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Founder’s Message

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At Avalon Hills, we have helped hundreds of clients in our eating disorder programs. We have assisted in building strong personal foundations for a healthy future. We understand the process, the emotions and the anguish that can plague individuals and families that are dealing with an eating disorder.

We are a privately held, residential treatment program and are personally invested in the future of each of our clients. I care, because I have lived it. I had an eating disorder myself, and know the suffering that is involved, how it affects others, and I know what it means to recover—for the individual involved and her family and friends.

We at Avalon Hills are not part of a larger outfit, we’ve been able to buck today’s big trend. Other Eating Disorder residential programs have been turned into franchises, which often have standardized approaches to programming, that produce results which all too often don’t last because the length of treatment, and type of treatment, and standard of care, has been predetermined by insurance plans, and not by clinical need.

We have a program that puts together the latest scientific understanding of how the brain adapts and changes with the very best forms of humane therapy, combining recent developments with those that have stood the test of time. Our therapists are trained to deeply engage with clients, and help not only diminish their symptoms, but to find out what is causing the problem in the first place. Using our entire milieu, individualized psychotherapy, and multiple other therapies, we help them remove the blocks to healthy development and eating, and to grow out of their difficulties. As well, our clients often emerge with a new potential to connect to others and to develop a sense of self and their life’s purpose.

To do this we have worked with international experts in psychiatry, psychology and neuroscience, and pioneered a unique approach to Eating Disorders, described in the “Overview—Why We Are Different” section.

At Avalon Hills we have committed our professional lives to building the best, most effective program we can possibly achieve. We are singly focused on one goal – which we call, “Treat to Outcome.” We invite you to review our Treat to Outcome page and learn more about the ‘why’ behind what we do.

We know that selecting a treatment program for yourself or a loved one is a difficult task. Websites can be a good resource for gathering information, but they often fail to give you a sense of the true nature of a program and its philosophy. We have created the Avalon Hills videos to show more about us, our process and highlight our differences. Our website goes into a lot of precise detail about what we do at Avalon Hills, but we’ve also included these videos to help you get of the feel of our setting, and our people. You will see that, though Eating Disorders cause great anguish, Avalon Hills is a place that helps our clients re-connect with the joy that is possible in life.

As you proceed through your analysis, you will likely have many questions. Our compassionate admissions team understands the emotions and issues that individuals and families face. Please feel free to reach out to us and let us help.

Be well,

Benita Quakenbush, Ph.D.
Founder, CEO, Advocate