The Bella Speranza Residential Healing Center for the Treatment for Eating Disorders

Unlike other treatment facilities that may feel confrontational, controlling and rigid, we promise to ease the pressure you feel, giving you an environment that is structured; yet nurturing. We desire to make your experience more conducive to learning the skills that enable you to begin living healthier lives. Residential treatment is 24/7 care.

The Bella Speranza (The Beautiful Hope) offers care for both adults and adolescents. This level of care, as with all others, is determined during the initial consultation. Although the majority of those suffering from eating disorders are female, we treat both males and females. The program focuses on your individual needs, encouraging you to take an active role in expressing your feelings, thoughts and goals.

The Bella Speranza Residential Healing Center includes monitoring of unstable vitals and labs, starvation effects, purging and non-purging behaviors, such as, excessive exercise, vomiting and laxatives, and substance abuse with a focus on the individual's nutritional goals while attending educational and therapeutic groups.

The Bella Speranza housed is a charming Cape Cod residence in the sought out community of La Cañada Flintridge, California. The beautifully decorated and spacious home is a six bed residential facility. It is tastefully decorated with a grand living room, formal dining room, kitchen nook, meditation room and entertainment room, including a computer and internet access. Each bedroom is comfortably and tastefully decorated with unique themes from our outdoor jungle mural and motif to a room for sophisticated tastes to a rustic tone. Our grounds are likened to an Italian garden with fresh herbs amidst our lavender bushes, trees, shrubbery and flowers. Our French doors lead to an open patio with fountain for calm and relaxation. Our quaint garden courtyard is yet another opportunity to escape to being rejuvenated. The facility is within walking distance of specialty stores, drug store with pharmacy, grocery stores, newly opened Town Center shopping, activities and city events.

The length of stay varies according to the needs of the individual. Residents are asked to commit to a minimum stay of one to two months in order to interrupt eating disorder patterns. Potential residents must have a recent medical evaluation to determine medical stability for a residential setting.

Services Provided:

• Complete psychodiagnostic evaluation of eating disorders and other psychological issues.
• Individualized, multidisciplinary treatment plans.
• Behavioral program to institute changes in eating behaviors.
• Individual psychotherapy three times weekly.
• Art therapy.
• Yoga.
• Cognitive-Behavioral and Dialectical Behavior group therapy.
• Mindfulness and Mediation groups.
• Psychiatric and Medical Consultation and Follow-up.
• Nutritional and fitness education with counseling.
• Family education.
• Family therapy if indicated.
• Menu planning, grocery shopping and meal preparation.
• Self esteem and coping skills group.
• Relapse prevention groups.
• Life enhancement and creativity groups.
• Recreational activities.
• Reentry into Life.
• Discharge planning.

The Bella Speranza's well-developed curriculum is designed to help patients deal with the physical danger they are currently in. Our program will assist patients to establish clear personalized goals and treatment plan; integrative programming of therapy, groups, activities and experiences to achieve the stated objectives; and discharge in an appropriate time frame coordinating continuity of care with family, school/work and community.

Full Continuum of Care

The Bella Vita provides a full continuum of care for eating disorders treatment for adults and adolescents, male and female, including The Bella Speranza Residential Treatment, The Bella Vita Transitional Living and Extended Care in La Cañada Flintridge, as well as, The Bella Vita in Los Angeles and The Bella Vita in San Fernando Valley Partial Hospitalization and Intensive Outpatient programs with outpatient services. The Bella Vita facilities offer our patients the comfort of personally knowing their attending staff, as we offer the same treatment team through all levels of care. The Bella Speranza Residential Treatment attending Medical Doctor, Psychiatrist, Nurses, Mental Health Workers, Psychologists and Master Level Therapists are available to our resident patients through out their 24 hours a day, 7 days a week stay.

Effectiveness of treatment is promoted through team communication and strong medical doctor involvement, directing the case and evaluating results. We encourage strong involvement as part of our philosophy of treatment, and work closely with care managers and doctors to ensure measurable documented goals that the patient understands and is committed to achieving.

Nutritional Rehabilitation and Psychological Growth

Typically, anorexics and bulimics that enter The Bella Speranza Residential Treatment Program do so in severe condition. Food is seen as medicine. We target 1 – 2 pound of healthy weight gain per week over the course of the resident’s stay with us. We establish and involve both nutritional and psychological goals from the start of treatment, in the course of a tier-structured plan that helps the patient to reduce anxiety, understand the mechanisms of healthy eating, and sustain emotional well-being. Along with emotional and cognitive integration, we focus on connection of the body, mind and spirit, developing mindfulness to access intuition and wisdom to manage and cope effectively without the focus on food.

Even in the course of anticipating the patient's discharge, we are thinking forward and suggesting multi-disciplinary approaches to recovery, such as follow-up with a primary care physician, psychiatrist, registered dietitian or therapist.

Please inquire with The Bella Vita, A Beautiful Life Psychology Group, Inc., if you or someone you know may be at risk, or showing symptoms of Eating Disorder. Don't hesitate to contact us if you have any questions.

To learn more about The Bella Vita in Los Angeles facility offering partial hospitalization and intensive outpatient programs in tandem, you can read more here.

To learn more about The Bella Vita in San Fernando Valley facility offering partial hospitalization and intensive outpatient programs in tandem, you can read more here.