Timely intervention is of the utmost importance in treating eating disorders, particularly in young people for whom adverse effects on growth and pubertal development can potentially be avoided or reversed with weight restoration. Extensive wait times have been shown to cause dropout from outpatient services and longer duration of symptoms, associated with lower likelihood of recovery in adolescents and adults. To address this gap in service provision, there is a need for evidence-based, practical, scalable pre-treatment programs. Engagement in pre-treatment programs can result in greater alignment between families and treatment services/models, with associated gains in wellbeing and symptomology.

The pre-treatment program, Strong Foundations, was introduced as a psychoeducation, waitlist management strategy in the Child and Youth Mental Health Service Eating Disorder Program at the Children’s Hospital Queensland (CYMHS EDP) in 2021. The program is designed to be transdiagnostic, intending to be suitable for all eating disorder diagnoses. The program runs continuously on a six-week cycle and involves group psychoeducation sessions and specialist medical management and support to build parent capacity when caring for their young person with an eating disorder.

Key takeaways:

• Pre-treatment program involving psychoeducation plus specialist medical management and support can provide meaningful gains for both parents and young people prior to commencing outpatient eating disorder specific therapy. 
• It can increase self-efficacy for patients, parents and carers, improve eating disorder symptomology, BMI and reduce hospital admission or re-admission.