Parent Support for Eating Disorder Recovery

Questions to ask eating disorder treatment centers

Get the resources and support you need when your child has an eating disorder

Being a parent through eating disorder treatment and recovery is definitely best done with support and guidance! Most parents feel overwhelmed and frustrated by the process, and they are often left in the dark about what’s going on and what they’re supposed to do.

This is frustrating, especially since when parents understand eating disorders, build new skills, and get support during eating disorder treatment, they make a huge difference in recovery. In fact, you can make the single biggest impact on your child’s recovery.

One of the reasons eating disorders are so hard to treat is that treatment often leaves out the most important people in a child’s life: parents! Here are some resources and support to help you navigate this.

Parent-Friendly ❤️ Neurobiology ❤️ Attachment ❤️ Non-Diet ❤️ Health At Every Size®

Parenting a child with an eating disorder is anything but easy. Support, training, and guidance on how to support eating disorder recovery will make you more successful. Learn new skills and get the support you need to stay strong as you face this tremendous challenge. Getting support means you’re less likely to suffer from burnout and will keep you hopeful and confident. Here are some support resources:

Free Resources

Therapy or Coaching (for you)

It makes sense if all your focus right now is on your child’s treatment. However, if you work on yourself, you will impact your child’s recovery. Your own patterns of behavior and psychology can either reinforce the eating disorder or supercharge recovery. After all, eating disorders are highly responsive to the environment, and you are an essential part of your child’s environment.

You have a tremendous impact on your child’s likelihood of recovery. What you do can motivate or de-motivate your child. Parenting a child with an eating disorder is advanced parenting, and you’re more likely to succeed if you have professional guidance from a therapist or parent coach.

Parent Training

You’re going to need advanced parenting skills in connection, feeding, and communication. You’ll want to learn how to motivate your child to make a very difficult behavior change. And you’ll probably have to interact with your kid’s big, scary feelings of anger, sadness and fear.

How you respond when they’re freaking out about food or their body image makes a difference. Eating disorders are tricky, and advanced parenting skills for handling eating disorder tantrums and stonewalling require specialized training. Find local or online courses to help you build your confidence.

Worksheets For Kids With Eating Disorders

Body Image Printable Worksheets

Emotional Regulation Worksheets For Recovery

Food Refusal & Picky Eating Printable Worksheets

Scripts for Parents

Parent Scripts For Eating Disorder Recovery

Scripts to help you figure out what to say to help your child with an eating disorder. Use these scripts:

At the dinner table when behavior is getting out of control
When you need to set boundaries – fast!
After something happened so you can calmly review the triggers and events

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Parent Support Bundle

Printable Worksheets for Kids-Teens-Young Adults With Eating Disorders PLUS BONUS Parent Scripts

Get all four of our printables and save +70%

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Support Groups

Find a parent support group, Facebook group, or join F.E.A.S.T. to learn from and get support from other parents who have kids with eating disorders. Sharing your struggles with other people who are going through the same thing can make you feel less alone and be a wonderful balm for your soul. It can give you the strength you need to face another day of eating disorder treatment with the best you have to give.

Friends & Family

You may feel uncomfortable about sharing what your family is going through with your friends and family. And your child may demand that you not share their mental health condition with others. But at the same time, you need emotional support more than ever.

Learn how to respectfully talk about the eating disorder while upholding good boundaries and without blaming or shaming your child. This will allow you to get the support you need without stepping in a hornet’s nest.

Keep in mind that eating disorders thrive in secrecy, so keeping it a secret is usually not the best approach. That said, you’re going to want to be thoughtful and strategic about how you talk about the eating disorder with others.