What To Do When A Client Needs A Higher Level Of Care: The Art of Referring

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You have been seeing your client for a few weeks now and are noticing that he/she is continually skipping meals or continuing to binge or purge. He or She seems to be losing stability and is not making the gains you hoped for. What is the best way to approach your client? What key things do you need to know to make a decision?
How do you approach your client?

  • Discuss your concerns and recommendation for treatment
  • Help the client make the first phone call during your session
  • Review our materials and the website together

Our skilled and compassionate team at Alsana is here to help! Here’s how:

  • Our clinical staff is willing to consult on individual cases as needed.
  • Come tour our facility to learn about our clinical and nutritional approach, meet our team, and ask questions about effective and comprehensive eating disorder treatment.  Lunch on us!
  • Set up a free one-hour clinical assessment with our intake team to determine best fit for your client.  You can do this along with the client! (Note: insurance will be verified before the appointment is set).
  • Tap into our list of former alumni – both parents and clients – to learn about their experience in treatment and the struggles and victories in the recovery journey.
  • Attend one of our annual Preferred Provider conferences to learn more about eating disorder treatment and approaches.

How do you know what level of care is best?

Let our intake team conduct a clinical intake assessment to help your client determine what level of care is best. Some things to consider:

  • Does my client require 24-hour supervision or could they be unsupervised in the evening?
  • Is my client medically unstable? If so, what kind of medical interventions do they require? (Alsana can accommodate a low body weight, re-feeding, and tube feeding, but NOT a client who requires IV fluids, potassium and similar interventions)
  • What levels of care does the client’s insurance cover?
  • Does my client have funds to pay for transitional living expenses in PHP/IOP levels of care?

What do I do when my client isn’t responding to calls/showing indifference? How do I best support them in the admission process? 

You can encourage your client to consider treatment with compassion and understanding. Validate that this is scary, empower him/her that this will be a collaborative process with the treatment center and help make phone calls during sessions. It can also help the client to formulate a list of questions to ask the intake team.

You can help the client in the admissions process by helping them prepare.

  • Help the client get his/her insurance information together to give to our intake team.
  • When the time comes, help the client make an appointment to get labs, EKG and history and physical done. A complete list is available here.
  • Schedule a session with the family to make sure they are on board with treatment and know what to expect, encourage them to attend family week or family programming.
  • Give your client this list of what to bring.
  • Encourage the client to have the intake team walk them through a typical day in treatment

What can I expect while my client is in treatment?

Our treatment team wants you to be involved in your client’s treatment process. Our team will contact you within the first week of admission (if a release is signed) to gather clinical history and your recommendations for your client’s care. Please let us know how often and under what circumstances you would like to be contacted throughout the client’s length of stay. As we get close to discharge our discharge coordinators will make sure your client has an appointment set up with you and that medical records are sent to you after the client discharges.

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