Esus Centre breaks down the barriers to effective treatment by having all practitioners collaborating under one roof, ensuring a more comprehensive and integrated approach to eating disorder treatment and enhancing the likelihood of positive outcomes.
Research suggests that intensive day hospital and outpatient treatments for eating disorders are preferred, as they are less intrusive to family life and keep a person connected to their support systems. They also allow patients to transfer the skills they learn to their home environment immediately, so helping to create the conditions in which treatment gains are more likely to be maintained.
The concept of wrap-around care
Wrap-around care in eating disorder treatment refers to a comprehensive approach that supports individuals throughout all aspects of their recovery journey. It involves providing continuous and coordinated care across high and low intensity treatment programs, involving a wide range of healthcare professionals, including psychologists, dietitians, general practitioners, psychiatrists and peer support workers.
At Esus, our goal is to provide a holistic and integrated approach to support individuals in their recovery and help them achieve and maintain physical and mental health. Full recovery from an eating disorder is possible for every person at the right time, with the right team.
The fundamentals of eating
Changing one’s relationship with food is an essential part of eating disorder treatment. Esus provides high quality, tasty meals and snacks which are central to the supported eating components of our programs.
Delivered by the Esus chef and team, home cooked meals are prepared in our on-site kitchen accessible from the dining room. The kitchen is home-styled so that food delivered by Esus is easily transferable to home preparation.
Our chef works closely with our dietitians and individuals participating in our programs to facilitate trust and transparency relating to food. Through the use of fresh, wholesome ingredients, meals and snacks meet the critical nutritional requirements needed to nourish our bodies.
Esus Services
We are passionately recovery-focused. This is because recovery is possible.
We know that recovery requires different levels of support at different times. Esus allows for movement between high and low intensity treatment as needed. Supported by experienced clinicians, care navigators and peer support workers, your needs will shape your treatment plan, whether this includes day patient services, outpatient services or both.
The involvement of families and carers is welcomed and necessary.
Day Programs
Adolescent Intensive Treatment Program (AITP)
Full day program, five days per week
The Adolescent Intensive Treatment Program (AITP) is a specialised, Family-Based Therapy (FBT) informed day program designed to support school-aged young people from 14 years old who are navigating the challenges of eating disorders. Our comprehensive approach includes medical, nutritional, and psychological interventions in an intensive day hospital setting. Participants benefit from structured meal support, individualised meal planning, skills-based group therapies, and dedicated parent education, ensuring a holistic support system that extends beyond the program’s hours.
At Esus Centre, we steadfastly believe in the potential for full recovery from eating disorders, appreciating that each journey is unique and distinctly challenging. AITP runs 4-5 hours daily, five days a week, over a six-week period, including one main meal and one snack daily. The remaining meals and snacks are managed and supervised by parents, reinforcing the collaborative family-based approach crucial for long-term recovery.
Esus Intensive Treatment Program (ITP)
Full day program, five days per week
The Intensive Treatment Program is designed to support you when the eating disorder is compromising your physical and psychological wellbeing and affecting your engagement in life activities. This program focuses on foundational aspects of recovery including nutritional restoration, the establishment of eating practices that facilitate nourishment and can be maintained across time, and early-stage psychological therapy to ease distress and support progress. The day-patient work is supplemented with education and support for carers, as well as weekly supported family meals. This program is available for individuals 16 years and over. It includes comprehensive medical monitoring and management, although you will need to be medically stable to safely engage in the program.
Soma Program – Integrative Therapy for Loss of Control Eating
Full day program, one day per week
Binge Eating Disorder (BED) is the most common eating disorder in Australia. Our integrative therapy program focuses on understanding maintaining mechanisms, building emotional support and utilising evidence-based therapy to facilitate normalised eating, with an improved relationship with food and enhanced quality of life. The program focuses on meaningful connection and draws on cognitive behavioural paradigms and dialectical behavioural therapy skills to target both the symptoms and the psychopathology associated with this disorder.
Soma Program – Post Bariatric Integrative Therapy
Full day program, one day per week
Disordered eating presents unique challenges for many people seeking bariatric surgery. It is estimated that at least 25% of patients who undergo bariatric surgery will experience loss of control of eating post-surgery. Our integrative group program is the first of its kind in Australia. Treatment is evidence-based and focuses on the unique factors that emerge in the context of bariatric surgery to ensure optimal and sustained health outcomes.
Schema Therapy Program
Full day program, one day per week
This integrative treatment program is designed to assist individuals with longstanding eating disorders that may not have responded to traditional therapies or where their eating disorder is linked to a significant co-morbid condition like trauma. With a targeted focus on eating disorder symptomatology, reduced hospital admissions and addressing maladaptive coping mechanisms, we seek to improve quality of life. This program is run with one full day per week for 20 weeks. After completion, participants have access to eight follow-up support sessions held monthly.
Radically-Open Dialectical Behavioural Therapy (RO-DBT) Program
Half day program, one day per week
This transdiagnostic treatment is used to help those who experience a problematic level of emotional over-control. Our RO-DBT skills program allows people to relax inhibitory control and increase emotional expressiveness, receptivity, and flexibility to address factors that underlie and maintain their eating disorder.
Dialectical Behavioural Therapy (DBT) Skills programs
Half day program, one day per week
Our DBT skills programs are centred on the four core skills—mindfulness, distress tolerance, emotion regulation, and interpersonal effectiveness.
For adolescents, young adults and their families, we work on attaining the same four skills, with the addition of significant support from a key family member or loved one.
Outpatient Consulting
Our outpatient consulting arm supports each of the day programs and offers recovery-focused treatment while keeping you at home and fully engaged in life. We connect you with our team of psychiatrists, allied health clinicians, and our GP consulting clinic to access ongoing multidisciplinary treatment.
