A HEALING SPACE FOR
EATING DISORDERS A RENOVATED UNIT FEATURES INNOVATIONS FOR TREATMENT AND RECOVERY.
U
nderstanding the balance of physical, mental and social needs in people with severe—even life-threatening—eating disorders such as anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa and binge eating disorder has been the hallmark of treatment at the nationally recognized Eating Disorders Unit at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital (RWJUH) Somerset for more than two decades. Now the hospital has nearly completed a renovation that will transform the first-floor inpatient unit—one of only two inpatient eating
Healthy Together
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disorders programs in New Jersey—into an even more advanced state-of-the-art facility. The unit uses the latest researchand evidence-based design principles to simultaneously meet critical safety and security needs, enhance programming and promote healing and wellness. “People with eating disorders often suffer from secondary mental health issues such as anxiety and depression on top of their primary disorder,” says Christine Belluardo, Vice President, Behavioral Health Services, RWJUH Somerset. “They’re quite ill when they come to us.”
ACTIVE RECOVERY
The program encourages recovery by helping patients develop inner resources such as understanding needs, identifying strengths and learning coping skills. “Our hope is to provide a well-rounded treatment plan and experience so when people leave, they can continue to use what they’ve learned with support from our team or with help from a partial hospital program like the one at RWJUH Somerset,” Belluardo says. Innovative elements that emphasize calming connections to nature have
Spring 2022
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