Treatment approach

Assessment (initial appointment)

The aim of your initial assessment appointment (up to 90-minutes) with one of our Psychologists is to understand your current challenges and their context, together with relevant background factors. This extended appointment also allows you & your psychologist to determine whether there is a “good fit” for ongoing therapy.

Personalised treatment planning takes place following completion of the assessment. This process allows your Psychologist to have a full understanding of your challenges, so that treatment recommendations can be tailored to your unique situation.

Please arrive about 5 minutes early to complete a personal details form in the waiting room. Typically, you will be emailed some online clinical questionnaires to complete before your first appointment, to give your psychologist a broad snapshot of your current situation.

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psychological treatment for eating disorders

We provide evidence-based treatment for the full range of eating/weight/shape concerns across all ages & stages of life: 

• Bulimia Nervosa

• Anorexia Nervosa

• Binge eating disorder

• Purging disorder

• Orthorexia

• Body image/body confidence concerns

• “Subthreshold” or mild/early cases of disordered eating (EDNOS/OFSED)

• Chronic dieting or weight fluctuations

• Fussy eating (typically in childhood)

• Avoidant-restrictive food intake disorder (ARFID- clinically significant fussy eating)

  Eating disorder treatment for adults (18+)

Therapy sessions are 50-60 minutes long. We draw heavily on evidence-based psychological interventions (or therapies) when planning individual treatment. These are treatments that have strong evidence for their effectiveness from high quality research trials involving people with eating disorders, anxiety, or mood concerns from around the world.

In many cases, a client may be a good fit to sit within one specific treatment framework, such as cognitive behavioural therapy-enhanced for eating disorders (CBT-E), or a specialist therapy for anorexia nervosa (e.g. MANTRA/SSCM). In other cases, your Psychologist may decide to additionally draw from a number of complimentary approaches including dialectic behaviour therapy (DBT), motivational enhancement therapy (MET), and acceptance & commitment therapy (ACT) to enhance your treatment plan.

We liaise closely with GP’s or other community-based professionals (e.g. endocrinologists or psychiatrists) involved in your care.

We are fortunate to have an in-house dietitian with specialist training in working with eating disorders as part of our team. The addition of dietetic work may be recommended alongside psychology sessions - this can be discussed with your Psychologist.

Eating disorder treatment for children/adolescents/teens

With children & adolescents, the family (parents/guardians) are typically a key part of the treatment team, and fully engaged in assessment & treatment delivery. With younger children, parents are typically in session with their child.

With adolescents & teens, we have two main approaches for eating disorder treatment depending on the current difficulties. Our typical approach is working either simultaneously or in tandem with the young person and their parents.

Maudsley family therapy (FT-AN, sometimes called Maudsley FBT) is a well established treatment model that harnesses the strength of the family system to support recovery from anorexia nervosa. This involves working with all members of the family together in session, supporting parents to support their child toward appropriate nutritional intake and weight restoration/stabilisation, in order to achieve physical recovery through behaviour change.

Adolescent & Parent Treatment (APT) is an emerging treatment model that brings together the research evidence-base from both family therapy and individual therapy, to support the young person to recover physically & psychologically from the eating disorder. This involves
1- parent work to support re-feeding the adolescent at home (as in Maudsley family therapy, plus optional dietetic support)
2- individual psychology work with the adolescent/teen, to support distress & address underlying psychological difficulties, and
3- family work, to bring together the parent-focussed and adolescent-focussed elements of treatment

Nurture Psychology is the official provider (& trainer) of APT in New Zealand. You can read more about APT in a recent academic journal article co-authored by our Clinical Director - please click here.

In some cases with older teens, we may work primarily on an individual therapy basis (as with adults). In this model, there is typically still a role for parent/s, including being regularly looped in on treatment focus & progress.

As with adult cases, all treatment planning involves evidence-based treatment models, and is also individually tailored to the young person & their family. Details of the approach recommended for your family/young person are discussed following completion of the initial assessment appointment.

Please note that due to the constraints of private practice, we are unable to see clients that are high medical risk (including being at a very low body weight), are engaging in notable self-harm, or have current suicidal ideation. 

In this instance, please contact your GP or the hospital emergency department for support.

Treatment for anxiety & mood concerns

Alongside our focus on eating disorders, we also offer evidence-based treatment for the following mental health challenges (either in the context of eating disorder treatment, or as standalone treatment):

• Anxiety & anxiety disorders, such as:

• Generalised anxiety

• Social anxiety

• Health anxiety

• Clinical perfectionism

• Specific phobias

• Persistent worry & stress

• Trauma

• Depression, low mood & other mood disorders

  Clients can vary considerably in terms of their needs when seeking psychological support for anxiety and mood disorders. As detailed above, we would start with a comprehensive assessment of your current difficulties, so that a personalised treatment plan can be tailored to your needs.

  Treatment will be most likely based in Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) as it is the leading evidence-based treatment for anxiety and mood concerns. Depending on your situation, your psychologist may draw from “third-wave” evidence-based therapies such as Acceptance & Commitment Therapy (ACT), and dialectic behaviour therapy (DBT).

Low cost treatment

We offer a low cost treatment option for adults (18+) with disordered eating that are unable to finance typical or “best practice” psychological treatment. This involves working through a recommended workbook alongside shorter (25-minute) sessions with your psychologist, and over a shorter period of time. This approach focusses solely on cessation of binging and/or purging behaviours, and is not suitable for those that are underweight. Please note this is a light version of psychological therapy (known as “guided self-help) and is not appropriate in all cases.

In order to facilitate this as a low cost treatment, typically this package of care is with our Intern Psychologist, working under the supervision of our Clinical Director/Senior Clinical Psychologist.

Please email hello@nurturepsychology.co.nz if you would like more information about this approach.