Eating Disorders Center
Eating Disorders Center
The Eating Disorders Center (EDC) at Children’s Mercy provides outpatient family-centered care for children and teens with eating disorders. This includes symptoms of:
- Restricting food intake
- Body image concerns
- And behaviors aimed to manage weight
We also work with patients with malnutrition that comes from other mental health conditions. All treatment tracks are available to patients who are 8 to 16 ½ years old when referred to our center. Our family-centered intervention approach is best for children and younger adolescents.
Conditions we treat include:
- Anorexia, Bulimia, and Avoidant/Restrictive Food Intake Disorder (ARFID).
- Malnutrition related to other mental health conditions, including ADHD, OCD, and depression
- Energy imbalance in athletes
We offer separate medical services for ages 10 to 21 for patients:
- Receiving therapy and other eating disorder services outside of Children’s Mercy
- Who have malnutrition or disordered eating.
Quarterly Newsletter
Sign up to receive the newsletter from the Eating Disorders Center.
Consultation services
The first step is to meet with a medical provider and medical social worker. At this 2-hour appointment:
- Providers will meet with you and your child together and separately to learn about your family and child.
- The medical provider will do a physical exam focused on how the body uses energy.
- We will focus on:
- your family's and child's experiences
- how your child's body works
- your child's developmental level.
- You will hear recommendations based on what we learn. These could include recommendations for:
- Medical hospitalization
- Care the EDC does not have
- Treatment in the EDC
Our care team
Our team has pediatric and adolescent specialists in medical care, therapy, and nutrition. They work together with your family to care for your child.
Team members and consultants with the Eating Disorders Center include:
- Adolescent medicine medical providers
- Pediatric psychologists
- Dietitians
- Family therapists
- Psychiatrists
- Nurses
- Social workers
Family focused, collaborative care
Children’s Mercy is the only pediatric eating disorder treatment center in the Kansas City region. It focuses only on children, teens, and families.
Our outpatient program is in one place to provide:
- Medical care
- Individual therapy
- Family therapy
- Nutrition services
This allows for greater communication and collaboration between your family and team members. We choose a science-based treatment approach that best matches your child’s needs. We start with the least intensive treatment we expect to be effective. Then we add components or change the approach if we do not meet your goals.
Comprehensive treatment for children and teens with eating disorders
The team at the Eating Disorders Center works closely with you and each other. We have dedicated times throughout the week for our staff members to:
- Coordinate care.
- Evaluate progress.
- Update treatment goals for each family served by our program.
Finding the right eating disorder treatment program
Our full program is a great fit for children and adolescents who:
- Will live with their family for at least the next year.
- Have family support for 12 to 18 months after starting treatment.
This treatment model focuses on children ages 8 to 16. We are not equipped to serve younger children.
- We also do not see older teens in our full program as new patients.
- We continue to follow older teens who are already in our program. This provides continuity of care.
- We do provide medical services for preteens through young adults (ages 10 to 21).
Children’s Mercy is a comprehensive outpatient treatment program. We do not provide residential treatment.
- We do provide medical inpatient consultation at Children’s Mercy Kansas when medical hospitalization is needed.
- Our inpatient team works closely with outpatient providers to create a seamless discharge plan if outpatient care is appropriate
As always, if your child is having a medical emergency:
- Call 911 or go to the nearest emergency room.
Additional resources
For families: National Eating Disorders Association
For health care providers: International Association of Eating Disorders Professionals
To make an appointment
EDC Intake Form
If you or your medical provider have requested an appointment in the Eating Disorders Center, please complete our electronic intake form.
If you or your medical provider have requested an appointment in the Eating Disorders Center:
- Please complete our electronic intake form or
- Speak to a nurse in our clinic to complete the intake.
Work with your primary care provider to refer your child to our clinic. Your primary care provider will help:
- You decide if seeking care with us is the best next step.
- Give us have vital information before we see your child.
You can also call the EDC directly to get started.
If you are interested only in medical services, you can complete the intake form on this page or call the EDC to get started.
For questions or more information about our program, call (913) 696-5070 to speak with a team member.