WESTBOROUGH, mass. - It's Eating Disorders Awareness Week and Walden Behavioral Care in Westborough wants to make sure people know there are resources available for anyone struggling. 

Staff at Walden said they've seen an increase in all types of eating disorders throughout the pandemic. They encourage people to reach out sooner, rather than later. 

Walden offers both inpatient and outpatient care. 

Karen Plante has a 13-year-old step daughter who suffers from avoidant restrictive food intake disorder, or ARFID, but was able to receive help at Walden for her selective eating habits. 

“I think it was huge once we actually got the diagnosis, because up until this point we knew there was a problem, but we didn't even know where to find resources to help with it because we couldn't even do a Google search about it,” Plante said. “We knew she had eating issues but we didn't really know where to get the help. So once you have a diagnosis, then you are more empowered to find resources, to find support groups, educate yourself and the family."

Amanda Smith, director of ARFID programming at Walden said, “So the patients come to us, we go through a full evaluation process to help identify the appropriate program to get started in. From there we are helping them build skills and strategies, from managing the stressors in their life that might be triggering their eating disorder behavior, to helping them identify new ways of coping that don't involve using food or getting rid of food or managing their body image."

Staff said eating disorders have the highest mortality rate of any psychiatric diagnoses and one in five eating disorder deaths will be due to suicide.  They encourage people to get help as soon as possible.