Therapist for teen who is binging/purging

I don’t have any recommendations for clinicians, but I know that today is so tough for kids- the pressures on keeping up and massively scheduled days/years- with no developmental oversight to see if it’s all ok.  I used to work with eating disorders inpatient and a big thing we taught was choices.  Kids lose the ability to make their own choices and control their own lives- in a time they need to start to make choices for themselves.  Eating disorders can be a way due kids to harness control in a with that is over controlling them.  Not sure if this helps- as the holes are deeply dug with school pressures too.  Advocate fir your kid at school.  If they expect too much, say something. If something isn’t making sense snd they want to exclude your kid because she doesn’t meet a bottom line when she needed downtime- say something.   Sometimes the schools expect these kids to manage adult type schedules- and much of this is driven by the sects of parents before us that we’re well meaning of course.    The ones that demanded this opportunity or that to get into this or that program or school.   Don’t be afraid to place brakes on things.  Each child is battling against the pressures in their own way- so you are not alone.  There is new info out there that colleges are actually looking for a more balanced student that didn’t have all t’s crossed.  I could be misreading the pressure part of your inquiry so please pardon me if I am- Take care!  🤗 

Our daughter’s therapist, Samar Warmerdam, is wonderful. She is knowledgeable, mature, and speaks effectively to both teens and parents.

Samar Warmerdam

samarwarmerdam.com

therapy [at] samarwarmerdam.com (therapy[at]samarwarmerdam[dot]com)

I would absolutely second the recommendation of Samar Warmardam -- we feel really lucky to have her as our daughters therapist! She's warm, smart, flexible, fun, and is equally good at connecting with us and our 14-year old (who struggled with anorexia and continues to deal with a range of anxieties). Our daughter literally commented when we left her office last week, "I'm soooo glad we found Samar!". 

In addition, you may want to reach out to a group in Rockridge that we found extremely helpful for us as parents. They have a wealth of experience working with kids and families dealing with all sorts of eating issues. When we realized that our daughter was restricting food and losing substantial weight, we were connected with them. We did a phone consult followed by a parent group (online at the time but they may offer in person services at this point?). The group was fairly structured and focused on helping the participating parents learn about FBT (the approach used to treat eating disorders that is fairly widely accepted as the standard of care in the field), problem solve together, and just get support since this whole thing can be pretty hard on your family! The group leaders (Suzannah Neufeld and Elizabeth Burns Kramer) were caring, experienced, and actually made a very difficult time much more hopeful for us. I know this is stressful time for you and I'll just say that it has been a huge relief to know there are some great people out there entirely capable of helping your daughter get on a more positive track and helping you gain control of a tough situation! Their website: It's https://www.connectedbayarea.com/