Skip to main content

Harborside Psych

New Clients
Contact us
(508) 876-3448

Eating Disorder Treatment for Westwood, MA

Every clinician at Harborside brings an extensive background in treating eating disorders and the conditions that tend to travel alongside them, like anxiety, depression, and trauma. That team-wide depth means the person you see first isn’t guessing at a referral out to someone else. They are already positioned to understand the full picture.

Westwood is a town where people tend to keep hard things private, and where families are settled enough that a struggle with food or body image can go unnoticed for a long time inside a household that otherwise looks fine from the outside. An honest, plain description of what care actually involves and what it costs tends to matter more here than a polished pitch. That’s the approach on this page.

Find a Clinician

Eating Disorder Treatment for people in Westwood, MA

Harborside Psychiatrics is based in Yarmouth Port, Massachusetts, and delivers care by video to patients across the state, including Westwood. You don’t drive anywhere. You need a private room, a phone or computer with a camera, and a stable internet connection.

A typical initial evaluation runs longer than a follow-up, usually 45 to 60 minutes, to cover history, current symptoms, and what treatment might look like. Follow-up appointments for medication management are shorter, often 20 to 30 minutes, and are scheduled at whatever interval makes sense clinically, sometimes weekly at first, often spacing out over time. Therapy sessions for eating disorder work generally run 45 to 50 minutes and are scheduled on a regular cadence agreed on with your therapist.

If a prescriber determines medication is appropriate, prescriptions are sent electronically to a pharmacy you choose near your home in Westwood, the same as any other prescription. There is no separate in-person step required to pick anything up from Harborside itself.

pexels-karolina-grabowska

How telehealth care actually works

Eating disorder treatment at Harborside covers a range of presentations: restrictive eating patterns, binge eating, purging behaviors, body image distress, and disordered eating that doesn’t fit neatly into a single diagnostic box but still disrupts daily life. Many people arrive with more than one thing going on at once, such as an eating disorder alongside anxiety, depression, obsessive-compulsive patterns, or a history of trauma.

Care is built around the whole picture rather than one symptom in isolation. That might mean a prescriber addressing a co-occurring mood or anxiety condition while a therapist works directly on eating patterns and the thinking that drives them. It might mean art therapy as one avenue into material that’s hard to talk about directly. The plan depends on what you bring to the first appointment, not on a fixed template.

What we treat

The first visit is mostly listening. Expect questions about eating patterns, weight history, body image, mood, sleep, medical history, and anything that’s already been tried. If you’re being evaluated for medication, the prescriber will also review current medications, past treatment, and any relevant medical conditions before discussing options.

You’ll leave the first appointment with a working sense of the plan: whether therapy, medication management, or both make sense, and how often you’ll be seen going forward. Nothing is decided without you in the room. If a treatment need falls outside what telehealth can safely address, your clinician will tell you directly rather than trying to stretch the format to fit.

What the first appointment involves

Medication management and functional psychiatry 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 medication options relevant to eating disorders and the conditions that often accompany them. Full bios and credentials for each of them are on the team page.

Therapy and eating disorder work are 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 offer a different way into body image and eating-related material for people who find direct conversation difficult to sustain. Between the prescribers and the therapy team, Westwood patients get coordinated care rather than a single clinician working alone.

Who our clinicians are

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

What it costs

If you’re ready to schedule, or you want to talk through whether this is the right fit before committing to anything, reaching out is the first step. You can ask about scheduling, fees, or what to expect from a first appointment before you book. For a broader look at how this service works across the state, see the eating disorder treatment overview, the Massachusetts telehealth page, or the South Metro MA region page.

Getting started

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.

This page is educational and is not medical advice. Reading it does not create a provider-patient relationship with Harborside Psychiatrics. For guidance on eating disorder symptoms and when to seek care, see the National Institute of Mental Health’s overview of eating disorders [CITATION: NIMH eating disorders overview, government health source on symptoms and treatment options].

Reviewed by Lexie Carchedi, LCSW. Last reviewed: {LAST_REVIEWED}.

Contact Us

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.

Contact Us