School Support Program

Focus on Recovery & Studies with the School Program

If you are a parent or guardian to an individual trying to work through an eating disorder, you have extra things to focus on: you want them to get the much-needed treatment they need but don’t want it to be at the expense of their schoolwork. Enter the Center for Discovery School Support Program. We prioritize your child’s eating disorder recovery while providing academic support that promotes lasting support in school.

School Support Program Philosophy

At Center for Discovery (CFD), we treat eating disorders in a real-life setting which includes continued focus on academic success for our adolescent patients. We build confidence in young learners who may have struggled with their studies when trying to cope with mental health and social issues. In the School Support Program, patients can expect:

Allotted blocked-off time for school work within residential (RTC) and partial hospitalization (PHP) levels of care
Supervision and support from an on-site education liaison (outside tutors are welcome to schedule time with patients as well)
A small student-to-staff ratio
A collaborative effort between the treatment team member and therapist so that they provide the best approach to learning and treatment
A school reintegration plan individualized to your child’s needs
A safe and clean environment that’s compliant with our own COVID Clean Commitment policy, modeled after CDC recommendations
Virtual sessions to adhere to local guidelines when needed (varies by location)

The Discovery Approach to Academic Reintegration: Assess & Address

As with most of our programs, a patient will be in residential treatment for approximately 35 days or 6-8 weeks if in the partial hospitalization program. During this time, our primary goal is to provide your child with the highest level of therapeutic treatment to help them manage their eating disorder. Without that, reintegration back into the classroom won’t be successful.

Our approach to the reintegration of academics is by first conducting an assessment of your child’s current academic plan and how this contributes to their needs as they recover from an eating disorder. Next, we move into addressing this by identifying ways to manage, mitigate and resolve these factors to ensure a smooth reintegration back to their school to help them get back on track academically, socially and emotionally.

Phase I: Assess

Here’s what to expect during the assessment phase:

You and your child are initially assessed by a clinician on the day of admission to get an initial understanding of the patient’s academic situation/standing.
Within the first 5 to 7 days, we do another assessment to identify your child’s strengths/areas of growth, goals, barriers to their education, any accommodations that may be needed while in treatment and motivations for success with academics. After that, a short assessment is conducted on how they view themselves academically.
We typically encourage patients to stay enrolled in their local school district to support an easy transition back to school when the time arises. If this cannot occur, we’ll help identify a different option that best supports and meets your child’s needs (i.e., online schools or a credit recovery program) or we look to have you enroll them in a local school district’s home hospital program.

Phase II: Address

Here’s what occurs as we address the situation:

Our education liaison checks in with your child throughout the week and communicates with you to discuss their academic progress.
Our education liaison and your child’s therapist may speak with you regarding your child’s possible needs and will help you identify specific resources, such as how to request for an individualized education plan (IEP) evaluation for your child.
As your child nears discharge, the education liaison creates a re-entry plan to share with you and your child to help prepare for reintegration back to home and school. This plan lists out supportive peers/adults at school, provides coping skills they can use at school, ways to identify triggers or symptoms when they are struggling and more. The plan is shared with you so that you can provide this to the school so that they can better support your child when they are struggling and follow up on goals/motivations for success.
Lastly, your child will complete the same assessment questions administered at the beginning of the program to evaluate changes in their academic self-assessment over the course of the program.

A Day in the Life of the School Support Program

Our schedule creates a great balance between personalized treatment, group therapy and time to study. Here’s a sample of what a day in the residential School Support Program may look like (schedules vary by program, as well as by region):

Morning to mid-morning

Group mealtime
Individual treatment
Education block

Afternoon

Group mealtime
Group therapy
Education block

Evening

Group mealtime
Extracurricular activity and/or family session
Homework block

A Day in the Life of the School Support Program

Morning to mid-morning

Group mealtime
Individual treatment
Education block

Afternoon

Group mealtime
Group therapy
Education block

Evening

Group mealtime
Extracurricular activity and/or family session
Homework block

Stay on Track with Our School Support Program

We pride ourselves in being a champion for eating disorder recovery and keeping patients on track to meet their education needs. Our low patient-to-staff ratio, dedication to safety, personalized care and real-life approach make the School Support Program the ideal environment for the child in your life. We’re here to help them reach all their recovery goals for a lifetime of success.

For more information about the School Support Program, call 800.760.3934.