Treatment

At Riverdale we recognise that everyone is an individual and as a result we tailor your treatment to your unique needs. Your priorities will likely change over the time you spend at Riverdale but may include restoring your physical health, exploring and changing the way you think about yourself and the world around you, and getting back to the life you want to live. We support these goals through a family based approach which includes nursing care, a range of therapies, and support to start or re-start community based activities such as school/college, hobbies and interests, or family and friend contact away from the hospital.

During your stay we want to know how you and your family think treatment is going. Our clinical team including nurses, therapists, psychiatrist, and dietician will meet you every week in Ward Round to review your progress and help you think about the coming week’s priorities. We will also invite your family and community team to a CPA meeting every 4 weeks to help us all think about your longer term goals and progress towards returning home.

Being an inpatient usually means staying at Riverdale during the day and overnight to start with. As you progress through your treatment you will be able to plan in times where you will go home for periods of time to test out your new skills. This will also help you to keep in touch with friends and family, and as you progress the balance will change so you will start to spend longer at home.

We encourage you to work closely with your family during your stay at Riverdale. We will support family meals in the hospital and at home with additional Family Therapy. We offer individual psychological therapies such as Body Image Therapy, Cognitive Behaviour Therapy, together with group based therapies such as Goal Setting, Healthy Ways With Food, and Relapse Prevention. Our Occupational Therapy team will assess your occupational, social, and recreational needs and help you design a plan to help you re-integrate back to your best life.