Eating disorders are the most deadly of all mental illnesses, and among the most difficult to treat. The Renfrew Center Foundation has accepted the challenge to fight the devastating effects these disorders have on individuals and families.
The Renfrew Center Foundation Mission
The Renfrew Center Foundation is a tax-exempt, nonprofit organization advancing the education, prevention, research, and treatment of eating disorders.
We advance our mission by:
* Providing professional training and educational opportunities for mental health and medical professionals.
* Creating awareness in the general public through the production of educational seminars and publications and participation in media-related activities.
* Conducting research into the pathology and recovery patterns of people with eating disorders.
* Educating policy makers to remove barriers to treatment.
* Providing treatment access for women and girls who might otherwise not be able to afford treatment.
The Renfrew Center Foundation is supported financially by private donations and funding from The Renfrew Center, the nation's first freestanding facility exclusively dedicated to the treatment of eating disorders. The Renfrew Center now operates seven facilities in five states.
It's not about a diet. It's not about vanity. It's not a choice.
For millions of women, adolescent girls, and a growing number of men, eating disorders are as real and as dangerous as any health problem. In fact, more people die from anorexia than from any other mental illness. That's because eating disorders, unlike most mental health issues, can have severe medical consequences including damaging—sometimes fatal—effects on virtually every organ system including cardiac, reproductive, kidney, and musculoskeletal. The fatalities associated with eating disorders are primarily from cardiovascular collapse and suicide.
On an emotional level, eating disorders can be devastating, making work, school, and the daily functions of life often impossible. And they affect more than the person with the disorder; they can destroy relationships and tear families apart.
History of The Renfrew Center Foundation's Work
Until the early 1980s, eating disorders went largely untreated because few people understood them and few professionals were able to recognize the symptoms. However, in 1985 The Renfrew Center ushered in a new era, creating the nation's first freestanding facility exclusively dedicated to the treatment of eating disorders. Over the course of almost two decades, The Renfrew Center has helped more than 45,000 women and adolescent girls overcome their destructive eating and purging behaviors. By providing a safe, non-institutional, nurturing environment, and with an intense program of therapy, patients at The Renfrew Center have made remarkable strides.
By 1990, the Renfrew Center realized the epidemic proportions of the problem and the need for public and professional education to increase awareness of anorexia, bulimia, and binge eating disorder. Since the founding of The Renfrew Center Foundation in that same year, we have developed a number of programs designed to advance our mission.
With educational programs for professionals and the general public, The Renfrew Center Foundation is training professionals to better treat the disorders, changing public thinking about healthy eating and body size, and raising awareness about eating disorders so that they can be better understood, prevented, detected, and treated.
Through communication with policy makers, The Renfrew Center Foundation and our network of professionals, families, friends, and Renfrew alumnae are engaged in educational activities to remove barriers to treatment.
Through research, The Renfrew Center Foundation is working to better understand the causes of eating disorders and develop improved treatment methods.
By providing access to treatment, The Renfrew Center Foundation is helping people receive the treatment they might not otherwise be able to afford.
Every day, The Renfrew Center Foundation is taking action.
