Expanding Access and Services for Eating Disorders
Summary
In 2024, the National Alliance for Eating Disorders committed to expand inclusive, specialized, life-saving eating disorder treatment and referral services for more than 17,000 people. Eating disorders have the second highest lethality rate among all mental illnesses, and yet more than 70 percent of those struggling won’t receive care. The Alliance’s treatment resources, like their referral database findEDhelp, specialist-led confidential helpline, and support groups, offer free, accessible, therapist-led tools for individuals navigating recovery. To meet significantly increasing needs, The Alliance is expanding helpline services 44 percent and support group offerings, each designed to meet the needs of different underserved communities and facilitated by clinicians of similar identities, by 50 percent. It will also add on-demand translation services and hire additional eating disorder-informed therapists to oversee the expansion. Finally, it will provide continuous training and coaching to reinforce the quality of care as well as support to the teams themselves.
Approach
Treatment services and referrals to specialized eating disorder care are severely insufficient to meet existing needs. In response, The Alliance runs programs uniquely developed by clinical psychologists and people of lived experience, offering personalized resources and therapist-led support groups within a clinical and safe framework. The Alliance’s confidential helpline allows people to speak directly with specialized therapists to discuss concerns, learn about care options, and receive tailored resources based on diagnosis, insurance, and personal needs. The Alliance’s support groups offer therapist-led spaces for individuals to be in community and feel seen, heard, and valued, while navigating steps toward recovery.
This commitment will increase The Alliance’s helpline accessibility’s by 44%, reaching over 17,000 new people by the end of 2025. This expansion will provide individuals and loved ones nationwide with greater access to life-saving support and resources. Helpline hours will expand from 9am-7pm, Monday-Friday, to 9am-9pm, and add 10am-6pm, Saturday-Sunday.
The Alliance’s support group offerings will increase by 50%, with six additional weekly groups. Each group will be designed to meet the needs of different underserved communities and facilitated by clinicians of similar identities, providing a unique space for support. The Alliance will hire additional staff to continue training and management of groups.
To increase reach, The Alliance will add on-demand translation services and hire additional licensed and pre-licensed eating disorder-informed therapists. The increased staff will oversee expanding findEDhelp, The Alliance’s online database of eating disorder treatment options, improving the ability to monitor the listings and ensuring that it’s up-to-date.
Both the helpline therapists and group facilitators will receive continuous, hands-on training and emotional-labor coaching to maintain their competency, skills, and understanding of the ever-changing field.
Expanded services will also increase the demand for crisis intervention support from The Alliance’s partners, Crisis Text Line and 988. As the only referral source for major social media platforms, there will be continued increase in exposure, leading to more intervention, connection, and diversification of who is reaching out.
Action Plan
Quarter One will focus on building infrastructure, specifically staffing needs and initiation of the recruitment process. The Alliance will identify additional training and process requirements to integrate alongside existing infrastructure, and establish metrics to monitor program performance. The Alliance will strategize with existing partners (Crisis Text Line, 988, and social media platforms) to ensure partner readiness of expanded services.
Quarter Two will focus on training and implementation. Helpline therapists will receive training on referral processes, crisis management protocols, findEDhelp, as well as introductions to various treatment providers and partners. Support group facilitators will focus on processes, intervention skills, and crisis management. Within this time, The Alliance will implement the expanded helpline hours and begin integrating new facilitators into the current group programming. Simultaneously, The Alliance will initiate the launch of six new support groups.
Quarter Three will focus on monitoring and adapting through daily data collection and analysis to assure increase in calls, group attendance, and target demographics. The Alliance will monitor the helpline therapists’ and facilitators’ performance and continue hands-on training. They will also monitor the evolving needs of expanded helpline hours and newly-established groups to ensure proper coverage, adjusting schedules as needed. Through optional and anonymous surveys, The Alliance will continue to monitor the efficacy and needs of the programs.
Quarter Four will focus on evaluations and recommendations, working alongside researchers at leading universities to analyze quantitative and qualitative data from anonymous surveys. The Alliance will measure growth of both the helpline and support groups, with comparative analyses of previous years. Based on the results, recommendations and adjustments will be made accordingly. Further, The Alliance will disseminate and submit the findings to academic journals.
Background
Eating disorders have the second highest lethality rate among all mental illnesses, with someone dying every 52 minutes. They are complex, brain-based illnesses that affect 1 in 9 Americans in their lifetime, and yet over 70% of those struggling won’t receive access to care. Despite historical stereotypes, eating disorders can affect anyone, regardless of age, gender, race, socioeconomic status, and sexual orientation.
For the past five years, telehealth use for eating disorder patients increased by over 10,000% (FAIR Health, 2023) . Additionally, there was a 195% increase in adolescent female hospitalizations during the pandemic (Schlapfer, 2023) . With only 6% of medical residency programs having mandatory eating disorder rotations (Mahr, 2014) , a majority of people are falling through the cracks.
Finding eating disorder resources can be extremely difficult due to insurance barriers, lack of financial resources and education on mental health, trouble finding competent providers, or even knowing where to begin. The Alliance is the only nonprofit staffed by eating disorder specialized therapists, offering step-by-step support, throughout every stage of recovery. By providing a toll-free helpline and free, weekly, virtual support groups, individuals can receive the help they need, allowing them to continue their journey with hope and support from others who understand.
In 2023, The Alliance had 3,221 calls to their therapist-staffed helpline and over 260,000 searches on findEDhelp, its free referral database. Additionally, 20,501 participants, from all 50 US states and 83 countries, attended The Alliance’s free, therapist-led support groups. From January to June 2024, helpline calls increased by 225% and group attendance increased by 22%.
And it’s not slowing down. The demand for increased access and support services has never been greater. As the leading national nonprofit, The Alliance has created a bridge for those needing and seeking help by connecting them with life-saving resources.
Progress Update
Partnership Opportunities
In order to effectively and safely expand the helpline and support group services, The Alliance will need to hire additional therapists for the helpline and to facilitate groups, along with support staff, to assist with scaling of infrastructure. As all of The Alliance’s programs are clinician-led, in addition to annual salaries and benefits, there are additional costs required for employing licensed and pre-licensed therapists. In an effort to ensure clinical competency and safety, The Alliance will provide monthly and quarterly supervision, as well as ongoing training and education to all helpline and support group staff.
The Alliance will expand its collaborative partnerships with major social media platforms to enhance awareness and connection to its scaled up services. In addition, The Alliance will incorporate expansion strategies into its marketing and communications plan., The Alliance serves as the top eating disorders resource for social media platforms, governmental agencies, and for- and non-profit organizations. findEDhelp, The Alliance’s comprehensive and interactive referral database, is available for free, public use 24/7.
Further, by spearheading joint advocacy initiatives, most recently the 2023 and 2024 World Eating Disorders Action Day Summits at the United Nations, The Alliance elevates awareness and action for eating disorders at a global level.
In addition, The Alliance frequently offers eating disorder expertise through various initiatives, such as eating disorders clinical training for all helpline and support group therapists, consultation on policies to increase awareness and safety; workshops for staff and agencies; hosting roundtable discussions and community engagements for mission-aligned partners; and conducting, analyzing, and distributing research and data.