of a check-in. You are NOT allowed to continue to see your OP dietitian. This was a major issue for me as, at the time, I had been seeing my OP dietitian twice a week which I found hugely supportive and, in IOP with Renfrew, you only see their dietitian once every other week for 20-30min. I had a lot of trouble with this (and really did not find the Renfrew dietitian helpful) and my OP dietitian was willing to continue working with me and just not looping Renfrew in. Ultimately Renfrew found out and gave me the choice of terminating with my OP dietitian or being asked to leave IOP.
It is mind blowing that a treatment provider would LIMIT any extra support. It demonstrates they are not truly invested in what is best for the patient but rather their profits.
Shame on them.
In IOP did you go during the day or night? Was it virtual?
If so, were the meals online or how was that set up?
Does anyone have any more information on the Charlotte Renfrew location? Any idea of how it works for patients with ARFID?
I can’t speak to the Charlotte location specifically—I suspect it very much depends on staff which, at Renfrew, seems to turn over quickly. At the Baltimore location several years ago, ARFID was treated no differently than how they treat anything else—patients were told to “just sit with it” and “lean in to the discomfort.”
I will say that the treatment of ARFID at the residential level (in Philly at least 2017-2019, maybe still but that was the last time I was there) was the best I’ve seen in numerous treatment centers. They had (have?) two pretty phenomenal OTs on staff that really seemed to ‘get’ eating disorders and ARFID and they would work with you and the rest of your team in creating exposure challenges and advocate for modifications to your treatment (and meal plan) to accommodate the needs of someone with ARFID vs other eating disorders. They were also great at helping to untangle what might be ARFID vs AN driven in someone that presented with symptoms of both.
ARFID at Renfrew has changed a LOT in the last year. In January of 2022 they added ARFID specific programming. They are genuinely doing amazing stuff with ARFID in the PHP and IOP levels. If you are in PHP or IOP on the east coast, you have access to ARFID group and ARFID lunch every week. (I say east coast because they combine everyone from the east coast in this one virtual group. I have no idea if this is offered at any other non east coast locations. That being said, Renfrew is mostly east coast anyways. Charlotte NC is definitely part of the ARFID group I was in.) Yes, TWO ARFID specific meeting times. It meets virtually so if you are in-person treatment, they will arrange you to meet virtually in an extra office and if you are in virtual treatment you will join a separate group from the normal virtual group. I can not stress enough how amazing it is. The therapist and dietitian who run it really know what they are talking about and I can’t even explain how much my ARFID improved with these two groups. I will say that not all providers know everything about it so your individual dietitian or therapist might not “get it” quite as much but I can tell that the knowledge is kind of spreading and it is getting more recognition and space in Renfrew’s treatment settings. But seriously go to Renfrew for ARFID care. It is amazing. Unmatched. I have been to CFD which said they treated ARFID which is why I went there but they really don’t cause there is nothing different than what they provide for AN or BED.
could someone pls pls lmk if they allow cell phone use at any time? i will either be going to the location in penn or coconut creek. please
Can anyone provide a recent recommendation on Renfrew? Did it help you? Loved one was recommended residential but may start at PHP Level which was a surprise to us. Is this common?
I may be remembering this incorrectly, but I think it is common for Renfrew to start people at PHP and then bump them up to residential after demonstrating to insurance that residential is necessary. If residential beds are full, I know some places will also have someone go ahead and start at PHP if they are local. I’m not sure if Renfrew does that. There is a chance also that your loved one may have downplayed their symptoms or suffering during their intake assessment, which humans do naturally (it’s an evolutionary reaction) and which is especially easy to find yourself doing with an eating disorder – in fact is a symptom of having an eating disorder in and of itself. Whatever the situation, trust your gut and your truth, because you and your loved one know their eating disorder and the amount of support/containment they will need to interrupt symptoms, stabilize and kickstart recovery better than anyone else. It’s totally normal to tell a treatment center you need a higher level of care than recommended (I have done it!), and you might consider cutting to the chase and doing that with Renfrew! If Renfrew insists on PHP or doesn’t seem understanding, you can look for another place in network for residential. Or you can do both simultaneously. Assuming Renfrew is what is closest to home for you, it will still be there for your loved one to step down to if they want for PHP after doing residential elsewhere.
I’ve been to Renfrew twice and it was extremely common for people to be started at PHP (even when it was pretty clearly not the right level of care for them) and then stepped up to residential. I’m not sure why they do it this way and I don’t think it’s the best way to go about things but it’s definitely a common occurrence.
Just a note: I went to treatment in Florida. It is NOT a tropical resort. I never left the facility in the three months I was there. It is just like any treatment facility that happens to be in a place with hot weather.
Review is for Renfrew Boston IOP in October/November 2019 (pre-covid)
I have a ton of mixed feelings about my short stint at Renfrew Boston in their IOP program. I lasted about 2.5 weeks before they pulled the “you have to do PHP or nothing”. But, it also wasn’t that simple…
My OP therapist was the first one to give me an ultimatum – told me I had to do IOP (later would find out she really meant PHP but was lying to get me to actually do something) at either Cambridge or Renfrew. I chose Renfrew mostly bc I heard that for CEDC I had to bring my own food and that sounded stressful. Anyway, I liked the intake person. They said they recommended PHP but would let me try IOP. TBH, wasn’t surprised. Said I would only do IOP because I was in school full-time. So, after getting labs and whatnot, I started IOP.
I told them from the get-go that I was going to take longer than their average client to warm up to treatment providers. I don’t trust people easily. I repeated this basically every chance I got – I had a feeling it wouldn’t mean anything, but I was hoping it might…
Anyway, I liked my individual treatment providers. I even liked the interns – which isn’t always a given. Sometimes their inexperience is glaring. But they were great. I had **** (therapist) and **** (dietitian) and… tbh I don’t remember the interns’ names. They usually led the first group of the night, though. And one of them did my orientation and I liked her a lot.
But all it really took was not gaining 1-2 lbs/week after 2.5 weeks (and theoretically maybe losing, but also my initial weight was done with my shoes on…) and 2-3 unfinished meals and Boosts (that shit is nasty and it felt like there was no real reason to drink it – no one was watching to see if I did or if I poured it out, so like… why would I) before I had the “PHP or bust” talk. But then they played around with me… the next day they offered I could actually do IOP – IF I completed all meals and met all progress goals – until January (like 2 months) when I could do PHP without missing school. This didn’t really make sense to me – if I could do that, I wouldn’t need PHP… but, anyway, I felt kind of confused and annoyed, so my renfrew therapist actually suggested taking a week off of treatment, so I did.
Then, my outpatient therapist (who, as it turned out, knew a lot less about EDs than she let on) said she wouldnt keep seeing me because I dropped out, so I tried to go back to Renfrew and take them up on the offer. They made me re-do medical testing, which took a bit. When I finally got all of that done, I got there and met with [therapist], only for her to tell me that insurance wouldn’t cover it because of how long I would be out of town in December (I HAD told them, but they forgot or didn’t listen). So she said she’d reach out in January when I got back. I had a feeling she wouldn’t actually do that, and lo and behold… she didn’t.
So… idk. From what I’ve gathered from my own experience and others’… Renfrew is strict. They care a lot about their image and reputation, so if you don’t meet their goals and criteria, they will force you into whatever box seems fit. My understanding is that people are quickly bumped up levels, and quickly bumped to tube feeding… and sure, maybe they have a good recovery rate (tbh I don’t even know if they do)… but has anyone looked past the “8 week” mark? Like a 2 year follow up? How good is their success rate then? Also, I wonder how Philly res compares to Florida res… Florida gets a lot more press. AND, also, who wouldn’t start to do better when living basically at a tropical resort?? This is not to diminish EDs… they are a bitch… but like… is there anything that wouldn’t improve with sunshine and time off?)
Anyway, all of that is to say… I don’t think renfrew is where its at. I don’t think any large system is where its at. EDs are unique… and it’s taken me a while to (un)learn that after a dietitian once told me “there are a lot of reasons that you are unique, but your ED is not one of them” (well intentioned, but, in the end, invalidating and also didn’t help me at all…)…so people need actual unique, individualized treatment. It seems worth touring places (if you can), getting a gut feeling, looking for environments that have small groups (Renfrew’s were pretty big, which I didn’t even realize until leaving….)… and, of course, experienced clinicians are ideal. But, also, they’re all now in their own private practice outpatient, because they’ve realized how shitty the system is…
All of that is to say: Renfrew Boston might work for people, especially people who don’t know much about EDs already, or don’t have a lot of insight, or do well with a shit ton of structure. IF not, though… look elsewhere?
*names redacted by Admin per site policy
Has anyone done exclusively virtual php at renfrew?
*Cross-posted from General Forum by admin*
When were you there? March-April 2021; only did php
How many patients are there on average? anywhere from 10-25
Does it treat both males and females? If so, is treatment separate or combined? just afab
How often do you see a medical doctor, psychiatrist, psychologist (therapist), nutritionist, etc? no doc, psych 1x per week, therapist 2x per week, nutritionist 1x per week
What is the staff-to-patient ratio? usually 1:15
What sort of therapies are used (e.g., DBT, CBT, EMDR, etc.)? UT
What were meals like? you make meals to meet your exchanges and the menu for the week, then email them a pic of your meal before and after the meal
Are you able to eat vegetarian? yes
What sort of groups do they have? they have UT (which is basically DBT and CBT) everyday, then vary w/ art therapy, body image, values, relational group
What was your favorite group? we did movement therapy once. i also liked the lgbtq group
What did you like the most? the other people
What did you like the least? there was barely any accountability. all of the staff was young and there was no enough for the amount of people in the program. ut was every day, repetitive, and useless. overall the program was not helpful
Would you recommend this program? no
Can someone write review about the virtual program for renfrew
Renfrew Charlotte, NC
When were you there? Nov 2019-Dec 2019
How many patients on average? It varied a lot while I was there. At one point there were maybe 6 of us and at other times upwards of 15
Does it treat both males and females? If so, is treatment separate or combined? I believe they treat only females.
How often do you see a medical doctor, psychiatrist, psychologist (therapist), nutritionist, etc? In PHP you see the psychiatrist once a week for like 15 mins, get 1.5 hours of therapy per week, and 30 mins with the dietitian per week. In IOP you don’t see the psychiatrist, get 30 mins of therapy per week, and see the dietitian for 30 mins every other week. There is no primary care physician.
What is the staff ratio to patients? Varies with the amount of patients. The only staff were the 4 therapists, 2 therapy interns, and dietitian.
What sort of therapies are used? (DBT, CBT, EMDR) etc? They use Renfrew’s Unified Treatment model which combined CBT, DBT, and ACT.
Describe the average day: For PHP, you would check in, get weights and vitals, have a quick mindfulness activity, then eat breakfast, then UT group, then a 15 min break where some patients ate snacks, then another group, then lunch, then evening planning. Not sure what IOP did as they do separate programing at nights and I didn’t do it but I think its generally the same, just with dinner.
What were meals like? Everyone sat at one long table with one staff member at the table and one assisting with things. If you were new or struggling, you sat next to the staff. Before every meal you set an intention and reviewed those intentions and what you felt during the meal afterwards.
What sorts of food were available or served? Not that great to be honest. They don’t have a kitchen so what they can do is limited. Breakfast is limited to things they can warm up in the microwave or things like cereal. Lunch is from Jason’s Deli
Did they supplement? How did that system work? Yes, 1 boost plus for >50%, 2 for <50%. Supplements do follow you
What is the policy of not complying with meals? If you keep refusing supplements, they are quick to recommend a higher level of care
Are you able to be a vegetarian? Yes
What privileges are allowed? You can have your phone on break and before mindfulness starts
Does it work on a level system? No
How do you earn privileges? There aren't really many privileges to earn. They aren't crazy strict.
What sort of groups do they have? UT as the first group and something else for the second. Ones I can remember are body image, values, yoga, and community meeting.
What was your favorite group? Body image with Ava!
What did you like the most? The staff! They are all so nice and since you are working directly with therapists and a dietitian all the time instead of direct care staff, they really know what they are doing.
What did you like the least? UT groups can get repetitive after awhile
Would you recommend this program? Definitely!
What level of activity or exercise was allowed? We did yoga every other week. You could do other exercise outside of programming if it was approved by the dietitian
What did people do on weekends? Whatever they wanted
Do you get to know your weight? They will let you see if you want to. I chose to weigh blind
How fast is the weight gain process? Not sure because I didn't need to gain.
What was the average length of stay? For PHP about 8 weeks
What was the average age range? Large age range we had from 13-50's, but everyone got along great. Generally its adolescents and young adults
How do visits/phone calls work? You can have your phone during break if you are not eating snack
What is the electronics policy? (ex: cell phones, iPods, Kindle, laptop, tablets) You are allowed to have it before mindfulness, then they take them up, give them back during break, take them back up, and give them back at the end of programming
Are you able to go out on passes? No, but you get weekend and holidays off.
What kind of aftercare do they provide? Do they help you set up an outpatient treatment team? They can help set you up with an outpatient team if you need one.
Are there any resources for people who come from out of state/country? I don't think so
How old were most of the patients when you were there? Were any of them ARFID patients? Do you know if things were different for ARFID vs patients there for other eating disorders?
Interested in more info on the virtual PHP
Update re: Coronavirus and COVID-19.
Renfrew has not canceled their PHP/day treatment programs. They are conducting PHP/IOP virutally, with patients staying in their homes and joining via their computers. Note that, because you are being treatment from home, you have to secure and pay for your own treatment meals rather than Renfrew providing them and your health insurance paying for them.
I am currently trying to switch programs but am in the virtual php and was in virtual iop and will write something so people know going in what it looks like with covid.
Renfrew – Brentwood, TN location:
Dates there: December 2018 – January 2019
I try to keep an open mind about places because there are always positives and negatives to every treatment center… but I can say that this was absolutely one of the worst treatment experiences I’ve had. The positives of Renfrew – Brentwood were the women I met there who are still friends of mine.
Over the course of struggling with this disorder for over a decade I’ve seen various treatment models and philosophies. Renfrew uses a model unique to their program called the UT (or “Unified Treatment”) model. According to this model, anything one does to deal with a strong emotional experience is labeled as avoidance, therefore Renfrew does not teach coping skills (which almost every other treatment center I had been to previously did). Coping skills are viewed as just another way of avoiding an emotion. I was taught in this program that I just needed to “sit with my emotion” because it would pass, doing nothing to lessen the intensity or provide an outlet to process said emotion (such as music, writing, or art). On the surface this may seem relatively harmless, except when it comes to things like trauma, where one may not have the skills yet to be able to tolerate difficult thoughts or emotions in healthy ways. (See also: theories around the “window of tolerance” in regards to trauma).
In terms of trauma-informed care, I was told in my intake assessment that the Brentwood location is extremely trauma-informed. That was not my experience whatsoever. A fellow patient was regularly sent off alone because she couldn’t finish a meal, even when that particular consequence replicated her past trauma. She was told repeatedly that she just need to “sit with it” (re: her trauma) – which, for anyone unfamiliar with trauma, is not how any actual trauma treatment works. You don’t just “sit with the trauma” or “just face it.” That will likely only re-traumatize the patient.
That fellow patient was also told she needed to hit rock bottom first before getting help when she was struggling outside of programming, even though she was doing her best to eat through the traumatic fog every single day while at Renfrew. She was fighting hard, but Renfrew viewed her as non-compliant for essentially having traumatic symptoms. A higher level of care should have been recommended, but was not.
Part of my own trauma was severe religious abuse, and after finding out that the therapist I was placed with did religious counseling on the side, my system felt unsafe. I’m sure she’s a great therapist and very skilled at her job, but my brain coded her as unsafe due to past experiences. I was open about this with the team there and that my brain’s inability to feel safe in that situation was getting in the way, but was told by staff that my problem was that I just needed to learn how to work with Christian therapists, even though I only had 3 weeks to be there in PHP. I do of course understand the importance of doing reparative work, but that is long-term, outpatient stuff. I can also guarantee you that if my experiences were that of physical or sexual abuse, I would not be placed in a situation that replicated my trauma so directly.
Major points of difference between Renfrew and myself: 1. Trauma is not treated by forcing a survivor to “sit with it” or just feel the emotion. 2. Eating disorder urges CAN be lessened with practicing values-based coping skills and healthy outlets for emotion.
I didn’t learn any skills whatsoever while I was there. I was told to ARC (essentially a version of a behavior-chain analysis, for my DBT people) and to “re-appraise” my thoughts.
In terms of psychiatric care, when I admitted to the program I had been off antidepressants and in withdrawal for two weeks. That should have been monitored carefully and was not. When I asked staff about this post- me having a mini-breakdown when the main psych provider was out, I was told that no one but that provider could check on my medication status (which, if true, should have resulted in an on-call provider being brought in, or stepping me up to a HLOC till I was stable) and was told by a staff therapist, casually eating her lunch while I was sobbing, that “maybe now just wasn’t the right time for treatment” when I asked if I could please talk to her because I was feeling desperate with my depression.
I would not recommend this program to anyone as we have major philosophical differences on how to treat eating disorders as well as trauma. But especially for anyone reading this who also has a history of trauma, I would definitely encourage you to look somewhere else for quality care. I promise you there are places that do that work and healing is possible.
Renfrew Radnor, PA
Honestly Renfrew of Radnor has really gone down hill. Nearly all the staff members that were their in 2016 have left and started working at other treatment facilities. I find that the whole Renfrew Treatment Center Therapy model is really repetitive too. I’d say that this is a great program if you are willing, and motivated, but if you are just beginning recovery or deeply unmotivated, it’s not worth it. The worst thing is that they let you see your weight, I found that to be really triggering. I know that two therapists Bridget and Steph are AMAZING so for sure get them if you can. Meals were also repetetive, we’d order off of a pizza place menu and panera for lunch and that’s basically it. They also took away art therapy which SUCKS, now they just do ‘art activities’ with the regular therapists. They got rid of the art therapist (KIM, she’s amazing) AND the body-image therapist (AMY!). What also happens a lot is that people cycle in and out of the different levels. They go from PHP to Residential, to IOP and back again, because it becomes like a competition. Overall, Renfrew of Radnor used to be pretty decent because of the therapists, but now it’s just repetitive, and doesn’t teach you long term recovery. It just teaches you how to do well for a bit, then relapse.
Renfrew New York
Honestly it was terrible. I felt like we were actually being treated like animals it is so degrating and undignified. I would not recommend this place for people who are not so sick because they really don’t work with you. It’s the type of place that just thinks what it wants is best and won’t listen to you. They did not work with me and made me a bad meal plan. Don’t even get me started on the food and homework… The bathrooms were also locked a lot so I peed in my pants once because I needed the bathroom so bad. Those 6 weeks felt like 6 months no joke. If your going there I feel really sorry for you
Renfrew Radnor, PA
Any new reviews from Radnor PHP from the past two years???
Renfrew Boston
We took our daughter to Renfrew Boston for assessment. They recommended
their PHP program, but we decided not to go there. After we had told
both Renfrew and our pediatrician that we were no longer interested in
the Renfrew Center, Renfrew made an allegation against us with the
Massachusetts Department of Children and Families. This allegation was
based on notes they had obtained from the pediatrician.
We found this outrageous. First of all, once we said no, they should
have had no further interaction with us. They should never have had the
pediatrician’s notes. While we understand that they are a mandatory
reporter, they should not be reporting based on secondhand information
from the pediatrician, who is also a mandatory reporter. The
pediatrician did not feel that we were neglectful and wrote a letter
saying so, which we gave to the DCF investigator. Eventually DCF found
the allegations unsupported, but this led to a great deal of needless
stress and trouble at an already stressful time.
When we visited Renfrew they explained to us that their program was
voluntary and we could take our daughter out any time we wished. But now
we wonder. Is it really voluntary when even declining to attend led to
a report to the state?
Even though she did not go to the Renfrew Center, our daughter is doing
much better now.
Renfrew Boston
Revolving door type place. None of the people I know who went there got into a full, long term remission without a lot of intervention from other programs.
Renfrew Maryland
i have been to renfrew’s baltimore site several times since it opened in 2013. ever since the introduction of the UT model (i was actually there when they were starting to show the UT model and i was in a test group for it!), things have changed over there. i will do my best to talk about what it has been like, and then what the schedule is now. most of my experience is in day treatment, though i’ve also done IOP there. they also have an outpatient group now.
renfrew baltimore seemed to have really high patient numbers when it first opened. additionally, almost ALL of the staff came directly from sheppard pratt and most of them knew one another. it might have just been because i had never been in treatment before, but the staff three years ago felt much stronger and more experienced than most of the staff there now. many of the staff that was there then have moved on to outpatient services. there are just so many ED treatment centers in the baltimore/dc/nova area that they could choose to work in that are probably better than renfrew. that has been the most upsetting thing about this site: high staff turnover. though i’m not proud of the multiple times i’ve been a patient at renfrew baltimore, i can say that having to meet almost completely different staff every time is overwhelming (and sometimes these stays were within one or two months of each other). when i left, the site director told me that her number one priority is staff retention, which i think they really, really need to work on. it affects the patients, too. it seems like there are now a lot of people fresh out of graduate school which is fine, but their inexperience can be confused as a lack of care/concern or even a lack of intelligence.
the food is all catered. this is fine. i think the portion sizes can be ridiculous and unmeasured but the food is generally fine and there are plenty of side options. meal plans are the same as at any other renfrew. the location is easy (right of 695 or at the northernmost end of charles st), parking is easy, and except for a recent flood? i believe they had, the interior was really nice. because UT uses so many video clips, there are big tvs. the office spaces can be a little cramped. you’re allowed to go outside during the break and there’s a picnic table. once we had a group outside.
day treatment typical day (based off of my most recent stay this past winter):
8:45-9:00 arrival/weights. people are late a lot. weights are taken monday and thursday. you have to get on the scale facing forward even if you close your eyes. you fill out a very long check in form.
9:00-9:15 mindfulness. there was at one point a rule that if you didn’t do your homework, you had to sit outside and complete it and skip mindfulness. if you arrived after 9:00 you automatically could not go back until breakfast. but no one really appreciated/liked mindfulness, so unless you were contracted for it, there wasn’t much incentive to come
9:15-9:45ish breakfast. usually it started late and ended late. everything was late, all of the time. it also took awhile to set things up. there are also limited amounts of toasters which meant a looooot of waiting on bagel or waffle days.
10-11 group (non UT). we always had nutrition, values, art/movement. fridays were for community meeting. if you had a session scheduled, you’d usually get pulled at this time, but when i was there they tended to try to schedule you after program or, if you were in iop, on a non-iop day.
11-11:15 break. you got your phone, you could take a smoke break. staff was in rounds.
11:15-12:30 UT group. most people stayed in e stage while i was there. i was in a stage when i returned from residential. that was how most folks made it to a stage. there was something about if you ever used a symptom, you weren’t allowed in a stage. i’m pretty sure they didn’t do t stage.
12:30-1:30 lunch and MST.
1:30-2 evening planning
iop is pretty much the same but it’s 445-8. they used to offer day IOP, but they seem to be phasing that out
things i liked:
-there were some therapists i really, really liked. everytime i’ve been a patient, i’ve worked well with the three therapists that have been assigned to me. i know other people aren’t as lucky.
-again, the food. there was only one dietitian i was a fan of the whole time, but the food wasn’t terrible.
-i like the UT model. i don’t think baltimore learned to implement it very well, though. when i was there prior to UT, things seemed so disorganized
-this holds true for most renfrew sites i think, but since the treatment model is the same at all sites, it is easy to transition. same with meal levels and meal plans (though renfrew baltimore just puts everyone on meal plan b and calls it a day)
things that could be better:
-the schedule. it can be really hard to eat a really big meal and then leave a half hour later.
-how freaking hard it is to schedule!! especially recently!! i don’t know how they choose who sees who when, but there was a week that it seemed like i didn’t see ANYONE because of the schedule.
-some staff were just…a lot better than others
-not having a real art therapist. they had a movement therapist when i left (and i really liked movement therapy + her!) but i really benefited when there was a trained art therapist there. i think that was the most productive therapy i’ve ever had.
-it took them a LONG time (re: eight weeks) to decide to send me to residential. and there was a miscommunication about that, too.
-the portion sizes!! i don’t think they measure anything!!
-having to always look at your weight. i’m sorry…this should be up to the discretion of your team. i’m fine with it some days, but if you are on a weight gain plan im sure this would be miserable.
-community meeting was typically a TON OF STAFF BASHING. it was so unproductive
all in all, renfrew is an okay program. you’ll probably get in there much more quickly than sheppard.
Renfrew New York
Recent reviews please! for iop but all would be great!
I will do one for nyc today. I’m in their php and was just in their iop.
Renfrew New York
I went to Renfrew in NYC as an outpatient (at the time, for bulimia w/ comorbid MDD, but prior to that i’ve also been anorexic) for about two months in the summer of 2013.
The space itself is kind of depressing– shabby and lit with flourescent lighting. You eat a school cafeteria-style meal as a group. Sometimes the food is ok, sometimes bad. If you don’t finish you’re ‘punished’ with one or two cans of some nutrional supplement drink.
Positives:
– security/front desk staff were friendly and treated me like a normal human being
– i made some cool art
Negatives:
– professional staff are really young and it showed. it’s not their fault personally– but it’s hard to command the respect and earn the trust of people when you’re a year or two out of school. (the people in my group were mostly older than 25.)
– many of the staff were also extremely thin. some looked anorexic or near it, and this was uncomfortable (and ‘triggering.’)
– NOT queer-competent. i was questioning my gender identity at the time, and although i asked at intake if this would be an issue, and was told it would be fine, there was actually a silence and discomfort with the issue amongst the staff.
Note: they now have an LGBTQI group– so that’s positive! But they didn’t have it then so I don’t know if it’s good.
In general, I don’t recommend this place.
Still not LGBTQ competent!
Renfrew New York
Renfrew Center is one of the worst programs they don’t acknowledge patients feelings. They’re set in their ways and recently when trying to pull out of the program when it wasn’t working for me they had threatened my parents to call acs which would have resulted in my twelve year old sister and I to be sent to foster care. Not only that but when they see someone who doesn’t completely agree with the program they reccomend residential treatment for them without even considering there is a problem when everyone agrees with what that person is saying. Renfrew is one of the single most horrible places I have ever seen.
Same thing with me. They tried to call ace on me even though my mom had insisted to pull me out because she noticed he place had a negative influence on me
Renfrew New York
Does anyone have an updated review on Renfrew NYC’s PHP? Thanks!
I am also looking for an updated review on RENFREW NYC PHP! Hopefully someone will reply, or perhaps this person (annie) had more info?! Thank you!!!
Renfrew Radnor, PA
I’m supposed to start individual outpatient therapy with a therapist named Lizzie In April, 2016. Can anyone provide any information?
Renfrew Northern New Jersey
at Renfrew of Ridgewood Oct 2015.
I don’t know how many patients they treated but it seemed that it was to many for the staff to be able to adequately handle.
It only treats females.
You see a therapist once a week along with a dietician. Psychiatrist you see once a week in day treatment, and only if you want/need in IOP.
The foods for breakfast were typical breakfast foods. Oatmeal, sugar cereal, non sugar cereal, english muffins/toast, waffles etc. Along with milk, soymilk, yogurt, cottage cheese. Fruits like bananas, apples, pears.
Lunch was often sandwiches, wraps, salads, with sides such as a dairy, fruit, fat (nuts, seeds, salad dressing, butter) side salad, bread. Twice a week we had dessert which was always either ice cream sandwiches, cookies, or pudding.
If you finished half you’re meal you got supplemented 1 ensure plus, less than half you’re meal and 2 ensure plus. If you needed to gain weight and add in an ensure your dietician will do that. Because staff wasn’t always watching/not good at their job- patients who were supposed to have an ensure wouldn’t grab them from the fridge or just not drink them.
People are allowed to be vegetarian but not vegan. Vegetarians got stuck with typical boring vegetarian food-tofu, eggplant, cheese.
Meals could be pretty tense or relaxed depending on the staff and patients there.
My favorite group was art therapy because it was fun and the therapist was really nice and funny.
My least favorite group was dietician group-because one of the dietician is really bad at her job, just awful. One is amazing, I wish I was lucky enough to work with her.
I wouldn’t recommend this program at all!!! Don’t go, please. I came from a residential program to do day treatment, and was at a healthy weight, but left having lost weight. They didn’t even comment on that fact. Lots of people got lost amongst all the girls there, including me. I should have been referred out t since I got worse while there, but they didn’t see anything wrong with my symptoms and anorexia because my weight was “okay.” The therapy was subpar, with interns often doing most of the therapy. The inside was dark and not very welcoming.
You get to know your weight, even if you shouldn’t. Many people there got obsessed with seeing the number on the scale, and after everyone was weighed everyone would share their trend. It wasn’t a healthy sharing either.
People in day treatment stayed for about 6 weeks, and iop 8 weeks, unless your insurance cuts you off.
It seemed some girls did okay in the program but others like me really needed more support than they could give.