A free, customizable tool to help you close that first appointment with something families can actually use
You’ve just told a family that their loved one may have an eating disorder.
The appointment is ending. The parent across from you is trying to absorb what you’ve just said. They have questions they don’t yet know how to ask. They need direction, but the next step in treatment may be weeks away.
What do you hand them?
This is a moment that providers across disciplines face regularly without a clear, practical answer. EDPEN has partnered with three leading eating disorder organizations, ANAD, FEAST, and Recovery Record, to create something that can help.
Introducing the EDPEN Eating Disorder Care Trifold Brochure
The EDPEN Eating Disorder Care Brochure is a free, customizable handout designed specifically for this moment. It provides meaningful information for caregivers at the end of an initial appointment with a clear, warm, actionable next step.
This brochure:
- Provides essential information about eating disorders in accessible, non-clinical language
- Guides families toward immediate peer support through FEAST’s caregiver community
- Introduces the free Recovery Record Family App for tracking and logging between appointments
- Connects caregivers to ANAD’s free support and educational resources
- Helps families understand what the treatment process ahead may look like and that they don’t have to navigate it alone
For providers, it does something equally important: it gives you a way to close that first session with a resource that bridges the gap between your office and the next step in care, without requiring additional clinical time to explain.
How to Use It in Your Practice
The brochure is available as a free, editable Canva template at canva.link/eatingdisordercare.
Here’s how it works:
- Open the template in Canva
- Add your practice logo to personalize the brochure for your office
- Order printed copies to keep on hand for appointments
- Hand it to caregivers at the close of any session in which an eating disorder is first identified or suspected
We do ask that the core content stays as-is. The brochure was developed collaboratively with ANAD, FEAST, and Recovery Record to ensure accuracy and clinical appropriateness. The content is not editable beyond adding your logo. This ensures every family receives consistent, vetted information regardless of which provider’s office it comes from.
What Caregivers Will Get
Immediate Community: FEAST
When a parent or caregiver first learns that their child or loved one may have an eating disorder, isolation is one of the first things they feel. They don’t know who to call, who will understand, or whether anyone else has been through this.
F.E.A.S.T. (Families Empowered and Supporting Treatment of Eating Disorders) is a global nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting families and caregivers of individuals affected by eating disorders. Their peer-led community was built by caregivers who have been exactly where your patients’ families are and offers lived experience, connection, and the knowledge that recovery is possible.
The brochure guides caregivers to join FEAST immediately, so they can access peer support, educational resources, and community before their next clinical appointment.
Data and Connection: The Recovery Record Family App
The Recovery Record Family App is intended for use by parents or caregivers supporting children and adolescents diagnosed with anorexia nervosa and working in collaboration with treatment providers using Family Based Therapy. By linking this app with a treatment team’s Recovery Record Clinician App, caregivers can stay connected, track their child’s food intake and meal experiences, and learn skills to de-escalate distress and improve confidence and knowledge.
The app is free for families and allows caregivers to begin logging observations between appointments. Creating a clinical record that becomes immediately useful when specialist treatment begins. For providers already using Recovery Record’s clinician platform, the family app links directly to your dashboard, enabling real-time collaboration and reducing the back-and-forth of verbal reporting.
Starting families on the app from day one extends that efficiency all the way back to the initial appointment.
Education and Support: ANAD
ANAD is the leading nonprofit in the U.S. that provides free, peer support services to anyone struggling with an eating disorder, regardless of age, race, gender identity, sexual orientation, or background. The brochure connects caregivers to ANAD’s free helpline, support groups, and educational resources, giving families a trusted, nationally recognized touchpoint while they wait for specialized care.
“Navigating a new eating disorder diagnosis can be overwhelming, and caregivers are the most vital members of the recovery team from the very beginning. This guide simplifies the path ahead, offering clear, actionable steps to help families understand the treatment process and empowering caregivers to take their first confident steps toward supporting their loved one in healing.”
— Ivory Loh, MPH, RDN, CD, cPT, ANAD
Why This Matters for Providers
The first clinical appointment after an eating disorder is identified is one of the most consequential and most under-resourced moments in the care continuum.
Families leave that appointment flooded with information, fear, and urgency. They need to do something. They need somewhere to go, someone to talk to, and a way to feel like they are already part of the recovery process even before a treatment team is assembled.
Without a structured resource to bridge that gap, caregivers may turn to the internet, receive inaccurate information, make decisions under panic, or simply feel utterly alone in a moment when support is most critical.
The EDPEN Caregiver Brochure was built specifically to address this. It is not a substitute for clinical care, but it is a bridge to it.
For providers, it also alleviates the pressure to summarize the treatment landscape, explain what families should do next, and somehow leave caregivers feeling equipped rather than overwhelmed. With the brochure in hand, that work is already done.
Get the Brochure
The brochure template is free, customizable with your logo, and ready to order and print.
👉 Access the Canva template: canva.link/eatingdisordercare
Add your logo, place your order, and have it ready for your next appointment.
If you have questions about the brochure or want to learn more about EDPEN’s provider training programs, visit us at edpen.org.
About Our Partners
ANAD — National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders ANAD is the leading U.S. nonprofit dedicated to providing free, peer-based support for anyone struggling with an eating or body image distress. Founded in 1976, ANAD offers a free helpline, peer support groups, mentorship programs, and an extensive library of educational resources. anad.org
F.E.A.S.T. — Families Empowered and Supporting Treatment of Eating Disorders F.E.A.S.T. walks alongside families as they navigate the challenges of their loved one’s eating disorder, providing parents and caregivers with transformative peer support, education, empowerment, and community through a multitude of top-notch free programs and services. feast-ed.org
Recovery Record Recovery Record is a clinician-trusted eating disorder management platform with a dedicated Family App, offering personalized meal, thought, trigger, and behavior monitoring alongside FBT-based coping skills and interventions, designed to connect families and treatment teams between sessions. recoveryrecord.com
EDPEN does not provide medical advice. This content is intended for educational purposes for healthcare providers.
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