Eating Disorders Team

The IWK Eating Disorders Team is a multidisciplinary specialty team that services youth identified as having moderate to severe anorexia or bulimia nervosa. The team consults and collaborates closely with colleagues in pediatrics at the IWK providing direct consultation and ongoing care for youth requiring inpatient medical care secondary to an eating disorder.

The team also consults directly to the acute inpatient psychiatry unit providing collaborative and ongoing care for youth with the illness who require treatment on the acute psychiatry inpatient unit. Clinical care occurs not only with the youth (in inpatient and outpatient settings) but also directly involves immediate family members in the form of psychoeducation, support, psychotherapy and training in the integral components of evidenced based behavioral and cognitive therapy used for treatment of this illness.

The evidence-based treatment approach used by the team follows the Family Based Treatment model developed at the Maudsley Institute (UK) and is consistent with care models provided by most eating disorders programs in the country and internationally. The Eating Disorders Team accepts referrals from across the Maritime Provinces and provides collaborative specialty consultation to outside services via a provincial network of clinicians who share an interest in providing evidence-based care for Nova Scotia youth with eating disorders.

The mandate of the Eating Disorders Team is to provide clinical service but also education for learners and residents (psychiatry, psychology, pediatrics) as well as to community partners to enhance early identification of markers of risk for eating disorder and recognize who may require referral to the team.