Residential treatment may have helped jump-start Brittany Sharma’s eating disorder recovery, but according to the Equip peer mentor, lasting recovery happened at home. Back in “the real world,” Sharma says, “healing had to be practiced daily within my routines, relationships, and responsibilities.”

Although Equip hadn’t yet been created at the time of Sharma’s treatment and she didn’t formally go through family-based treatment (FBT), she and her parents followed a similar model. “I worked with a therapist, dietitian, psychiatrist, and recovery support group, but my parents were the ones with me every day,” she says. “On days I wasn’t motivated, they were motivated for me. Together, we expanded my safe bubble—learning how to navigate recovery through grocery shopping, eating out, travel, movement, illness, and everyday unpredictability. Eating disorders thrive in secrecy, and recovering at home made that nearly impossible. Recovery wasn’t theoretical; it was practiced in real time.”

According to Equip therapist Jalia Henry, LMFT, there’s a good reason “real life” recovery is so uniquely impactful: “When you’re in residential care, your total focus is on treatment. You don’t have outside influences impacting you, and treatment sometimes goes quicker due to fewer day-to-day stressors. When you’re getting virtual care at home, you have your family, school, work, and relationships to balance—but you have the support of a treatment team to assist you on how to maintain recovery while navigating these stressors.”

While in-person treatment can help patients feel protected from the distractions and triggers of everyday life—and can feel like a relief for parents or other family members who worry they won’t be able to support their loved one at home—that insulated experience can make it tough to transition back into the real world. “But doing virtual care in the real world gives you the opportunity to learn strategies to overcome these stressors while recovering from the eating disorder,” Henry says.

Read on to better understand the different eating disorder treatment options available, when virtual treatment is an appropriate choice, and why at-home care can be such a powerful way to achieve lifelong recovery.

Understanding different eating disorder treatment options

There are five common levels of care for eating disorder treatment: inpatient hospitalization, residential, partial hospitalization program (PHP), intensive outpatient program (IOP), and outpatient. Here are the basics of each, from least to most intensive:

• Outpatient care involves meeting with one or more practitioners (often including a dietitian, therapist, and medical provider) several times throughout each month, usually for an hour each. “Outpatient can be fully virtual or in-person. A patient will usually see their therapist or nutritionist one to two times a week,” Henry says. “In addition, appointments with a physician or psychiatrist may be needed less frequently to monitor status.”
• Intensive outpatient program (IOP) combines individual and group treatment in a structured program. IOP typically meets two to three days per week for two to five hours a day, usually including at least one meal or snack in the program. It can also be done virtually, but in-person is more common.
• Partial hospitalization program (PHP) also combines group and individual work, but usually occurs in a hospital setting and is a bigger time investment. “PHP is a structured program that’s usually three to five days a week for six or more hours a day,” Henry says. “This typically includes counseling, dietary and group therapy, and multiple meals with support.” It is usually in-person but virtual programs are available.
• Residential treatment takes place at a live-in facility (not a hospital) and also combines individual and group treatment in a structured program. “Residential care is a 24/7 in-person treatment option with length of stay varying between 30-90 days on average,” Henry says.
• Inpatient treatment is the most intensive level of care with a primary focus on medical stabilization. “Inpatient hospitalization is a 24/7 in-person treatment option with an average length of stay being less than four weeks,” Henry says.

How Equip fits into the treatment landscape

While these are the conventional treatment modalities, Equip offers something entirely unique by adapting the level of care and treatment intensity depending on each patient’s needs. Equip is an appropriate treatment option for medically-stable patients needing varying levels of care, including PHP and RTC (over 90% of Equip patients qualify for PHP level of treatment or higher, and 13% of Equip patients enter Equip care directly from inpatient hospitalization).

Other traditional levels of care, like PHP and IOP, can be done virtually, but Equip is not a virtual IOP or PHP—unlike one of these programs, which require prescribed hours of at-home computer time per day, Equip is flexible and accommodating to real life. “This flexibility also allows treatment to be the right dosage for every family,” Henry says. “Treatment intensity depends purely on the patient's wants, needs. and availability. Equip’s virtual platform and app means patients can access recovery exactly where and when they’re needed. Equip allows not just the patient but family members to gain access to the treatment team and the skills needed to navigate treatment.”

Sharma believes flexibility to be one of Equip’s most impactful features. “Recovery isn’t linear, and people need different levels of support at different times,” she says. “Instead of rigid levels of care, Equip meets patients where they are—adjusting treatment intensity without disconnecting them from their lives. This mirrors how recovery actually works and makes it more sustainable.”

What the research says about virtual care vs. in-person care

While virtual care may seem like a relatively new concept, there is already a strong body of evidence that demonstrates how effective it is. “Based on research, patients say that treatment is just as valuable virtually as it is in-person, and that virtual care is on par with in-person treatment,” Henry says. As an example, she cites one randomized controlled trial of 128 adults, which found that outpatient cognitive-behavioral therapy for bulimia nervosa was comparable whether delivered face-to-face or via telehealth.

A more recent study from 2025 of 49 adults found similar results, indicating that virtual therapy resulted in comparable improvements in eating disorder symptoms, weight gain, and patient satisfaction when compared to in-person outpatient treatment for patients with various eating disorder diagnoses. Additional research has shown that telehealth is a viable solution to the geographic barrier in eating disorder treatment (meaning it helps people who don’t live near treatment centers), and that virtual FBT for eating disorders can expand access to evidence-based treatment.

The benefits of recovering in real life

While virtual treatment is often touted as being more affordable and convenient than in-person care, it has benefits far beyond this. In fact, the nature of virtual care makes it uniquely suited to helping people achieve lasting recovery and avoid the so-called “revolving door” of treatment.

If you’re still weighing the pros and cons of at-home eating disorder treatment, consider these documented benefits of real-life recovery:

You can access it from anywhere.

In-person, evidence-based eating disorder treatment can be difficult to access. In fact, many locations are considered “treatment deserts,” meaning they completely lack the appropriate care for many people struggling. With at-home virtual care, anyone can get the treatment they deserve, no matter where they live. “Eating disorder treatment isn’t readily available in many areas,” Sharma says. “I limited my own options to stay close to my parents. Virtual care removes geographic barriers and makes specialized treatment accessible to more families.”

It’s flexible.

With virtual treatment, sessions can fit in between school, work, and other obligations and activities, so there’s no need to put life on pause. This isn’t just nice, it’s essential for many people who can’t miss work or school or other responsibilities, like taking care of children. This flexibility also helps people stay in treatment longer, which strengthens recovery by ensuring they feel confident and ready when they discharge.

“Being able to do sessions between meetings, right after school, directly after work, or on your lunch break gives extra flexibility,” Henry says. “It can be so difficult to make it to an outpatient treatment center. Say that’s 30 minutes away, three to four times a week, versus being able to work with Equip and meet all of your providers virtually from wherever is most comfortable for you.”

You can bring your village.

Unlike other forms of eating disorder treatment, virtual at-home care means loved ones can join the process, strengthening support for lifelong recovery. Not only has research indicated that involving loved ones significantly increases the chances of reaching full remission and drastically reduces the risk of relapse, but involving loved ones also means they’re empowered to better understand the eating disorder and how to provide support.

“My recovery anchors were my family, my dog, and passions,” Sharma says. “Being separated from them during the first part of my journey made recovery feel disconnected from real life. Healing alongside loved ones made a profound difference.”

Henry adds that for a patient, having their support system learn how to navigate treatment and the eating disorder can be a huge asset that often isn’t a part of the inpatient experience. “Having access to specialized support for your family and loved ones while you’re in treatment is another benefit that you don’t get when you’re inpatient,” she says. “While families have designated days they can visit, they don’t have the day-to-day access to the treatment team that virtual care provides.”

You practice real life.

Rather than recovering in a treatment “bubble,” those who recover at home face daily, real-world challenges with the support of a multi-disciplinary team. This eliminates the drastic transition from treatment life to real life, because patients are consistently practicing and overcoming real-world triggers and challenges throughout treatment. “Recovering at home means learning how to cope while grocery shopping, eating out, traveling, socializing, and navigating stress—where recovery is truly tested and strengthened,” Sharma says.

You stay connected to what matters.

Recovering at home means patients are able to remain involved with the people and activities that matter most to them, including family, friends, hobbies, and work. This means the reasons to recover are always front of mind—versus the experience of being in a treatment center where the focus is exclusively on the eating disorder (which can, for some people, only reinforce the importance and prominence of the illness rather than helping patients build up their identity and life outside of it).

“Recovering at home allowed me to rediscover who I was beyond my eating disorder,” Sharma says. “I found joy in concerts, community, friendships, and learning how to exist in my body in public spaces. Over time, recovery stopped being separate from my life.”

This constant connection to meaningful parts of life also makes it easier for patients to choose treatment and stay committed to the recovery process. “People delay treatment out of fear of missing work or missing school or missing important life events,” Henry says. “The ability to do treatment virtually while still being able to attend important life events allows you to maintain that connection and maintain the important things in your life, while also treating the eating disorder.”

By integrating evidence-based clinical care into real life, virtual platforms like Equip offer unique advantages that make it easier to achieve lifelong recovery. Not only does at-home treatment eliminate the transition shock between an insulated treatment "bubble" and everyday reality, but by involving loved ones as active participants and removing geographic barriers, virtual care ensures that healing is practiced in the context of actual routines, stressors, and relationships.

If you think virtual care might be the right fit for you or a loved one, consider scheduling a free, no-obligation consultation to learn more about Equip.