Well, when I first went to the doctor he didn't know what to do. He wasn't aware of the family-based treatment that was offered in our city, and I couldn't just sit there and watch her die. I found the information online, and I realized that this happens all over the world and families don't have the access to treatment.
Family-based treatment is endorsed by the Canadian Paediatric Society, and it is the first-line treatment for adolescents, and they are using it in young children and they're starting to use it in young adults as well.
I didn't know. I had called the eating disorders clinic, but it was an intake worker who wasn't aware of the difference in adults versus children and adolescents. It was very new at the time; the treatment was only months old. So I started using it myself, and in the meantime I had to wait for a pediatric referral and an adolescent psychologist's referral. I really didn't know what to do and I knew I had to do something.
We're really trying to treat our children at home, because if you're in the treatment centre or your child's in a hospital, you have to bring them home anyway. You have to do all this anyway. It might not be as acute, it might not be as horrific as mine was, although this is a very common scenario. You still have to bring them home, and that's when children and teens relapse, when they're brought home from a treatment centre and parents don't know what to do.
I found a forum online, and there were parents doing this at home. You're basically making an in-patient clinic in your house; that's how you treat them. You put parents in charge.