“’I should have grown out of this by now.’ Supporting clients beyond emerging adulthood ?”

Presented by Meghan Brown, LMHC

Many people seek eating disorder treatment far beyond adolescence and young adulthood. However, many of those same people endorse feeling out of place or a sense “wrongness” seeking care for a disorder they report believing they should “have gotten over by now”.  This presentation will explore several of the specific periods beyond emerging adulthood when people tend to be at higher risk for eating disorder development or resurgence including perinatal periods, during career transitions, caregiving periods, retirement, and more.  We will discuss ways to normalizing these resurgences during times of stress and transition, and review tools for working with this population.

Meghan received her bachelor’s degree from The College of William and Mary where I researched body image improvement and eating disorder prevention in college-aged women.  She obtained my master’s degree in Mental Health Counseling and Behavioral Medicine from Boston University where she trained to work with adolescents and adults in IOP, PHP, residential, and inpatient programs.  She has worked at multiple eating disorder treatment facilities, and has been with The Renfrew Center for eight years.  Currently, she manages admissions for Renfrew’s telehealth programs while maintaining a small outpatient practice, raising a small human, and engaging in any craft activity she can.