Markeshia Ricks Photo
Turnbridge staff are joined by State Rep. Robyn Porter and New Haven Police Chief Anthony Campbell to cut the ribbon on the new eating disorder treatment program Tuesday.
Known for its work helping people on the road to recovery from substance abuse, Turnbridge Outpatient Programs is turning some of its attention to helping those who are battling eating disorders.
Turnbridge staff were joined by State Rep. Robyn Porter and New Haven Police Chief Anthony Campbell Tuesday to cut the ribbon on Turnbridge’s new eating disorder treatment program, which will offer mental health care, physical health care, and education at the clinical center’s downtown outpatient location on Orange Street.
The clinical center, which got its start more than 15 years ago as sober housing, is taking on those with eating disorders because Jonathan Lowe, Turnbridge’s executive director for clinical services, said there is a need. He noted that there are some pathological similarities between substance abuse disorders and eating disorders. In fact, he said, when some people give up using drugs, they compensate by with food.
“You might take away substance abuse and these other compensatory behaviors are going to come up,” he said. “Just like these are deadly, so too are eating disorders.”
Joy Zelikovsky, Turnbridge’s director of eating disorder services, said that while eating disorders appear to be more prevalent in women, there aren’t any good statistics for men.
“Anecdotally, I think a lot of our men are struggling with body image and food,” she said.
Lowe said whether it’s behaviors related to trauma, substance abuse disorders, or eating disorders, “what you have are men and women who are just trying to feel OK.”
He said the harmful ways that people behave might be effective self-medication, but they can also be deadly. “That’s where we step in,” he said, “not just to help educate them, but to help support them and offer new pathways out.”
Zelikovsky said that an eating disorder in someone who also has a substance abuse disorder might gain weight after they’ve stopped using. But then their eating disorder flares when they gain weight.
She said there are patients who say they’re not interested in using for the sake of being high, but to keep the weight off. Such patients might engage in eating restrictions that limit them to a certain number of calories for the day, or they might avoid certain types of foods like carbohydrates.
Porter and Campbell learn about how substance abuse and eating disorders are linked.
Eating disorders have the highest fatality rate of any mental health condition, according to the National Institute of Mental Health. That was news to New Haven Police Chief Anthony Campbell. So was the potential number of undiagnosed men with eating disorders. He learned Tuesday that men — in his case male police officers who have a duty to stay fit — might have an eating disorder for a variety of reasons.
“What you’re talking about is something that we might praise or highlight,” he said. “I praise some of my co-workers and say, ‘You lost weight! You look good!’ How do you broach the issue with men who don’t often want to be involved in any treatment of any kind? How do you break the stigma of that?”
When men come to Turnbridge, often for something other than an eating disorder, the intake assessment is the first time that someone has asked about such a habit, according to Zelikovsky. She said it’s important to acknowledge that as a possibility. Lowe added that people purge or restrict to produce a natural type of high, and it’s part of the reason why it is important to address all the disorders together.
“What you’re saying makes a lot of sense because what difference does it make to get them off the substance to have them succumb to the eating disorder?” Campbell said.
Jonathan Lowe, Turnbridge executive director of clinical services.
Lowe said what makes the difference at Turnbridge and what keeps recidivism low is a treatment program that lasts for more than 90 days and a supportive community.
“Whether it’s an eating disorder treatment or substance abuse treatment, short-term treatment might control your setting but it may not actually offer you the time and the skill building to then manage the symptoms of your chronic disease outside of a clinical context,” he said. “So I can put you in a facility and remove the drugs. But that’s probably not what your life is going to look like after leaving that facility. Unless you’re prepared to go back to the stress of life there’s not much protecting you.
“Our focus here at Turnbridge is really about recovery,” he added.
He said that means in addition to treatment from professionals, people at Turnbridge also have access to fellowship — a support system of peers also working through their recovery.
Turnbridge provides intensive outpatient programs as part of its services and works with those 18 and up. It can take people as young as 16 on a case-by-case basis. It works with Anthem Blue Shield on an in-network basis and all other insurance providers on an out-of-network basis taking referrals from other providers and medical professionals, as well as Turnbridge alumni.
Zelikovsky, who heads the eating disorder program, said that those who come to Turnbridge will learn to re-think how they see food.
“Our philosophy is all food is good food in the right time and place,” she said. “There is no bad food. There’s no such thing as junk food. There are foods that will nourish you differently. But it’s really up to you to figure out what you need in the moment.”