A Parent's Guide to Helping Adolescents with Eating Disorders

This course is designed to help parents better understand the emotional and psychological world of adolescents struggling with eating disorders. Whether your teen is battling anorexia, bulimia, or binge eating, this course offers insight into the thoughts, fears, and coping mechanisms that drive these behaviors. You will gain compassionate tools for responding to your child’s needs, setting healthy boundaries, and becoming a stabilizing part of their recovery journey. You’ll learn how identity, perfectionism, shame, social media, and peer pressure uniquely affect adolescents—and how these forces can lead to unhealthy relationships with food and body image. Through guided reflections, communication tools, and practical strategies, this course empowers you to create a safe, nurturing environment for your teen’s healing process—while also learning how to support your own well-being along the way.

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What you'll learn

Recognize the signs and symptoms of common adolescent eating disorders, including anorexia, bulimia, and binge eating disorder.
Understand the emotional, social, and developmental factors that contribute to disordered eating in teens.
Identify how toxic shame, perfectionism, and body image issues impact adolescents and shape their self-worth.
How to establish and maintain family communication tools, including family meeting structures and safe word systems.
How to set clear, loving boundaries that protect emotional safety within the home.

Course Content

Section 1: Welcome to the Course

Welcome to the Course

2 items

Common Emotional Responses of Parents

1 item

Why You as a Parent Do Not Have to Be Perfect

1 item

The Main Goals of This Course

2 items

Section 2: Understanding Eating Disorders

How Eating Disorders Function Beyond Food

2 items

You Can't Identify an Eating Disorder by Appearance Alone

1 item

Myths about Eating Disorders

2 items

Section 3: Signs of Eating Disorders

The Behavioral and Physical Signs

2 items

What Should You as a Parent Do

3 items

Section 4: Parent Emotions

Guilt and Fear

2 items

Powerlessness

2 items

Section 5: Generation to Generation

Generational Messages and Parenting Patterns

6 items

Section 6: Making Your Child Feel Safe

Emotional Safety and Boundaries

3 items

Section 7: What You Can Do

The Parents' Role in Recovery

3 items

Section 8: How to Communication

Communication Tools

2 items

Section 9: Establishing Trust

Navigating Control and Trust

3 items

Section 10: Moving Forward

Family Meetings

6 items

Self Care

5 items

About the Instructor

S

Shades of Hope

Expert instructor with a passion for teaching and helping students succeed.

Ready to take your skills to the next level?