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Eating Disorder Treatment for Westford, MA

Every clinician at Harborside brings an extensive background in treating eating disorders and the anxiety, depression, and trauma that so often travel alongside them. That depth matters when a family is trying to sort out what’s actually happening with a teenager who has stopped eating dinner, or when a working adult in Westford is quietly managing a relationship with food that has never been named out loud. You get clinicians who already understand how eating disorders intersect with other conditions, so care is informed rather than improvised.

Westford’s population includes a large share of families raising school-age kids alongside professionals commuting toward 495 or into the Boston corridor. Parents here are often the ones doing the research, trying to understand whether what they’re seeing in a child or teen warrants a call. Professionals in town are frequently managing their own patterns around demanding jobs and full calendars, looking for care that fits into a schedule rather than upending it. Harborside’s telehealth model was built with exactly that kind of life in mind.

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Eating Disorder Treatment for people in Westford, MA

Harborside is based in Yarmouth Port, Massachusetts, and delivers eating disorder care to people across the state by video. For a Westford resident, this means appointments happen from home, a private office, or anywhere with a stable internet connection and a laptop, tablet, or smartphone with a camera. No special software purchase is required. You’ll receive a secure link ahead of each session.

Initial appointments typically run longer than follow-ups, since there is more history to cover in a first evaluation. Follow-up visits with a prescriber are usually shorter and scheduled on a cadence that reflects where you are in care, sometimes weekly at first, often spacing out over time. Therapy sessions with a licensed clinician generally run a standard clinical hour and continue on whatever frequency you and your therapist agree is appropriate.

When medication is part of the plan, prescriptions are sent electronically to a pharmacy of your choosing in Westford or wherever is convenient. Massachusetts law and Harborside’s own practice standards allow prescribers here to discuss and prescribe controlled medications, including certain stimulants, when clinically appropriate as part of a broader treatment plan, alongside non-controlled options. Every prescribing decision is based on an individual evaluation, not a standard protocol applied to everyone who calls.

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How telehealth care actually works

Eating disorder treatment at Harborside addresses patterns that go beyond typical dieting or picky eating: restriction, bingeing, purging, compulsive exercise, and preoccupations with food, weight, or body image that interfere with daily life. This often overlaps with anxiety, depression, obsessive-compulsive patterns, trauma histories, or attention and focus difficulties, and care is structured to account for those overlaps rather than treat the eating disorder in isolation. Whether the concern is a teenager whose relationship with food has changed after a stressful school year, or an adult who has managed a long-standing pattern privately for years, evaluation starts with understanding the full picture before any plan is proposed.

What we treat

The first appointment is an evaluation, not a commitment to a specific treatment path. Expect questions about eating patterns, physical health, mood, family history, and how these concerns are affecting school, work, or relationships. If you’re booking on behalf of a child or teenager, you’ll be part of that conversation, and the clinician will also want time with your teen directly. By the end of the first session, you should have a clearer sense of what’s being recommended and why, whether that’s ongoing therapy, medication management, or both.

What the first appointment involves

Medication management and functional psychiatric care at Harborside are performed by psychiatric nurse practitioners: Rachel Egan, RN PMHNP-BC, who is also the practice’s 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 can accompany an eating disorder. Full bios and credentials for each of them are available on the team page.

Therapy and the day-to-day work of eating disorder treatment are delivered by Harborside’s 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 particularly useful tool for clients, including teenagers, who find it hard to put complicated feelings about food and body image into words right away.

Who our clinicians are

Harborside is a private-pay practice and does not bill insurance directly for appointments. Current fees for an initial evaluation and for follow-up appointments are listed on the pricing page, and questions about cost are welcome before you book anything.

What it costs

If you’re ready to schedule, or you just want to talk through whether this is the right next step for your family or for yourself, reaching out is the place to begin. You can review the eating disorder treatment service page for more detail, or look at the Massachusetts telehealth page and the Merrimack Valley region page to see how care is delivered near Westford. If anxiety is part of what’s going on alongside eating concerns, the anxiety treatment page has more information as well.

Getting started

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 is not medical advice. It does not create a provider-patient relationship. For guidance on the range of eating disorders and their health effects, the National Institute of Mental Health maintains a public overview [CITATION: NIMH eating disorders overview page, to support the clinical description above with a credible government health source].

Reviewed by Hannah Legesse, LICSW. Last reviewed: {LAST_REVIEWED}.

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Frequently Asked Questions

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

Yes. Many clients start therapy for a difficult relationship with food or body image before, or without, a formal diagnosis.

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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