For Providers

Dear eating disorder treatment provider,

It's wonderful to connect with you.

As a former dietitian I know how important collaborative care is, and how important it is to feel a sense of trust between everyone on the team.

Here, I'll describe the role of the recovery coach as it is relatively new to the eating disorders field. I'll describe how coaching is meant to be complementary to that of the therapist and dietitian, and is never meant to be a replacement or standalone care.

And if you have any questions or would like to connect to talk about a specific client, or my work in general, please reach out and I would love to connect with you over email, phone or video.

Warmly,

 

How Coaching Can Support Your Work:

  • Exposure and Response Prevention support: I help clients implement your goals in their daily lives through meal support, support with cooking/grocery shopping, clothing exposures, and other daily challenges.
  • Between-session availability: I provide text support throughout the week to help with accountability and when urges or triggers are strongest.
  • Collaboration: With client consent, I will coordinate with treatment team members, align with the treatment plan, and provide updates as needed.
  • Modelling and hope: I provide thoughtful self-disclosure per my Carolyn Costin Institute training to normalize challenges and inspire hope.

How Coaching Differs From & Complements Therapy and Dietetics:

  • Diagnosis and treatment: While therapists and and dietitians can diagnose and treat, coaches cannot. I support the goals set by the treatment team.
  • Focus: While therapy can explore underlying issues and why the eating disorder developed, coaching focuses on behaviour change in the here and now. And while dietetics can prescribe meal plans and make specific nutrition recommendations, coaching focuses on helping clients to implement these plans in their daily lives.
  • Modality: Therapy and dietetics sessions typically occur in scheduled sessions, while coaching also happens between sessions via text or quick calls to support in-the-moment challenges.
  • Roles: While therapists and dietitians lead assessment, treatment planning, and goal setting, coaches help clients implement established goals.
  • Safety: Coaching is not meant to be stand-alone care. I will communicate concerns promptly and defer clinical decisions to the treatment team.

How CCI coaches are trained and vetted:

The coaching field is unregulated, and I know this can cause understandable concern and skepticism among clinicians.

Here, I wanted to outline some details of the Carolyn Costin Institute training that I went through, as even though I am not regulated like I was when I was a dietitian, I do feel that this training was thorough and I felt confident to work with clients as soon as I was graduated, especially as I am not meant to be standalone care without a therapist and/or dietitian on the team, and my work is to help the client implement the goals set by the treatment team.

The Carolyn Costin Institute coach training program: 

  • Is designed to take approximately one year to complete.
  • Consists of 12 training modules with a variety of relevant reading material and videos designed to prepare coaches to help clients deal with the daily challenges presented in recovery.
  • Includes a special track for students who are recovered, in order to prepare them for how to best use their lived experience and avoid potential pitfalls.
  • Includes closed and open-ended assessments to pass each module, and all are reviewed and graded by Carolyn Costin to ensure that students are not only grasping the material, but have learned how to apply the knowledge appropriately as a coach.
  • Ends with a supervision and internship phase in order to become certified. Students are first given several example clients, where they describe how they would handle various coaching situations. Carolyn works with each student, going through his or her answers and working to refine their responses.
  • After passing a final exam, potential coaches enter the internship phase where they work with clients free of charge under the supervision of Carolyn. Carolyn listens to taped sessions, reads session notes and provides ongoing feedback on each case.
  • Requires all certified coaches to get continuing education every two years in order to keep their knowledge and skills up to date and to remain in good standing.

If you would like to connect to discuss the needs of a specific client, or to find out more about recovery coaching work in general, I would love to connect with you