National Alliance for Eating Disorders

The Alliance offers an extensive array of outreach and education programs, addressing eating disorders and co-occurring issues, to a variety of groups, including but not limited to healthcare providers, clinicians, treatment providers, and community organizations. The Alliance is able to offer continuing education units for many licensed physical and mental health professionals.

The Alliance is also committed to increasing education and awareness through educational presentations in schools, on college campuses, and in a variety of educational settings.

The Alliance is committed to the improvement of education, outreach, treatment, and research of eating disorders. Through meeting with elected officials in the nation’s capital and in numerous state capitals, The Alliance engages in various events to advocate for policies that may positively impact individuals experiencing eating disorders and other mental health issues.

The Alliance is a proud member of the Leadership Circle of The Eating Disorders Coalition (EDC). In the Fall of 2020, The Alliance’s Founder & CEO, Johanna Kandel, was appointed to the Interdepartmental Serious Mental Illness Coordinating Committee (ISMICC), to represent people with lived eating disorder experience. The ISMICC has been tasked with improving federal coordination of efforts that address the pressing needs of adults with serious mental illness, and children and youth with serious emotional disturbance.

The only program of its kind in the nation, Psychological Services provides outpatient therapy to disenfranchised people in South Florida, for as little as $5/session.

Using evidence-based, data-driven research and best practices, and under the guidance of experienced clinical supervisors, Psychological Services trains two Postdoctoral Fellows each year in the complexities of eating disorders. There is no limit to how long clients may remain in the program, nor is there a limit to how often they may receive care.

Psychological Services provides low-cost, outpatient individual, couples, and family therapy, as well as therapeutic skills groups. Fee for service is based on a sliding scale, with no clients paying more than $25/session. No one is ever turned away due to the inability to pay.

The Alliance is the only national organization to offer free, weekly, therapist-led, in-person and virtual support groups for adults experiencing/recovering from eating disorders, as well as for their loved ones.

The support groups offered by the Alliance allow group members to reach their full potential by working through the struggles of their illness in order to move forward into a life of recovery.

All Alliance support groups are facilitated by licensed therapists who are specialized in the treatment of eating disorders. The Alliance offers Pro-Recovery, LGBTQ+ Pro-Recovery, Friends & Family, and Mom2Mom support groups.

Founded by McCall Dempsey, Southern Smash, a program of The Alliance, brings unique and empowering scale-smashing events and SmashTALK panel discussions to campuses and programs nationwide. Poor body image and negative self-talk have sadly become a cultural norm, but through innovative and engaging activities, Southern Smash fills a silent void by literally smashing the stigma associated with eating disorders and mental health.

Southern Smash programs educate the public about eating disorders and empower individuals to celebrate self-love.

The Alliance operates the nation’s largest and most comprehensive database of eating disorder treatment providers and programs, findEDhelp. To make the process more effective, we created the nation’s most robust, comprehensive, and inclusive referral database, findEDhelp. In an effort to further remove barriers to care, there is not a charge for providers to be listed in the database.

Our national, interactive database includes eating disorder treatment options at all levels of care. You can search based on specific criteria including zip code, populations treated, accepted insurance plans, treatment modalities, and levels of care offered. Further customization is even available to include what comorbid diagnoses can be treated; number of patients in programming; nutritional philosophies; and number of individual sessions offered each week.

Our helpline is run by licensed therapists specialized in eating disorders, and are here to help. Our free referrals, for all levels of eating disorder treatment and care and are based on the appropriate level of care needed, insurance coverage, co-occurring diagnoses, and more. Each individual seeking eating disorder care deserves personalized help. There are so many variables to be considered when searching for specialized care.

For assistance in finding appropriate eating disorder treatment options, please call our toll-free number at 866-662-1235 or email us at [email protected]. We can provide referrals to all levels of care from eating disorders specialized therapists and dietitians to acute medical stabilization.

The helpline is open from 9:00 am – 7:00 pm EST (M-F), and if not immediately available, we will return your call as soon as possible.