Equip

Equip Health was founded in 2019 by Kristina Saffran and Dr. Erin Parks. Equip helps families get diagnosed, find multi-disciplinary specialists, afford treatment, and achieve and maintain recovery from eating disorders. Equip built a virtual eating disorder program that aims to give people with eating disorders lasting recovery through virtual care teams and expert treatment delivered at home. Their approach is based on the Family Based Treatment (FBT) method, in which the entire family plays an active role in helping the patient overcome their eating disorder.

Equip provides a five-person care team including a peer and family mentor, medical physician, therapist, and dietitian. The personalized care integrates with the patient’s everyday life. The Equip methods are easier and more cost effective than other methods where patients are removed from their home to treatment centers. Equip is available in nearly fifty states and works with ten major commercial health insurance companies as well as Medicaid. Equip plans to serve adults in the near future.

The key principles of FBT are that families don’t cause eating disorders and are in the best position to help their child recover, nutrition is a priority, and that eating disorders are brain disorders, rather than a choice. Equip reports that 71 percent of patients report a reduction in eating disorder symptoms and two-thirds report improvements in mood after eight weeks of treatment. 96 percent of parents report feeling more confident in caring for their child.

Both founders had been diagnosed with eating disorders as children and recovered with help from their parents and the techniques of Family Based Treatment (FBT). Saffran also founded Project HEAL, which provides eating disorder treatment grants to people without financial access. Saffran has a bachelors degree in psychology from Harvard College. Dr. Parks has a doctorate in clinical psychology and a career in academic medicine, working in the eating disorders field.