First treatment program of its kind in the tri-state area.
Silver Hill Hospital today announces the only Eating Disorders Program in Connecticut, New Jersey and New York to provide a full year of integrated treatment versus a fragmented approach that causes patients to change facilities whenever the disease changes course. The new program, which will open this month, has three levels of care: inpatient, residential, and an innovative Recovery Support Follow-up Service that works with the patient’s community support network in for the twelve months after leaving Silver Hill. This is when relapse is most common.
Silver Hill is uniquely qualified to manage all the complications of eating disorders because it is a psychiatric hospital and can treat all the emotional, behavioral and physical aspects of the mental illness with the highest mortality rate. Those suffering from disordered eating often present with coexisting psychiatric issues such as depression, anxiety, substance abuse or suicidal ideation, compounded by malnutrition, and heart or other vital organ malfunction.
“Fifty percent of patients with eating disorders have another mental illness, or a dual disorder. The nature of the disease also means that many fight physical medical conditions as well, ” says Dr. Sigurd Ackerman, president and medical director of Silver Hill. “Treating these together is essential if a patient is to have a positive outcome. As a psychiatric hospital, we can prescribe all appropriate pharmacological interventions. There is a psychiatrist on our campus 24/7, and we have a multidisciplinary team of specially trained psychologists, social workers, dietitians and nurses to work with each patient.”
Erin I. Kleifield, Ph.D., will lead the program. “ Dr. Kleifield has more than thirty years of experience in treating eating disorders. She received her Ph.D. from Stamford, is former staff psychologist on the inpatient eating disorder unit at Cornell University Medical College, and has worked in both academic research and clinical practice in the field. We’ve spent over a year designing the program and have completely renovated the space. I am confident that with Dr. Kleifield and her staff, we can make a tremendous difference in the lives of many.”
Dr. Kleifield explains that Silver Hill can admit individuals for inpatient for emergencies and that the residential program assists in the long-term psychological behavior modification that is necessary. “Disordered eating is an incredibly complex illness that requires many types of support,” says Dr. Kleifield.
“A patient might need to move back and forth between the inpatient and residential programs. That Silver Hill has both makes the difficult healing process easier for the patient and their family,” she says. Patients will also have the benefit of the Silver Hill Recovery and Support Follow-up Service “Thirty million people suffer from eating disorders in the U.S., yet only 35% seek care at facilities that specialize in treating them. With the highly skilled staff we have assembled and our outstanding facilities, we have an exceptional program that will help patients lead healthy, productive lives.”
