Eating disorders home treatment (EDHT)

The aims of eating disorders home treatment (EDHT):

• To provide intensive home treatment and support to young people and their families who are at risk of an in-patient admission
• To provide support to young people who are already in an acute hospital setting
• To work alongside the Teesside children and young people community eating disorder service care coordination
• To offer support and guidance to aid in restoring a ‘normal’ eating pattern
• To empower parents to manage their child’s eating difficulties and new learn skills
• A six-week intervention with regular reviews

What is meal coaching?

Meal coaching isn’t easy. There are regular ups and downs, better moments, and worse moments. What works for one family isn’t guaranteed to do the same for the next. Our team will help guide you along the way to empower you to support your child.

Meal coaching involves the EDHT team coming into the home to guide and give support on how to coach your child during mealtimes. This will involve observations of mealtimes, reflections and feedback.

Mealtimes

Typically, a ‘normal’ healthy diet consists of eating six times per day including three main meals and three snacks. It may be helpful to agree time frames for meals with your child when mealtimes will take place and how long they will last. It can be helpful to spread the meals throughout the day for example:

• Breakfast
• Mid-morning snack
• Lunch
• Mid afternoon snack
• Tea
• Supper

An initial meeting will be held with the young person, their family, their care coordinator and a member of the EDHT team to identify the meals in which the young person struggles with. A plan will then be created in collaboration with the team and family to offer support around the identified difficult meals.