The elements of high-quality care options for students with eating disorder symptoms: Opinion

Given that eating disorder symptoms may appear during postsecondary education, institutions need to offer high-quality care options, write Colleen Flaherty. While students with severe eating disorder symptoms are often directed to inpatient treatment facilities, Flaherty writes that those with less severe symptoms may have few on-campus treatment options. The author describes several elements of campus care that can be introduced to better support these students, including training counsellors to identify signs of eating disorders and refer students to quality campus-based outpatient care as needed, ensuring that there is a multidisciplinary team available to support students, creating support groups, and offering dedicated prevention programs.