Becoming an Eating Disorder Dietitian: Best Resources for Building Your Skillset
Most dietitians will work with eating disorders, whether they realize it or not. Yet few of us receive real training in our dietetic programs to do it well.
When I was finishing my training, I had no idea that would be so true.
👉 Want to skip ahead to a curated list of my favorite resources for getting started in eating disorder care? Click Here.
It wasn’t part of my plan
“What do you want to do after you graduate?” people would ask.
I must have answered that question a thousand times — always with the same line: “I don’t really know what I want to do, but I definitely know it’s not eating disorders.”
I laugh, now, when I think about that, because 15 years later, that is precisely what I am doing.
I didn’t say this because of what I knew about working with eating disorders. I said it because of what I didn’t know about working with eating disorders. Which was pretty much everything.
I, like many dietitians from my generation and before, received basically no education on or exposure to eating disorder treatment. I encountered exactly one patient with an (known) eating disorder during my internship. She had been admitted to the general psych floor of a community hospital. I remember I was afraid to go into her room to speak with her because I had no idea what to say or do and I didn’t want to say or do the wrong thing.
If anything, the little exposure I did have to eating disorders left me feeling super intimidated with a tremendous fear of getting it wrong and making things worse. So, I decided, I just wouldn’t go there.
Until…
A few years into practicing as a weight loss dietitian, I began to realize that my “gold standard” behavioral weight loss approach was not working. And I couldn’t ignore the concerning eating behaviors I was observing in so many of my clients.
Turns out, I was working with eating disorders and I just didn’t know it.
Despite my best intentions, I was getting it wrong.
And that’s the thing! As the extraordinary dietitian, Jessica Setnick, often says, “If you are working with humans then you are working with eating disorders.”
I couldn’t agree more.
Now, a decade and a half into being a dietitian, and a full 10 years into specializing in eating disorders I feel so strongly about helping as many dietitians as I can grow their skillset and feel more confident working with folks with eating disorders.
I’m convinced this is some of the most fulfilling work we can do. That it’s work we will be doing, whether we want to or not. And, that the importance of the dietitian’s role on the eating disorder treatment team cannot be overstated.
It can feel hard to acquire the skillset for this work!
So often, when I see dietitians reach out for support regarding an eating disorder case they are met with the recommendation to “refer out to an ED RD.”
I believe that this is a well intended response, but it’s not helpful. And it always leaves me with a bit of an ick feeling.
For starters, due to financial, insurance, geographic, or other barriers, accessing an eating disorder specialized registered dietitian just may not be possible.
Beyond that, we need more eating disorder competent clinicians in the field!
If someone is recognizing that they don’t have much experience in this area but are making the effort to ask questions and get support so that they can build their skillset, telling them to refer out is a great way to shut out someone who the field needs! A person who could potentially become an amazingly competent eating disorder clinician.
We all started somewhere. And for most of us, that wasn’t with a dietetics program that equipped us with the skillset to be awesome ED RDs.
I would love to see our field lift up, empower, and support other dietitians who have an interest in working with this population to gain the knowledge, skills, and confidence to do that! Rather than just implying that they shouldn’t or they can’t and that they should always “refer out.”
So, that’s what I hope to do.
So, where do you begin?
If you are that dietitian who maybe doesn’t know a whole lot about working with eating disorders yet, but you want to learn more, below are my recommendations for truly excellent resources and support to get you started.
✏️Organizations to join
A one stop shop for meeting your continuing education needs and building your eating disorder treatment skillset. Membership includes a library of recorded webinars, monthly live webinars, monthly live case consults, and discounts on comprehensive training courses. They even have a foundations course for dietitians wanting to learn the basics. Their library for free resources, available to anyone, is also a great place to start!
International Federation of Eating Disorder Dietitians (aka IFEDD)
This is an organization that does many things to support dietitians working in eating disorders and to increase access to care for folks who experience eating disorders. One of the perks of membership is participation on its extremely active professional listserv. This is a great place to ask for support from fellow IFEDD members, but I guarantee you will also learn SO MUCH just by reading the threads that will land in your inbox every day.
📚Must have, must read books for your shelf
Pocket Guide to Eating Disorders, 3rd edition. by Jessica Setnick, MS, RD, CEDS-C
A book for dietitians, written by a dietitian, on what every dietitian needs to know to help guide and inform their practice when it comes to treating eating disorders. It’s small, to-the-point, and is an indispensable resource for all dietitians who work with eating disorders in any capacity, whether they are brand new or very seasoned.
Sick Enough, 2nd edition, by Jennifer Gaudiani MD, CEDS-C, FAED
An up-to-date, weight inclusive book that outlines medical complications associated with eating disorders in plain English. It’s written for clinicians, patients, and families alike, and serves as a comprehensive, non-jargony resource for understanding the medical complexities of eating disorders.
Intuitive Eating, 4th edition by Evelyn Tribole, MS, RD, CEDS-C & Elyse Resch, MS, RDN, CEDS-C, FAND
Many folks recovering from an eating disorder will have the goal of becoming an “intuitive eater” in recovery. So, an understanding of what Intuitive Eating is will help you help those clients move toward that goal. Beyond that, this book does an excellent job of summarizing how our current weight-obsessed culture and weight-centric medical system fuel the development of disordered eating patterns and provides a framework for helping folks find greater body trust and connection again.
How to NourishYourself Through an Eating Disorder, by Wendy Sterling, MS, RD, CEDS-C, CSSD & Casey Crosbie, RD, CEDS-C
This is a great resource for any dietitian looking for a practical guide on how to support someone in nourishing themselves for recovery. It can be used with all eating disorder diagnoses to help with flexible, but adequate food planning free from numbers and rules. You can also use it with your clients, having them read the book along with you and working through the content together. This may serve as a helpful resource for guiding sessions while you are still figuring out your counseling flow.
🤗 Finding a supervisor
Without a doubt, the most valuable investment I’ve ever made in my development as an eating disorder dietitian has been working with a supervisor (aka consultant). This is a safe space where you can bring all of your questions, curiosities, and insecurities about doing this work and get personalized guidance, support, reassurance, and validation.
There are many awesome RD supervisors out there (including me!) who would be so honored to support you in growing your confidence and skillset with providing eating disorder care.
This is an investment, for sure, which may not be immediately accessible to everyone who has interest in this area. This kind of support can be made more financially accessible if you participate in a dyad (grab a colleague and seek supervision together!). Many supervisors (including me) will allow 2 folks to split the cost of a session by participating in pairs. And the cost decreases even further when you join a supervision/consultation group.
If that’s still out of the question, there are other ways you can find support. For example, I hold monthly office hours, where I open up a virtual room for folks to bring their questions about eating disorders, weight inclusive care, nutrition counseling, and more. While it’s not the same as individual supervision or consultation, it is a great way to get some guidance until that’s more accessible to you.
Bottom line
If you have any interest in learning more about working with eating disorders, it is never too late to start! The resources above will help you begin to lay your foundation. I am so confident that you are capable of this work and WE NEED YOU!