Eating Disorders

An intern selecting the special emphasis area of eating disorders will acquire experience in assessment, consultation, individual and group counseling, and outreach programming.  In addition, the intern will work with other health professionals and use a treatment team model.  Working with eating disorders requires that the intern draw from psychological, familial, biological, and sociological knowledge domains.  An intern successfully completing this area will be able to treat clients with a variety of eating disorder issues, administer eating disorder assessments, and perform eating disorder prevention services as a psychologist in a university counseling center or in an eating disorders treatment program.

Counseling Requirements:

• Maintain at least three individual clients who have eating disorders on your caseload throughout the semester (anorexia, bulimia, and binge eating disorder if possible), to be supervised by a coordinator of eating disorder services or a staff person designated by the coordinator.

Depending on availability and your experience, co-lead one ED-focused group, groups change semester to semester depending on clinical need but may likely include:

•  a skills-based, psychoeducation group for clients with minimal therapy experience who are actively practicing the eating disorder and for those with poor body image who are at risk for developing an eating disorder.
• a process-oriented eating disorders group for students who have had hosptal or intensive individual treatment and are ready to address deeper psychological issues and engage in group processing.

Assessment Requirement:

Maintain one to two assessments on your caseload throughout the semester as assessments are available

Outreach and Consultation Requirements:

• Participate on the Eating Disorders Outreach Team.
   At a minimum, the intern will meet monthly with the area supervisor to discuss eating disorder readings and ongoing projects. Discussion      topics and readings will include topics such as Set-Point Theory, Biopsychosocial Model, Sizism, treatment team model, and specific interventions.
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Area Supervisor: Taylor Locker, Ph.D.