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Eating Disorder Treatment for Franklin, MA

Every clinician at Harborside brings an extensive background in treating eating disorders and the conditions that often travel alongside them, anxiety, depression, trauma, obsessive patterns. That depth matters because eating disorders rarely show up alone, and a clinician who only knows the surface presentation can miss what is actually driving it. Franklin is part of a wide stretch of Massachusetts running from Lexington and Weston through Sudbury and Hopkinton out toward the 495 belt, and the town has its own shape within that: a family-dense community where school pressure, youth sports schedules, and college planning all run at full speed, and where a parent is often the one who first notices something is wrong and starts looking for help.

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Eating Disorder Treatment for people in Franklin, MA

Parents in Franklin tend to notice changes gradually and then all at once: skipped meals that become a pattern, comments about weight that harden into rules, a shift in mood that seems tied to food or exercise. Teenagers balancing a heavy academic load, competitive athletics, and social pressure are especially prone to disordered eating patterns that can go unnoticed for a while precisely because they present as discipline or control. Adults in Franklin, including parents managing their own relationship with food while raising children, also reach out. Harborside works with both age groups, and with the family context that surrounds an eating disorder rather than treating it as an isolated symptom.

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How telehealth care actually works

Harborside is based in Yarmouth Port, Massachusetts, and delivers care by video to patients across the state, including Franklin. You do not travel to an office. Sessions happen over a secure video platform from home, a car during a lunch break, or anywhere private with a stable internet connection and a phone, tablet, or computer with a camera.

A first appointment usually runs longer than follow-ups, giving the clinician time to take a full history of eating patterns, mood, medical background, and any prior treatment. Follow-up visits are shorter and scheduled at a frequency that fits the situation, sometimes weekly, sometimes spaced further apart as things stabilize. If medication is part of the plan, prescriptions are sent electronically to a pharmacy of your choosing in Franklin or wherever is convenient. Therapy sessions for eating disorder work run on their own schedule, separate from medication visits, and the two can work in parallel when that makes sense.

What we treat

This service addresses restrictive eating, binge eating, purging behaviors, and the anxious or rigid thinking that often organizes around food, weight, and body image. Many patients also carry a co-occurring condition, generalized anxiety, depression, obsessive-compulsive patterns, or a history of trauma, and treatment accounts for how these interact rather than addressing eating alone. Harborside also works with patients whose eating disorder overlaps with attention or mood regulation difficulties, where medication management and therapy are coordinated rather than run in isolation from each other.

What the first appointment involves

The first visit is a conversation, not a screening in the clinical, checklist sense. Expect questions about eating history, physical health, mood, family context, and what has or has not helped before. For a prescriber visit, this includes a review of any current medications and a discussion of whether medication management fits the picture. For a therapy intake, the clinician is listening for the thinking patterns and triggers that maintain the eating disorder, and starting to sketch what ongoing sessions would focus on. Nothing is decided or prescribed before that conversation happens.

Who our clinicians are

Medication management and functional psychiatry at Harborside are performed by psychiatric nurse practitioners: Rachel Egan, RN PMHNP-BC, who is also clinical director, Emily Pardue, RN PMHNP-BC, and Kirstin Ritchie, RN PMHNP-BC. Each is qualified to evaluate, diagnose, and prescribe for mental health conditions, including the medication needs that sometimes accompany an eating disorder. Full bios and credentials for each of them are on the team page.

Therapy for eating disorders is delivered by the licensed therapy team: Hannah Legesse, LICSW, Tori Mahoney, LMHC, Jacquelyn Duford, LCMHC ATR, and Lexie Carchedi, LCSW. Jacquelyn is also a registered art therapist, which can be a useful approach for patients who find it difficult to talk directly about body image or food. Between the prescribing team and the therapy team, Franklin patients have access to coordinated medication management and therapy under one practice.

What it costs

Harborside is a private-pay practice and does not bill insurance directly for appointments. Current fees for an initial and a follow-up appointment are listed on the pricing page, and questions about cost can be answered before anything is booked.

Getting started

If you are ready to schedule, or you want to talk through whether Harborside is the right fit before booking, reach out to start the process. You can review the full range of services on the eating disorder treatment page, learn more about telehealth care across the state on the Massachusetts telehealth hub, or see how care is organized for the broader area on the MetroWest region page. If anxiety is a significant part of what you are dealing with alongside disordered eating, the anxiety treatment page has more detail on that piece of care.

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Frequently Asked Questions

Does Harborside treat eating disorders that haven't been formally diagnosed?

If you are in immediate danger, call 911. For mental health crisis support, call or text 988. Harborside does not provide emergency or after-hours care.

This page is educational and does not constitute medical advice. It does not create a provider-patient relationship. For guidance specific to your situation, schedule an appointment with a Harborside clinician.

[CITATION: National Eating Disorders Association (NEDA) or NIMH page on eating disorders, for general public health information on signs, symptoms, and prevalence]

Yes, when a client is already working with one. Coordination is discussed during intake and ongoing treatment.

No. Eating disorder therapy at Harborside is talk therapy. Medical monitoring, lab work, and meal planning are handled by outside providers and coordinated with as needed.

Clients who want medication management can be connected with one of Harborside’s psychiatric nurse practitioners.

No. Outpatient therapy isn’t appropriate for every situation. If a higher level of care is needed, your therapist will discuss that directly rather than continuing with weekly sessions alone.

Currently, eating disorder treatment at Harborside is available to clients located in Massachusetts and New Hampshire.

If you need help right now

If you are in immediate danger, call 911. For mental health crisis support, call or text 988. Harborside Psychiatrics does not provide emergency or after-hours care.

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