Mirasol Teen Eating Disorder Treatment Program

Program Overview

Mirasol offers treatment and education for all aspects of teen eating disorders, including anorexia, bulimia, compulsive eating, and co-occurring conditions such as post-traumatic stress disorder, nutritional misconceptions, body image distortion, obsessive-compulsive disorder, anxiety and depression.

Neurofeedback

We use neurofeedback to help our clients train their brain and improve its ability to regulate bodily functions. A more efficient brain can significantly reduce anxiety, depression, attention and emotional regulation. Neurofeedback successfully addresses a variety of conditions including ADHD, learning disabilities, sleep disorders and chronic pain.

Cognitive Behaviorial Therapy

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy or CBT uses cognitive interventions to produce changes in thinking, feeling and behavior. CBT focuses on how the teen interprets his or her experience rather than the experience itself. It helps patients see how thought and behavior are related. CBT helps children build new more effective ways of looking at the world. It has been applied to a variety of childhood disorders including depression, anxiety aggression, attention-deficit, and learning disabilities. We have found that when kids are taught a wide variety of coping strategies, it results in less anxiety for them. Theoretically, a student's cognition about social situations encountered throughout the school day can be examined and modified through verbal self-regulation.

Dialectical Behavioral Therapy

Adolescents with eating disorders are often highly sensitive to emotional stimuli. Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT) helps clients modulate their emotional reactions and refocus their attention on achieving their treatment goals.

Coping Skills

Cognitive skill building consists of therapies that can assist patients in building what can be called a new "coping template." With practice, students learn to react in a completely different way, and eventually not to react. They are helped to understand their own internal logic and to evaluate the effectiveness of that logic in reaching the goals they choose. This process works the same for all skill-building including:

• management of eating disorder behaviors
• interpersonal skill building
• anger management
• problem solving

Naturopathic Medicine

Most clients come to us with compromised physical conditions. Our onsite physician at Mirasol is a naturopathic physician. The differences between a regular physician and a naturopathic physician are important: A regular physician's emphasis is on illness and a naturopathic physician's emphasis is on wellness. Naturopathic medicine believes that health is regarded as a balance in all aspects of being: physical, mental, emotional and spiritual. At Mirasol, our naturopathic physician is our Medical Director. Of course, we also have regular physicians on call when and if needed.

Family Therapy

The heart of Mirasol's adolescent treatment program is our Family-Systems-Based Therapy. During our five-day Family Camp, parents experience residential treatment along with their daughters, sharing meals and participating in workshops on nutrition, family dynamics, psychodrama and adventure therapy. And all participants receive EEG brain maps and neurofeedback training!

Adventure Therapy

Adventure-based therapy is an important element in Mirasol's teen eating disorder treatment program. Our clients develop new problem-solving and coping skills during multi-day adventures in the Sonoran Desert that include caving, camping and equine therapy, complete with meals prepared by Mirasol's famous chefs!

Healthy Exercise

Healthy exercise is an important part of our approach to healing the whole child; strengthening the body while clearing the mind while rejuvenating the spirit. Depending on a client's treatment plan and physical condition, they will participate in experiential educational activities such as hiking, rocks and ropes, and "Flight into Aerial" combining dance with low-flying single point trapeze.

Education

An accredited onsite school is available to all adolescent clients. The school can accommodate special needs, gifted students, and students with learning disabilities. Upon admission, school records are reviewed and a schedule is developed from information from the client's home school, as well as interviews with the parents and the teen. An individualized treatment plan is developed with input from parents, teachers, the psychologist, and members of the client's treatment team.

Normal Eating

One of our goals is to provide our clients with the experience of normal eating. We're proud of our cooks, who create a wide variety of delicious meals and can easily accommodate needs such as food allergies and vegetarian/vegan lifestyles. At Mirasol, clients make their own food choices from meals that are served buffet style. Along the way, they're given guidance in re-establishing accurate portion sizes and meeting nutritional needs according to personalized guidelines worked out with our staff nutritionists. Rather than focusing on rules, we focus on helping clients relearn what it feels like to be hungry and full. Thus, we emphasize normal, healthy and mindful eating. Therapists eat with clients, providing structure, safety, and immediate support. In the course of treatment, we offer the opportunity to practice new skills in a safe environment that supports change.

Review Mirasol Teen's Daily Program Schedule »