Bridgepoint Center For Eating Disorders - Milden

BridgePoint focuses on an alternative approach to healing—focusing on many areas of a person’s life. We incorporate different exercises throughout our programming that focus on mind, body, and spirit. At BridgePoint, we do not use the phrase “fixing” people because we do not believe they are broken. We believe that the participants have the answers within themselves and that they are stronger than they believe. This strength is what will help them get through this journey. BridgePoint is not a “cure” for disordered eating because we understand recovery is a process and it will take time. We are often asked our success rate and it is not possible to give a definitive answer because success is hard to define. For example, for one person success might be getting rid of their disordered eating behaviors but the thoughts are still occurring. Success to another individual may mean purging less. We have seen success in forms such as support, resiliency, courage, strength and hope.

We view eating disorders as a type of coping mechanism. We look into what is driving the behavior of disordered eating. We believe it is not beneficial to only treat the symptoms or behaviors. It is essential to look at the why someone is using these types of behaviors. We believe individuals use food in some way (eating too much, not eating enough) to cope with an internal struggle. At BridgePoint, we focus on these internal reasons which we have seen as previous trauma in their life, such as different forms of abuse or loss of loved ones. It could also be perfectionism, being high achievers, parental expectations or others areas of concern. By working through these struggles and focusing on developing healthy tools and skills to cope, rather than focusing solely on the food or solely on the behaviors, these individuals can start living their life differently and in turn their behaviors can diminish overtime and may eventually disappear because they are no longer needed.