In 2013, we opened the first intensive outpatient program in southwest Montana to support a community need for more specialized and accessible eating disorder treatment. Eating disorders are very real, very tough mental illnesses to overcome. An intensive outpatient program (also known as IOP) is a higher level of specialized treatment that gives patients access to a therapist and dietitian and the support of individual and group therapy multiple days every week. Without local programs like these, it can be hard for patients to get the help they need and have a real chance at recovery.  

We started as three determined women, in a few small downtown offices with the hope of ending these gaps in care. Since then we have grown into a team of 20+ people, with two locations. In 2017, we added a higher level of care, a partial hospitalization/day treatment program (also known as PHP), which is fully housed in a cozy, light-filled historic B&B. It’s the only day treatment option in our state, and it began for similar reasons as our intensive outpatient program–to provide our patients with the right levels of care to fit their varying needs at the local and regional level. In 2022, we opened a satellite office in Missoula, MT, with a team of dietitians and therapists offering outpatient and intensive outpatient levels of care.

In late 2024, Eating Disorder Center of Montana converted to a nonprofit organization. Though we have always been a mission-driven organization, refocusing our team and business as a nonprofit allows us to expand the needs-based care that we’ve been offering our patients and the community for over a decade. As a nonprofit organization, we provide access to care through evidence-based treatment; initiatives to reduce financial barriers; specialized training to educate and advance eating disorder professionals; and community outreach and educational programs to raise awareness.