art therapy session at newcircle as part of our adolescent eating disorder treatment program.

When an eating disorder takes hold of your teen’s life, their world begins to shrink. At NewCircle, we provide adolescent eating disorder treatment for all genders, with care that protects both physical and mental health. If you are worried about your child’s ED symptoms, disordered eating, or sudden shifts in habits, you do not have to sort this out alone.

Our Birmingham-based eating disorder treatment program offers a full continuum of eating disorder care, including Residential Treatment, Partial Hospitalization Program (PHP), and Intensive Outpatient Program (IOP). We support children and adolescents experiencing anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, binge eating disorder, avoidant restrictive food intake disorder (ARFID), and other eating disorders (OSFED), alongside co-occurring disorders and other mental health conditions.

Call (205) 848-4514 or request a confidential assessment. You can start with what you are seeing and what you are worried about. We will help you sort out the next step.

Built for real life, not symptom management

Adolescence can be intense. Rapid change, social pressure, and big emotional responses can make young people feel overwhelmed. For some teens, eating disorder behaviors become a way to cope, manage anxiety disorders, or respond to an intense fear of losing control. For others, binge eating episodes, compensatory behaviors, self-induced vomiting, excessive exercise, or rigid eating patterns become tied to perfectionism, low self-esteem, body image distress, or obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) traits.

At NewCircle, treating eating disorders means addressing the drivers beneath the symptoms so your teen can build flexibility, safety, and genuine connection to life again. Our care is:

  • Curious, not prescriptive
  • Inclusive, not assumptive
  • Empowering, not pathologizing

Recovery is more than stopping a behavior. It is building the skills and support needed for eating disorder recovery in real life, at home, at school, and in relationships.

music therapy session at newcircle

Eating disorder symptoms in teens

You don’t need perfect certainty to seek treatment. Many family members begin with a quiet realization: “Something isn’t right.” Early support can reduce health problems and help your teen regain stability. Every teen looks different, but families often notice:

Emotional shifts, rising anxiety, irritability, shutdown, or mood swings

Increasing rigidity around routines, rules, or eating patterns

Social withdrawal from friends, school, sports, or family time

Heightened secrecy, conflict, or distress around daily habits

Signs of restriction, frequent episodes of binge eating, self-induced vomiting, or excessive exercise

A decline in sleep, focus, or academic performance

If your loved one’s eating disorder is affecting daily functioning, it is appropriate to ask about higher levels of care.

Healing in a space
that honors you

For too long, eating disorders in teens have been overlooked or misunderstood. At NewCircle, we’re changing that. Our adolescent programs combine clinical expertise with culturally responsive care for teens of all genders, creating a safe, supportive space to recover without compromising identity.

How it works

Admissions & Assessment

We begin with a thorough intake process to understand your history, needs, and cultural background. This helps us create a personalized plan that reflects your identity and recovery goals, setting a strong foundation for your next steps.

Active Treatment

You’ll participate in programming designed to support both healing and belonging. Treatment may include individual and group therapy, nutritional support, meal preparation assistance, and creative or movement-based activities. Care is provided in inclusive, identity-affirming spaces where you are respected and understood.

Step-Down & Aftercare

As you make progress, we’ll guide you in stepping down to IOP or outpatient therapy. Discharge planning begins early and may include relapse-prevention strategies, follow-up appointments, peer support groups, and community resources to help you maintain your recovery in the long term.

What we treat

NewCircle supports adolescents navigating eating disorders and related concerns, including:

Some adolescents fit neatly into one diagnosis. Many do not. Either way, our focus stays on lived experience, distress, function, physical health, and mental health, not labels.

teens participating in a group therapy activity, building a colorful block tower together at a table in a supportive adolescent treatment setting.
teens participating in animal-assisted therapy with a golden retriever during a supportive adolescent eating disorder treatment group session.

Benefits of Structured Treatment for Eating Disorders

Families often ask what changes inside a higher level of eating disorder treatment. The short answer is consistency and safety. Structured treatment programs reduce the pressure on teens and parents to “figure it out” moment to moment.

Bridging the Gap Between Crisis and Stability

In our eating disorder treatment programs, teens practice recovery skills in real time, with support nearby:

  • Real-time coping skills: Build tools for big emotional responses as they happen
  • Interrupting disordered eating behaviors: Learn alternatives to restriction, binge eating, purging, or compulsive patterns
  • Community support: Therapy groups reduce isolation and shame
  • Routine and stability: Rebuild daily structure, sleep, and school readiness
  • Home repair: Strengthen communication so families feel steadier together

A Path Forward for the Whole Family

Eating disorders affect the whole family, not only the teen. We support parents, caregivers, and other family members with practical skills so the home environment becomes more supportive over time. Family education helps everyone respond with clarity, not panic, and with boundaries that protect recovery.

Tailored Treatment for Every Stage of Recovery

Healing is not one-size-fits-all. Some teens need the containment of Residential Treatment. Others do well with intensive support while staying connected to home. NewCircle offers multiple treatment options so you can match care to your teen’s needs and level of stability.

Residential Treatment: 24/7 Immersive Support

Residential treatment offers a safe, 24/7 setting for adolescents whose eating disorder behaviors feel unmanageable at home. This level of care supports both physical health and emotional stabilization, with ongoing medical care, therapeutic support, and a predictable routine. Residential treatment may be appropriate when symptoms are severe, safety is compromised, or prior outpatient care has not been sufficient.

Partial Hospitalization Program (PHP): Intensive Day Treatment

PHP provides full-day clinical care while your teen returns home each evening. It is often a good fit when a teen needs more structure than a typical outpatient setting, but does not require overnight care. PHP supports skill building, symptom stabilization, and a strong bridge back to school and home routines.

Intensive Outpatient Program (IOP): Flexible Recovery Support

IOP supports adolescents stepping down from higher levels of care or teens who need consistent accountability while remaining involved in school. IOP includes structured therapy groups, individualized support, and practical planning for day-to-day life.

Not sure which level fits? Start with a confidential assessment. We will review eating disorder symptoms, current functioning, medical stability, and your family’s needs to recommend the best treatment plan.

What treatment looks like at NewCircle

Families usually arrive with two questions: “Will my teen feel safe?” and “Will this actually help?” We deliver evidence-based treatment with warmth, structure, and clinical expertise. We do not shame teens into change. We build recovery through connection, skills, and consistency.

A multidisciplinary team with specialized training

Adolescent recovery requires a coordinated approach. Care is integrated across clinicians and specialized providers with the training to support complex eating disorder care and co-occurring disorders. Your teen’s plan is designed to address mental health, physical health, behavior patterns, and family dynamics together.

Therapy that targets the root cause

Eating disorders often connect to anxiety, trauma, perfectionism, intense fear, or a need for control. Our work helps teens:

  • Identify what fuels eating disorder behaviors and disordered eating
  • Build distress tolerance for intense emotional responses
  • Strengthen emotional regulation and coping skills
  • Improve self-trust and reduce low self-esteem tied to body image stress
  • Practice new responses to urges linked to compensatory behaviors

We use talk therapy and skill-based approaches, including cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) and enhanced CBT (CBT-E), along with experiential therapy and other evidence-informed modalities, tailored to your teen’s needs.

Individual therapy, therapy groups, and peer support

Individual therapy provides teens with a private space to understand patterns and practice new strategies. Therapy groups offer age-appropriate connection and accountability, reducing isolation and helping adolescents feel understood by peers.

music therapy session at newcircle
art therapy session at newcircle

Nutritional rehabilitation and routine support

Recovery also includes rebuilding stability in day-to-day routines. Our team supports nutritional rehabilitation by prioritizing safety, consistency, and realistic structure, including support for meal planning and daily rhythms, without shame or punishment.

Family therapy and family-based treatment

Eating disorders affect family members deeply. Our program integrates family therapy and family-based treatment approaches that focus on skill building and support, not blame. We help caregivers:

  • Respond to escalation with calm and clarity
  • Communicate in ways that reduce conflict
  • Set boundaries that support healing
  • Build a consistent, supportive environment at home

We also include family education so parents and other family members understand eating disorder symptoms, the recovery process, and how to support progress.

Supporting school and daily transitions

We understand the stress families feel about school, sports, and routines. Our programming supports reintegration planning, helping teens transition back to daily responsibilities in a manageable way while remaining connected to ongoing care.

Join the NewCircle recovery community

Eating disorders thrive in secrecy and isolation. Recovery grows through safe connection, steady practice, and support that feels human. Many families expect a harsh or sterile experience, but NewCircle is designed to feel grounded and respectful, so teens can do the hard work of change inside a calmer setting.

Start the Conversation Today

If your teen is currently living in survival mode, we want them to know that support at NewCircle is different than what they may fear. Treatment can feel calm and supportive, grounded in kindness, and built to create real, lasting progress.

We are ready to listen to your story and help you determine the best level of care for your child. Reach out to begin the assessment process and reclaim your teen’s future.

teens participating in a group art therapy activity.

NewCircle Reviews

“After my whole life of never being sure I could get help, this place blew me out of the water. I have fully graduated out of the program and my life is forever changed. All of the staff are amazing individuals who are there to really change lives. The facility is beautiful and has so many amazing qualities that it would take me pages to describe them. If you need help, I HIGHLY recommend here!”

– Residential Alumni, NewCircle
Date: 1/6/2026

“New Circle really did change my life for the better. I completed two months of Res and a month of PHP. The RC’s (especially Timmy) are fantastic and wonderful. Larry is the best intake coordinator in the WORLD (so kind and communicative!). The clinicians helped me work through so many struggles and to build a support system at home. This treatment program is SO individualized; it is able to meet the needs of so many individuals. There are so many things I could say, so I will leave it on this note…. If you are considering coming to New Circle, yes. Come, without a doubt. I am in a larger body, and that did not negatively impact my treatment whatsoever. I felt very accepted by staff. After struggling with my eating disorder from early childhood into adulthood, I’m finally able to see a life for myself without bulimia.”

– Residential & PHP Alumni, NewCircle
Date: 3/10/2026

“I would suggest this program to anybody struggling with an eating disorder. This program is so supportive and positive the people who work here really care about their jobs and the effect they have on others. From therapists all the way to nursing, everyone here is amazing!! If you’re struggling in any way, please call NewCircle.”

– Program Alumni, NewCircle
Date: 2/20/2026

Frequently asked questions

You don’t need perfect certainty to reach out. Most parents arrive at this question after weeks or months of quietly watching something shift — a teen who used to eat normally now pushing food around their plate, withdrawing from friends, becoming rigid about routines, or getting distressed in ways that feel new and hard to reach. If something feels off, that’s enough of a reason to have a conversation. If your teen’s relationship with food, their body, or themselves is affecting their daily life — school, relationships, physical health, mood — we want to hear from you. An assessment will help clarify what’s happening and what, if anything, the right next step looks like. You focus on getting the conversation started. We’ll help with the rest. Let’s talk through what you’re seeing. →

This is one of the most common and most painful things parents tell us. Resistance isn’t defiance; it’s almost always part of the disorder. Eating disorders are self-protective by nature. The behaviors that feel harmful from the outside often feel necessary or even safe to the person living with them. A teen who is refusing treatment isn’t choosing the eating disorder over their family. They’re scared, and the disorder is louder than the fear right now. You can call us without your teen’s permission or participation. We talk with parents regularly, walking through what they’re seeing, how to approach the conversation at home, what language tends to help versus escalate, and what options exist depending on where things stand medically and clinically. You don’t have to wait until your teenager is ready to make the call. Call us and we’ll help you figure out the next step. →

Our adolescent eating disorder treatment is built on the clinical approaches with the strongest evidence base for this age group. Family-Based Treatment (FBT) is central to how we work with teens, particularly in earlier stages of recovery. FBT involves parents and caregivers directly in the treatment process, recognizing that the family is one of the most powerful resources a teenager has in recovery. Alongside FBT, we use CBT-E (Enhanced Cognitive Behavioral Therapy) specifically adapted for eating disorders, as well as DBT for emotional regulation, ACT, EMDR for trauma, and Motivational Interviewing. Creative and movement-based therapies, including art, music, yoga, ceramics, and dance, are woven throughout. Medical monitoring is integrated at every level of care. Every plan is built around the individual teen — their diagnosis, their history, their family, and where they are right now.

In several important ways. Developmentally, teenagers are in a fundamentally different place than adults — their brains are still forming, their sense of identity is still being built, and the people around them have a much more direct role in their recovery than they typically do for adults. Our adolescent programming reflects that. Family involvement is woven into every level of care, not offered as an optional add-on. We use Family-Based Treatment approaches that actively recruit parents and caregivers as part of the clinical team. Peer groups in our adolescent track are age-appropriate, with teens working alongside other teens rather than adults. Academic continuity is built into the structure. And our clinical approach accounts for the specific ways eating disorders develop and function in adolescence — the role of social comparison, perfectionism, identity formation, and family dynamics in ways that simply don’t apply the same way in adult treatment.

No. Our adolescent and adult programs run completely separately — different peer groups, different therapeutic structures, different clinical approaches, different spaces within the facility. A teenager in our residential program will never be in a group session with adults. The peer community matters enormously in adolescent recovery, and it needs to be age-appropriate to be effective. Teens need to feel like they’re in a space built for them, not one they’ve been inserted into. For families who want to be nearby during residential treatment, we also have furnished apartments available close to the facility, particularly helpful for families traveling from out of state. Learn more about what residential looks like for families. →

Family involvement is central to how we work, not a bonus, and not a once-a-week phone call. In our adolescent programs, parents and caregivers participate in family therapy sessions, receive regular clinical updates, and learn practical skills for supporting recovery at home without inadvertently reinforcing eating disorder patterns. For residential clients, family visits are encouraged and built into the structure of care. Family education sessions help parents understand the disorder, what recovery looks like day to day, and how to create a home environment that supports rather than undermines the work being done in treatment. The goal is that you leave this process with more confidence and more tools than you came in with — not just a teen in recovery, but a family that knows how to walk alongside that recovery. For families coming from out of state, we have furnished apartments available nearby to make an extended stay manageable.

Yes, and we work with out-of-state families regularly. Specialized adolescent eating disorder treatment at this level isn’t available in every state, and for many families, traveling to Birmingham for the right care is worth it. To make that as manageable as possible, NewCircle has furnished apartments available specifically for families and loved ones who need to be close during residential treatment. They’re comfortable, private, and nearby, so you’re not managing weeks in a hotel while your teenager is in care. Our admissions team can help you think through the logistics from the start: what arrival looks like, how family visits are structured, what communication looks like throughout treatment, and what the plan is when it’s time to transition home. If you’re wondering whether coming from out of state makes sense for your family, that’s a conversation worth having. Let’s talk through it. →

We work hard to make sure they don’t. Academic continuity is something we plan for from the start, not something we address at the last minute. For teens in residential or PHP, we coordinate directly with schools and teachers to help manage academic responsibilities during treatment. For teens in IOP, the schedule is designed to be compatible with school attendance. We understand that concerns about grades, exams, or losing a school year are real and often factor heavily into a family’s decision about when and how to pursue treatment. The honest answer is that untreated eating disorders tend to affect school performance far more than treatment does — concentration, energy, emotional stability, and attendance all suffer when the disorder is active. Getting the right support now is usually what protects the academic future, not what threatens it. Talk through your teen’s specific situation with us. →

Yes, and for most teens we work with, it has to. Anxiety, depression, OCD, ADHD, and trauma don’t sit neatly alongside eating disorders; they’re usually woven into the same picture. A teen whose eating disorder is driven by anxiety won’t sustain recovery if the anxiety goes unaddressed. A teen with OCD traits around food needs care that understands the overlap. Our adolescent treatment team includes psychiatric nurse practitioners, licensed therapists, and medical staff who address co-occurring conditions as part of the same integrated care plan from day one. We use EMDR for trauma, DBT for emotional regulation, and adapt the clinical approach around the full combination of what each teen is actually carrying.

It is. Every teenager who comes through our doors deserves to feel genuinely safe — not just tolerated. Our team reflects a range of backgrounds, identities, and lived experiences, and we’ve built dedicated programming for LGBTQ and BIPOC communities because we know that identity shapes the experience of an eating disorder, and it should shape the experience of treatment too. Our adolescent programming is affirming, culturally responsive, and built for teens of all genders. Whatever your teen’s identity, they will be seen and respected here.

Yes. Adolescent eating disorder treatment is a covered benefit under many major insurance plans. Our admissions team will verify your teen’s benefits before you make any decisions, walk you through what coverage actually means in plain language, and handle the coordination on our end. We know that navigating insurance while also managing a teenager in crisis is a lot to carry at once — that part is ours to handle. Verification takes about two minutes. Check your coverage now or call us and we’ll do it together. →

It depends on the individual teen, and we’d rather be honest about that than give you a timeline that doesn’t hold. For residential treatment, most adolescent clients stay between 30 and 90 days, depending on clinical need and progress. PHP typically runs five to six weeks, and IOP can range from six weeks to several months. Many teens move through levels of care as they stabilize, starting with more structure and stepping down over time as confidence and skills build. What we can say is that we will keep you informed throughout the process, we won’t hold your teenager longer than is clinically necessary, and we won’t rush them out before they’re ready. The goal is a recovery that holds at home, at school, and in the rest of their life.