Supporting clients through the treatment of their eating disorders is challenging work.
Complicated? Yes.
Important, rewarding work to do? Absolutely yes.
In this blog post, we’ll be providing you with over 50 carefully selected eating disorder resources for dietitians to use on the daily so that you can save time and have a greater impact. While most of these offerings are available for purchase by the dietitians that created them, 14 of them are actually free to download!
It is our hope that these resources will help equip savvy dietitians like you with the tools needed to serve your patients on their way to freedom and recovery.
Disclaimer: As with all articles, this is general information for educational purposes only and not individual advice or recommendations.
By the way, we love being comprehensive in our round-ups, but if 50 tools are a tad too many to read through, these three comprehensive bundles contain a variety of handouts and/or activities for your eating disorder clients:
Let’s kick off this round up with different kinds of meal planning resources that you can match to your unique client.
Meal Planning Resources for Clients with Eating Disorders
What is the workhorse tool for supporting your client’s recovery? An effective meal plan that is a match for their preferences, supportive without being restrictive and that can be modified as they make progress.
Below is a comprehensive list of our meal-planning resources for clients with disordered eating.
Snack Pack for Eating Disorder & Intuitive Eating RDs (Includes Non-Dairy, Nut Free & Gastroparesis)
(For a detailed guide on using meal plans to promote healing without causing harm, please bookmark this article).
Additional Handouts for Clients
This collection of tools includes resources for clients – when they’re ready – to learn more about their own eating disorder, the consequences of it continuing as well as how to manage specific situations, such as being ready to talk to others about what is going on with their own health, mindset and their current thinking patterns.
- Food Significance Handout (FREE)
Eating Disorder Forms to Use in Practice
If it isn’t documented, it didn’t happen, right?
Because the care of patients with eating disorders is highly complex and requires collaboration with a care team, it is important to have good systems (and good forms) in place to keep track of the details. These forms help to manage the seeming mountain of documentation that is needed daily. You’ll thank us for these time-saving forms!
Next up: resources to empower your clients to address their body image challenges.
Body Image Resources
For many of your clients, their body image is problematic and potentially the root cause of their disordered eating. And without addressing body image, your client may be at a greater risk of relapse. This collection of tools and resources allows your clients to have a more constructive relationship with their own body, through affirmations, reflections, and helpful lessons.
- Eating Disorder Affirmations (FREE)
What about your client’s friends and family? Our next section will give you lots of tools to educate and support the village that is rooting for your client’s recovery.
Family Resources to Use with Clients
An eating disorder does not just impact the individual, but it can also have a profound impact on everyone who loves and cares for that person. These resources are to support the friends and family of your clients with an eating disorder.
Activities for Groups
As you well know, not all treatment happens in a 1:1 format! These lesson plans are designed for use in a group setting. The final resource is specifically geared towards teenagers.
Online Courses to Enhance Your Knowledge and Skills
We didn’t forget about you, the dietitian! If you’re looking to establish (or refresh) your own skills in this area, we have several resources and tools to help you on your own journey to support your clients throughout their disordered eating. (P.S. the third resource provides 8.5 CEUs to boot!)
What’s next? If you’re looking for the most comprehensive training program, we’ll tell you what to consider in our next section.
Eating Disorder Certification Programs
We are proud of our robust set of tools available to support your important work as an eating disorder dietitian.
If you would like to develop an even greater skill set for working with clients with eating disorders, The Certified Eating Disorder Specialist (CEDS) certification program may be exactly what you need. We have a detailed post about this credential, here: Everything You Need to Know About Becoming a CEDRD.
P.S. The CEDS certification used to be called The Certified Eating Disorder Registered Dietitian (CEDRD). Learn more about this credential from the International Association of Eating Disorders Professionals (iaedp) Foundation (1).
That’s a wrap!
While working with clients who have disordered eating is challenging and not a task to take lightly, it brings immense rewards when you get to witness their strength and grit on their journey to recovery.
Dietitians like you can make a tremendous impact by using the tools available, such as those we’ve provided in this blog post. With these resources at your fingertips, you can help your client develop the nourishment practices that will lead to positive, lasting outcomes.
If you have any resources of your own that would be beneficial for dietitians working in the disordered eating realm, you can open up your own virtual store right here on our website and make them available for purchase. Click here to become a vendor today!
Recommended reading
Ready to learn more? We’ve hand-picked a few favorites from the blog.
- Role of Meal Planning in Eating Disorder Recovery – Learn how eating disorder meal plans can provide the structure and nourishment needed to support long-term recovery. Understand the role of a dietitian when creating custom meal plans for clients with an eating disorder.
- Everything You Need to Know About Becoming a CEDRD – What is it really like to earn your CEDRD certification to become a certified eating disorder dietitian? Find out here!
- What Does an Intuitive Eating Dietitian Actually Do? (and Is It Right for You?) – What have you heard about being an Intuitive Eating Dietitian? This post busts the common myths and offers insight from experts.
