Eating Disorders constitute the most life-threatening category of mental health issues. Castlewood Treatment Center offers comprehensive and highly individualized treatment planning with expert individual therapists for eating disorders, nutritional counseling, marital and relational therapy and trauma-resolution therapy.
Family Dynamics in the Treatment of Eating Disorders - Jim
Castlewood eating disorder treatment center brochure
1. In the middle of the country, on the bluffs overlooking
a gently flowing river, nestled against forested parkland,
is a treatment center unlike any other…
St. Louis, Missouri
636-386-6611 | 888-822-8938
www.castlewoodtc.com
2. Castlewood Treatment Center
is a creative collaboration of the owners’
clinical experience and personal and
professional evolution. The result is
a residential treatment program for
eating disorders that allows for the unique
treatment of each individual with an
emphasis on compassion, respect and
empowerment.
3. Our vision required that the structure itself
be beautiful, unique, and natural, blending harmoniously
with its surroundings. Most of all, it had to have the
ambiance of a healing community, a sanctuary.
After years of searching, we discovered this
secluded gem, high on a ridge, overlooking endless acres
of state woodlands and the scenic Meramec River.
4. Men and women who
come to Castlewood
are not anorexic; they are
not bulimic; they are not
compulsive overeaters.
At Castlewood we begin
with the premise that
each person who walks
through our doors defies
simple categorization.
Though we naturally wish to restore our clients
to health and functionality as efficiently as
possible, we do not place a 30 or 60-day time
limit on our residents’ stays. Our mission is not
merely to churn out weight-restored women
or men who look healthy to others, but whose
internal wounds, if unaddressed, will readily
result in relapse. Experience has taught us that
the full measure of health rests upon more
than a temporary absence of symptoms.
Castlewood therefore provides an individualized
treatment approach tailored to meet the precise
needs of each client. We understand that eating
disorder clients tend to be more different than
similar. This is why at Castlewood, each client’s
treatment plan is highly individualized.
AN EATING DISORDER is both originated
and maintained by a constellation of factors.
For each client, every step of the way, we are
continually inquiring as a treatment team and
in collaboration with the client: what are the
necessary and sufficient components of treat-
ment needed to restore this person, not only to
decreased symptoms, but to a life that is both
live-able and worth living?
In addition to the eating disorder, some clients
have psychiatric diagnoses; some have multiple
addictions and some have a history of severe
childhood traumas. Some clients will see a
specialist for adjunctive therapy, such as seeing
our anxiety specialist if needed, in addition to
their primary therapist. Whatever is required
to help the client, we attempt to provide.
When new clients arrive at Castlewood we
never know how his/her treatment will end
up looking, because therapeutic strategies
evolve as we get to know them and identify the
pertinent factors that are contributory to the
issues they present. Clients say this flexibility
distinguishes Castlewood from prior treatments
and often constitutes the difference that allows
their recovery efforts to at last succeed.
6. Eating disorders often occur along with the compounding and
further debilitating symptoms of depression, anxiety, addiction
(to drugs or alcohol), perfectionism, and stress response syndromes.
Family and friends may find aspects of the eating disorder
perplexing in the tenacity of the hold it exerts on their loved one, the
sufferer’s lack of awareness of their degree of debilitation over time,
and the deception that can begin to enter once-honest relationships.
7. Eating Disorder can result
as a symptom of many
different syndromes with many
developmental pathways.
For some clients, there is fear of growing up
and assuming adult responsibilities. For others,
external functioning seems great while inside,
they are confused, distressed and need a
symptom to yell: help! Some become trapped
in the role of pleasing others, perfectionism,
and being the “good child”. For some clients,
there was a major loss during childhood, such
as a mother with post-partum depression or
other experiences of separation from a key
loved one. Others have experienced tremen-
dous pain in their social interactions in school
or with peers that has led to an ongoing sense
of anxiety and isolation. Some clients’ families
are themselves disengaged, without sufficient
emotional connections, or shame-based with
many intergenerational secrets and/or layers
of unresolved intergenerational trauma. Some
are enmeshed, without appropriate boundaries,
resulting in overindulged children who get
things rather than parenting. Some clients have
perfect families, in appearance, and feel over-
whelmed because they cannot live up to the
parents’ perceived achievements or expectations.
Once the eating disorder takes hold as a
“survival strategy” of sorts, it can begin to take
on a life of its own, as a recourse from, while
simultaneously a perpetuator of, anxiety and
isolation. As the illness progresses, various types
of disequilibrium occur in mind and body,
which cyclically, cause the individual to rely
more heavily on the eating disorder symptoms
to maintain an illusory sense of stability amidst
the increasing chaos. As the cycle of the eating
disorder continues, habituation results, as in
any addiction, and it takes more of the same
behavior to achieve the desired effect of feeling
temporarily o.k. – more restriction, more food,
more binging and purging, diet pills, laxatives,
exercise, etc.
When reliance on the eating disorder is discon-
tinued, a client’s whole world can feel upside-
down, out-of-control and initially, impossible to
manage. This unfortunate, yet understandable
predicament is what Castlewood exists to address.
Our goal is to provide a container for the initial
and inevitable distress, to provide the support of
community, in lieu of that seemingly provided
by the eating disorder, and to assist the client to
learn and re-learn the skills necessary to stabilize
and rebuild their lives.
WHAT CAUSES EATING DISORDER?
8. Core Symptoms
• Weight loss or gain with endocrine
or metabolic abnormalities
• Fat phobia/food phobia
• Rituals around body checking,
exercise and food
• Purging (undoing and punishing) by
fasting, vomiting, diuretics and exercise
• Dissociation/lack of autonomy from
craving and rituals/addiction
• Body dissatisfaction, body image
distortion
• Binge eating, secretive eating,
hoarding and stealing food
• Chewing and spitting food as
an attempt to control weight
• Taking in excessive amounts of fluid
or restricting fluid intake
• Use or abuse of diet pills, herbal
supplements or teas
• Increased isolation, spending less and
less time with family and friends
• Refusing or avoiding eating with
family and friends
9. Treatment
Castlewood Treatment Center
offers comprehensive and highly
individualized treatment planning.
The program is specifically designed
to treat all types of eating disorders
as well as co-existing disorders,
including trauma, addictions, body
dysmorphia, self-harm and other
frequently co-occurring issues.
treatment
componentsComponents
10. EACH CLIENT RECEIVES:
• A total of six sessions weekly with skilled
and experienced clinicians.
• Daily work with Dr. Mark Schwartz, and
Lori Galperin, each nationally known for their
clinical expertise, workshops and publications on
eating disorder, childhood trauma and addictions.
• Four individual sessions per week with
the primary therapist.
• A weekly session with his/her nutritionist
who eats meals with clients.
• A weekly session with our psychiatrist.
• A small, well-chosen therapeutic community.
• Levels of care that allow for increasing
autonomy with continuing support
• Excellent aftercare programming, including
follow-up visits offered at Castlewood.
Castlewood maintains a high staff-to-
patient ratio providing for greater
individualized care. Many of our clients
have had treatment at other programs
and have found recovery at Castlewood.
Working with a qualified
nutritionist, who has a solid
background in eating disorders is
the cornerstone of our program.
Our residential nutritionist is a
former eating disorder client
herself and understands the
process as only someone who
has been through the recovery
process can.
Our therapy begins with a solid individual relationship with
the primary therapist, psychiatrist and our nutritionist.
11. Residential
Our Residential level of care is
designed for stabilization and
restoration of healthy eating habits.
At the Residential level, we work to
establish and foster a therapeutic
community that can allow each
client to feel supported and to work
on building social connections while
establishing a stronger sense of self.
residential
treatmentresidential
12. The Residential program only has a maximum
of 10 clients. Each client sees his/her primary
therapist four times a week as well as having
weekly sessions with the dietician and the
psychiatrist. The program itself consists of
40 hours of group therapy. Staff is on site 24/7.
Each bedroom is attractive, uniquely decorated
and has its own en suite bathroom. There are
no more than two clients to a bedroom.
Community space is likewise comfortable and
inviting with inspiring views.
13. Thursday
7:30 – 8:00 Breakfast
8:15 – 9:15 Process Group
9:30 – 10:30 Core Group
10:30 – 11:00 Snack
11:00 – 12:00 Core Group II
12:30 – 1:30 Chef’s Choice
1:30 – 2:30 Pilates
3:00 – 3:30 Snack
3:30 – 4:30 Cognitive Group
4:30 – 6:00 Individual Sessions/Free Time
6:15 – 7:00 Dinner & Post Meal
Free Time
9:00 – 9:30 Snack
Friday
7:30 – 8:00 Breakfast
8:30 – 10:00 Core Group
10:00 – 10:30 Snack
10:30 – 12:15 Eating Disorder Group
12:30 – 1:30 Lunch & Post Meal
1:30 – 2:30 Body Image
2:30 – 3:00 Snack
3:00 – 4:30 Art Therapy
5:30 – 6:15 Dinner & Post Meal
Movie Outing
9:00 – 9:30 Snack
Saturday
7:30 – 8:00 Breakfast
8:15 – 9:30 Individual Sessions/Free Time
9:30 – 10:30 Gender Sexuality Intimacy & Relationships
10:30 – 11:00 Snack
11:00 – 12:00 Literary Interpretation/Shame Group
12:30 – 1:15 Lunch & Post Meal
Outing & Visitors
Free Time
9:00 – 9:30 Snack
Sunday
7:30 – 8:00 Breakfast
8:00 – 10:30 Individual Sessions/Free Time
10:30 – 11:00 Snack
11:00 – 12:15 Music Therapy
12:30 – 1:15 Lunch & Post Meal
Visitors & Passes
5:00 – 6:00 Addictions Group
6:15 – 7:00 Restaurant Outing or Family Style Meal
Free Time
9:00 – 9:30 Snack
Monday
7:30 – 8:00 Breakfast
8:30 – 10:30 Core Group Weekend Check-in & Goals
10:30 – 11:00 Snack
11:00 – 12:15 Core Group II
12:30 – 1:15 Lunch & Post Meal
1:30 – 3:00 Eating Disorder Group
3:00 – 3:30 Snack
3:30 – 4:30 Yoga Group
4:30 – 6:00 Individual Sessions/Free Time
6:15 – 7:00 Dinner & Post Meal
Compulsory Play
9:00 – 9:30 Snack
Tuesday
7:30 – 8:00 Breakfast
8:30 – 10:00 Core Group
10:00 – 10:30 Snack
10:30 – 12:00 Movement Group
12:30 – 1:15 Lunch & Post Meal
1:30 – 3:00 Expressive Therapy
3:00 – 3:30 Snack
3:30 – 4:30 DBT Group
4:30 – 6:00 Individual Sessions/Free Time
6:15 – 7:00 Dinner & Post Meal
7:15 – 8:15 Pre-Contract
9:00 – 9:30 Snack
Wednesday
7:30 – 8:00 Breakfast
8:15 – 9:15 Eating Disorder Expressive Group
9:15 – 9:45 Menu Group
9:45 – 10:30 Nutrition Group
11:00 – 12:00 Treatment Module
12:30 – 1:15 Lunch & Post Meal
1:30 – 2:30 Sexual Healing or Containment
2:30 – 3:00 Snack
3:00 – 4:00 Eating Disorder Group
4:00 – 5:00 Relapse Prevention
5:00 – 6:00 Individual Sessions/Free Time
6:15 – 7:00 Dinner & Post Meal
Compulsory Play
9:00 – 9:30 Snack
Residential Program Weekly Schedule
14. The people at Castlewood Treatment Center
saved my life. But they did more than that.
They opened up my eyes to what life is all about,
to all that I have to look forward to.
I came in closed off from the world.
The people here helped me find my strength.
They didn’t just give me wings, they helped me find
my own, and let me realize that I had the power to
fly inside me all the time.
I’m not just alive today because of the people here,
but I’m actually living life as well.
– MB
‘‘
‘‘
15. Stepdown
Our Step Down program is usually
a transition from residential care.
stepdownstepdown
16. The Stepdown program focuses less on stabili-
zation and more on practice, with an emphasis
on acquiring the necessary life skills to facilitate
long-term recovery. Coping skills and healthy
eating habits learned in residential are built
upon and tried out in circumstances more
closely resembling what clients will encounter
post treatment. There is greater autonomy,
encouragement of self responsibility, yet with
help, support, guidance and community.
We understand that each new phase in a client’s
recovery process entails novel challenges. We
endeavor to provide the feedback, opportunities,
support and skill-building necessary to navigate
each sequential hurdle. Our Stepdown nutritionist
has successfully helped hundreds of clients nav-
igate the pitfalls of eating in “the real world.”
Again, this program is tailored to fit the indi-
vidual’s situation. Some clients in Stepdown, will
begin to work a certain number of hours, some
to attend academic courses or to volunteer with
local agencies or organizations. Learning
to sustain a balanced lifestyle that includes:
appropriate nutrition, work or school, supportive
relationships, recreational activities and self-care
simultaneously, is often a foreign concept con-
trasted with how clients were functioning prior to
treatment. The more opportunity to practice in
this manner, the greater the odds for a sustained
recovery post discharge.
During the Stepdown phase, a meal and exer-
cise plan is developed for the individual client
by the nutritionist with client input and goals
considered. Clients frequently say that our
dietician and nutritionist are the BEST they’ve
ever worked with. We consider this a supreme
compliment and a variable that makes the
process of recovery so much smoother!
17. DayTreatment
day
treatmentday treatment
Castlewood offers a full spectrum
of care. Our Day Treatment program
is open to clients living in or around
the St. Louis area who require more
than outpatient treatment but who
may be able to meet his/her treatment
goals without a residential stay.
18. Day Treatment
In order to achieve a level of stabilization and
symptom reduction, some clients require a level
of care beyond outpatient.
Our Day Treatment program is provided for
clients living in or around the St. Louis area
who can commute to treatment and for whom
an overnight stay is not a necessary treatment
component.
The program is available on either a 5- or 7-day
basis. Clients become part of the therapeutic
community and participate in all residential
groups and programming. Depending upon
whether in the 5 or 7 day version, clients
receive 3-4 individual sessions with the primary
therapist, one with the psychiatrist and one
with his/her dietician weekly.
Day Treatment is often the treatment of
choice when a program of intensive
outpatient care has not been adequate in
effectively assisting the client to reach and/or
maintain treatment goals.
19. Intensive
Outpatient
Our IOP Program is for clients needing
more structure than individual
outpatient therapy alone can provide
or for the client who is transitioning
back to life, work or school after
treatment at a higher level of care,
such as Residential or Stepdown.
intensive
outpatientIOP
(intensive outpatient program)
20. Castlewood’s IOP Program consists of both group
and individual therapy held four evenings each
week. A supervised meal also comprises one facet
of each evening’s programming.
For motivated and less severely compromised clients,
IOP may be the treatment of choice. There are
four types of groups offered in the program.
Castlewood Treatment Center
offers a complete menu of
outpatient services with expert
individual therapists for eating
disorders, nutritional counseling,
marital and relational therapy
and trauma-resolution therapy.
For more information please call:
1-888-822-8938.
21. SKILLS GROUP
The SKILLS GROUP is a structural psycho-
educational group that provides clients with
practical skills for coping with challenges and
helps create alternative strategies to reliance
on the eating disorder symptoms. Instead of
binging and purging, utilization of self-sooth-
ing, distraction, and problem solving. Instead
of restricting, patients examine unhealthy
thought processes, body image distortion and
underlying feelings and needs. Clients are
taught to use their voice rather than symptoms
to communicate internal states and to facilitate
problem solving, communication and to devel-
op relationship skills and resources. The groups
focus on body acceptance, behavior therapy,
enhancing motivation, diminishing anxiety,
appropriate nutrition, mindfulness, spirituality
and self care.
GENERAL PROCESS GROUPS
The PROCESS GROUP allows an opportunity
to discuss emotions and underlying dynamics
that maintain eating-disorder symptoms. Feed-
back from group members, particularly those
farther along or those who have had similar
experiences is useful. Assignments are often given
to lend focus and assist clients in identification
and exploration of symptom-maintaining cir-
cumstances and issues.
MEAL PROCESS GROUP
In the MEAL PROCESS group, individuals
are helped to recognize hunger and fullness, to
learn to prepare or portion satisfying meals with
variety, nutrition and in appropriate servings.
The therapists eat with the clients, and clients
are challenged and supported to confront their
anxiety incrementally.
EXPERIENTIAL GROUP
In EXPERIENTIAL GROUP, clients deal
directly with circumstances or situations having
to do with body, movement and strong emotions.
Clients often say these types of groups are the
most challenging, but also the most useful.
Clients may role play difficult situations to pro-
vide insight and mastery. Through behavioral
rehearsals, clients lessen anxiety and increase
efficacy in dealing with new or challenging
situations they face.
Castlewood Program Coordinators (from left to right)
Amy Kayda – IOP Coordinator & Therapist
Emily Williams – Step Down Coordinator & Therapist
Deanna James – Assistant Program Director & Therapist
22. SUPPORT GROUP
Castlewood sponsors a free weekly sup-
port group for people in recovery from
Anorexia Nervosa, Bulimia and Binge
Eating Disorder. The group is open to
anyone regardless of stage of recovery.
The purpose of the group is to establish
a safe, reliable setting that emphasizes
positive aspects of recovery. The format
offers time for participants to briefly
check in about the week, followed by an
open discussion that focuses on various
issues or topics that are common during
the recovery process. Examples include:
relapse prevention, negotiating boundaries,
and utilizing healthy coping tools. Par-
ticipation in support group requires that
the individual be engaged in outpatient
therapy, as the support group is not in-
tended to replace on-going therapy or as a
stand-alone form of support. Castlewood
welcomes inquiries by both clients and
therapists about appropriateness of the
Support Group for you or for your client.
Information about the Support Group
is available from Nancy Albus at
636-386-6611.
From the very first day I was warmly
welcomed and though terrified I found
support. The groups were extremely
difficult but vital to my recovery. I
formed friendships on a level I had
never experienced before and found hope
that had been covered by layers of fear.
I can’t begin to explain the care that
the staff at Castlewood had for me. At
times it was overwhelming to think that
anyone could care that much. From my
relentless and kind therapist that helped
me through my most difficult days, the
psychiatrist that respected my every
boundary, the directors who’s intuition
still amazes me today, the staff who’s
safety I remember when I was strug-
gling the most, and let’s not forget the
dieticians that I would have never
imagined to be my biggest allies. With
all of that, the structure of filled days
of groups, the focus on the fear and
trauma that was fueling my behaviors,
and the many levels of step down I
found my path to recovery. And most
importantly I found myself.
‘‘
‘‘
The groups were…
vital to my recovery.
24. With one foot in the present and one
foot in the past, the client re-examines the
memories, re-associates the emotions, and
changes the trauma-based or childhood
attributions used to make meaning of
the experience at the time to an adult
perspective of enhanced clarity, wisdom
and compassion. The event no longer
exerts the same influence over behavior,
choices and sense of self it did previously.
25. Unresolved experiences of child sexual abuse or rape, for example, will almost
always result in symptoms. Where traumatically-originating symptoms prevail or
complicate the individual’s ability to achieve a fuller recovery, therapies such as
EMDR, Attachment-based Psychotherapy or Internal Family Systems therapy
can be utilized to facilitate and speed up the necessary shifts in processing once
some degree of safety, containment and stabilization exist.
EMDR
Clients who have suffered for years from anxiety
or distressing memories, nightmares, insomnia,
abuse or other traumatic events can often
gain relief from a revolutionary therapy called
EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization Repro-
cessing). Research shows that EMDR is rapid,
safe and effective. EMDR does not involve
the use of drugs or hypnosis. It is a simple,
non-invasive patient-therapist collaboration
in which healing can happen effectively. This
powerful short-term therapy is highly effective
for a wide range of disorders including chronic
pain, phobias, depression, panic attacks, eating
disorders and poor self-image, stress, worry,
stage fright, performance anxiety, recovery
from sexual abuse and traumatic incidents.
Attachment-based
PSYCHOTHERAPY
When a client has experienced early attachment
deficits with their caretakers in the first few years
of life due to sensory hyperactivity or parental
unavailability, they will evidence attachment dis-
orders later in life. They will become dismissive
of, or preoccupied with, securing love. So often,
eating disorder results from a hunger for love,
and the person is either too afraid to seek love
(dismissive) or approaches partners with a binge
mentality (preoccupied), or both (disorganized).
Castlewood utilizes directive interventions to
work with attachment difficulties.
26. INTERNAL FAMILY SYSTEMS
THERAPY
Internal Family Systems (IFS) therapy is a
therapy that is very applicable to clients who
have complex traumatic stress disorders and
allows for a reworking of those experiences with
one foot in the present, and one foot in the past.
IFS has in common with Ego State therapies
the idea that each individual has multiple selves
or self-states. IFS, like Ego State therapies, is
predicated on the notion that having self-states,
(generally referred to as “parts”) is not (solely)
a function of a dissociative process in need of
therapeutic correction, but rather the normative
state of all human beings. Working with these
parts can be a very efficient and potent method
of resolving past events and freeing the indi-
vidual to rely more fully on his/her own innate
capacities for change, growth and healing.
Richard C. Schwartz, Ph.D.,
the originator of Internal
Family Systems Therapy,
is integral to Castlewood in
both his training of our staff
and as a clinical consultant.
27. Staff
The staff at Castlewood is passionate.
Their skill and dedication are
surpassed only by their compassion
for the hard work involved in each
client’s process of recovery.
castlewood
staffcastlewood staff
28. Our therapists include highly trained
master- and doctoral-level professionals
with numerous specialties who are
unequivocally committed to helping
people heal. They understand the
obsessive, often labyrinthine thought
processes that create and maintain our
clients’ cognitive distortions.
Mark Schwartz, Sc.D.
Clinical Co-Director
Mark earned his doctorate
in Psychology and Mental
Health from Johns Hopkins
University. He is a licensed
psychologist and an adjunct
professor in the departments of Psychiatry at
St. Louis University School of Medicine. Over
the past 25 years, Dr. Schwartz has achieved
international recognition for his contribu-
tions in a variety of clinical arenas including
the treatment of intimacy disorders, marital
and sexual dysfunction, sexual compulsivity,
sexual trauma and eating disorders. He lectures
nationally and internationally on these topics
and has authored numerous articles and book
chapters, as well as the books, Sexual Abuse
and Eating Disorders and Sexual Compulsive
Behavior, Sex and Gender. Dr. Schwartz is cur-
rently on the Editorial Board of the Journal of
Eating Disorders.
Lori Galperin
M.S.W., L.C.S.W.
Clinical Co-Director
Ms. Galperin initially
earned her undergraduate
degree in Psychology and
later completed her gradu-
ate degree in Clinical Social Work at Tulane
University. She is an accomplished contributor
in the fields of marital and sexual dysfunction,
sexual compulsivity, sexual trauma, dissociative
and eating disorders, lecturing nationally and
internationally on these topics. She has au-
thored various journal articles and book
chapters, is trained in Clinical Hypnosis,
EMDR, Internal Family Systems, Expressive
and Attachment-based therapies. Over the
past 22 years Ms. Galperin has treated several
thousand inpatients and trained more than
100,000 clinicians throughout the United
States, Canada and Europe.
Nancy Albus
M.Ed., L.P.C.
Program Director
Nancy earned her Master
of Arts degree in Counsel-
ing from the University of
Missouri-St. Louis. She is
a licensed Professional Counselor and trained
in Internal Family Systems. In addition to her
interest in eating disorders, Nancy works with
femininity and sexuality issues, including facili-
tating the Femininity and Sexuality group in
Residential Treatment. Nancy joined
Castlewood in 2002 as a therapist and is also
the program director for the treatment center.
29. Theresa Chesnut
M.S.W., L.C.S.W.
Therapist
Theresa initially earned
her undergraduate degree
in Family Life and Com-
munity Services from
Kansas State University and later completed
her graduate degree in Clinical Social Work at
the University of Kansas. Theresa has been
on staff at Castlewood since 2000 and has held
various positions: Primary Therapist, Program
Director and currently as the Marketing Direc-
tor. Theresa has also been on staff for the
Menninger Clinic and she has over 15 years
experience in lecturing on college campuses
and to psychiatric professionals about the signs,
symptoms and prevention of eating disorders.
Currently, her area of research, focus and
lecturing is on the recovery process and various
intervention strategies as well as providing In-
services for elite athletes, coaches and trainers.
James Gerber
M.A, A.T.R., Ph.D.
Therapist
Dr. Gerber earned a
Masters Degree in Art
Therapy/Counseling at
Southern Illinois University,
Edwardsville. He earned his Ph.D. at Saint
Louis University in Counseling and Family
Therapy. Dr. Gerber has worked extensively
with adults and adolescents in a variety of
clinical areas including sexual/marital dysfunc-
tion, family therapy, sexual abuse, trauma and
compulsivity. He has published and presented
papers on sexual aggression, sexual abuse and
trauma.
Samantha Young
M.Ed., L.P.C.
Intake Coordinator/
Therapist
Samantha Young earned
a Masters of Science
Degree in Counseling
from Missouri Baptist University. She is a
Licensed Professional Counselor and is trained
in Internal Family Systems, Dialectical Be-
havioral Therapy and EMDR. Samantha has
worked at Castlewood Treatment Center since
2002 working with trauma and eating disorders.
Deborah Hinds, D.T.R.
Nutritionist
Deborah earned her de-
gree in Dietetic Technolo-
gy with an emphasis in Nu-
tritional Care at Florissant
Valley College in Missouri.
She is a registered and licensed Dietetic Tech-
nician in the State of Missouri, and has experi-
ence in clinical nutrition, outpatient counseling,
mental health, and facilitating groups on eating
disorders and addiction. Deborah is trained
in the Internal Family Systems Model and has
exclusively treated individuals with eating dis-
order for nearly 10 years. Deborah works with
residential, intensive outpatient, and outpatient
clients to develop custom meal plans and to
provide grocery shopping assistance and nutri-
tional counseling.
30. Anna M. Jurec, M.D.
Psychiatrist
Anna M. Jurec, M.D.
graduated from Medical Uni-
versity in Gdansk, Poland and
completed her Psychiatry
Residency Program at Saint
Louis University Department of Neurology and
Psychiatry. She has been a member of the Ameri-
can Psychiatric Association since 2004. She is cur-
rently working as a full time psychiatrist at Castle-
wood Residential Treatment Center. She is also a
consultant with Places for People – a non-profit
organization in St. Louis, treating severely and
persistently mentally ill patients.
“I enjoy helping to bring out the potential of the human
mind in those affected by mental illness. I strive to treat
the patient as an integral combination of body, mind and
spirit and to allow patients to choose the best individual
treatment based on scientific and clinical evidence.
My particular professional interests are directed toward
psychosomatic medicine (eating disorders in particular,)
as well as mood and anxiety disorders.”
Iness Panni, RN, MSN
Nurse Manager
Iness earned a Bachelor’s
Degree in nursing from
Avila University and a
master’s degree in nursing
from University of Kansas.
Iness Panni has worked with eating disorders
and addictions for over 25 years. She brings
a special sensitivity to the medical, physical,
emotional, psychological, social, and spiritual
aspects involved in the complexity of treating
eating disorders. As Nurse Manager of
Castlewood Treatment Center since 2002,
Iness provides a holistic oversight of the care
and well being of each client.
We chose Castlewood very carefully.
When my daughter started I had
hope, bits of optimism, and of course
some relief in seeing her downward
spiral arrested. Almost a month later
I still felt those same things, but my
daughter was voicing some optimism
of her own. The degree to which the
staff blend their roles/results/
perspectives, etc. for each client,
including my daughter, is what
returned her to life, and life to her.
You were the reason she believed she
might, then could, then would make
it: and the strength she “borrowed”
when hers wasn’t quite there.
– DM
‘‘
‘‘
31. WhyCastlewood
A small Residential community
fosters greater participation
and affords more individualized
treatment planning and care within
a strong, cohesive therapeutic milieu.
Castlewood is located just 25 minutes
from St. Louis Lambert International
Airport. In addition to state-of-the-
art care, our facility, set in a tranquil,
secluded environment, is a testimonial
to the healing inherent in nature’s
ever-renewing beauty.
why
castlewoodwhy castlewood
32. Unlike so many treatment centers, Castlewood
helps clients heal the pain that underlies their
eating disorders rather than just manage the
symptoms. The place is beautiful, not just in
it’s physical setting, but also in the compassionate
way the staff views and relates to the clients.
I wish I could send them all my traumatized
clients, not just those with eating disorders.
– Richard C. Schwartz, Ph.D.
Developer of the Internal Family Systems model.
‘‘
‘‘
33. 1. We are small.
Only ten clients in-house with 33 staff permits
highly individualized intensive treatment. We
provide a great deal of support at the table and
have locked access to food.
2. We individualize care.
Whether you have obsessive-compulsive disor-
der, body dysmorphic disorder, social anxiety
disorder, major depression, multiple addictions
or dissociative disorder, we provide specific treat-
ment for the eating disorder as well as these
often concurrent issues.
3. We specialize in
trauma-resolution therapies.
For clients with a history of childhood or adult
trauma, we offer state of the art therapies for
resolution of experiences that were overwhelm-
ing. Trauma may consist of a one time incident
that led to Post Traumatic Stress symptoms, or a
series of developmentally prevalent occurrences
that generated avoidance, constriction or reen-
actment phenomena.
4. We utilize Internal Family Systems
Therapy.
All of our therapy staff have had training in
Internal Family Systems therapy which allows
us to work as a team to understand the contex-
tual function of the individual’s eating disorder
symptoms in order to help each client discover
truly viable alternative survival strategies.
5. Our focus is more than simply
re-feeding or control of symptoms.
Our goal is to help launch a person in his/her
development toward a full life. This includes
support to transition to or re-enter college, job
and relationship.
6. We provide a full continuum of care.
We have found that almost all clients slip fol-
lowing the support and safety of the in-house
program. To allow clients more freedom and
independence to practice recovery and rebound
from the inevitable slips we began a Stepdown
Program. It is a supportive environment where
clients receive support from peers, implement
relapse prevention plans and continue with his/
her individual therapy. We can further step a
client down to Partial Hospitalization or the
Intensive Outpatient Program to provide a full
spectrum of recovery experiences alongside
reintegration into daily life and activities.
7. We encourage family involvement
whenever appropriate and possible.
We schedule family weekends every 6-8 weeks,
which involves the clients inviting all interested
family members to 3 days of group and indi-
vidualized treatment. Additional individualized
family therapy and couples therapy with spouses
or significant others are scheduled between
Family Weekends as well, as it seems contribu-
tory to the client’s overall treatment goals.
8. We create a safe environment.
People with bulimia,binge eating disorder and/
or anorexia, are constantly punishing themselves
internally with negative self talk. When working
towards recovery,one needs people who under-
stand this phenomenon and offer reflection with
compassion rather than criticism.
WHY CHOOSE CASTLEWOOD TREATMENT CENTER?
34. For the Professional
Castlewood utilizes an evidence-based approach with 1-year follow-up with
all clients. We have found that treatment effectiveness is highly dependent on:
1. Bringing the client from a premotivational
to a motivational state.
2. Assessing psychiatric co-morbidity including
OCD, social anxiety, body dysmorphia,
co-addiction, post-traumatic stress disorder,
and dissociaton.
3. Working with pertinent family dynamics,
burdens the family carries intergenerationally
that manifest in: over-control, over-indulgent
enmeshment, engulfment or other addictive
and secretive dynamics. Often, we need to
have the entire family in for intensive work.
4. Couples work. A spouse, if not brought on
board to what will be necessary to continue the
recovery process, can unravel a great deal of
even the most effective in-residence work.
5. Keeping a strong focus on food-related behav-
ior and establishing control over out of control
behavior, but not as part of a “good girl” over-
compliancy but rather with a “real self,” honest
and nonreactive stance toward relationships.
6. Looking for the deeper function of the symp-
toms. There are good reasons each client de-
velops an eating disorder. We don’t “get rid of ”
the eating disorder, but instead help integrate a
stronger self that no longer requires the illusion
of control that comes from engagement in the
eating disorder.
7. Integration. Our therapists and Treatment
Team will involve the referring therapist in the
treatment and recovery process. Let us know
how you would like to be kept updated on
your clients treatment and progress and we
will provide you with the clinical information.
8. Addressing body image difficulties in both
group therapy and in individual therapy through
sensory exercises and experiential therapy.
Clinicians help clients move toward connecting
with his/her body and help them learn how to
tolerate the connection.
9. Finally, a powerful relationship with the
primary therapist and nutritionist, that
allows for sufficient trust to incrementally
let go of the eating disorder.
35. We invite you to compare program quality and costs and to call us
for a telephone or in-person assessment and tour. Our intake coordinator,
Samantha Young, can be reached at 1-888-822-8938.
800 Holland Road
St. Louis, MO 63021
636-386-6611 phone
636-386-6622 fax
888-822-8938 toll-free
www.castlewoodtc.com
36. 800 Holland Road
St. Louis, MO 63021
phone 636.386.6611
toll-free 888-822-8938
fax 636-386-6622
www.castlewoodtc.com