The Power of Collaborative Care in Eating Disorder Recovery

Have you ever tried putting together a puzzle without the picture on the box?

You have all the pieces, but no matter how carefully you try, something feels like it’s missing, or maybe it just doesn’t fit the way it should. That’s often what recovery can feel like. Even when you’re surrounded by incredible professionals, a psychologists, dietitians, even GPs, it can still feel so overwhelming at times.

Eating disorders are severe mental illnesses with complex psychological, biological and social factors. Due to high risks and the debilitating impact they can have across all areas of life, there is a strong focus within research and clinical settings on understanding and creating guidelines on the most effective treatment for people who have found themselves within the grip of an eating disorder.

Eating disorders can be all consuming and have a detrimental impact on all areas of life. They often strike concern, terror, and frustration into the lives of those who love or care about the individuals who are unwell. Like many harmful behaviours that humans get stuck in, eating disorders also often serve a function for those in the vice-like grasp of illness, for example, providing a way to manage severe anxiety, which can lead to ambivalence about engaging with treatment.

This is why recovery isn’t just about having the right professionals in place. It’s about how all those pieces work together, so that the support you receive is consistent, coordinated, and meaningful in your daily life. That’s where collaborative care becomes essential: it helps create a clear, connected framework, where everyone on your team is aligned and your recovery goals can be realistically implemented across your life.

The Missing Piece: Connection in Recovery

Even with a strong treatment team, recovery can still feel isolating. You might attend therapy, follow your meal plan, and do all the “right” things, but when you go home, you’re left to face the quiet moments on your own.

That’s where recovery coaching plays an important role. A coach walks alongside you in those everyday moments, helping you apply what you’re learning in therapy to real-life situations, guiding you through the moments that often feel hardest to navigate alone.

Recovery coaching isn’t a replacement for clinical care. It’s the bridge that connects the ongoing support that helps clients live out what’s discussed in sessions.

Where Recovery Coaching Fits Within Collaborative Care

Recovery coaches bring a unique perspective to a multidisciplinary team. Each professional is like a different instrument in an orchestra — when everyone plays together, the music of recovery becomes harmonious. While clinicians guide treatment with their expertise, recovery coaches support clients in applying goals to real-life steps, offering lived experience, practical support, and ongoing encouragement.

After a psychology session or when working with a dietitian, a client might leave with new meal plan goals or additional coping strategies to practice. Recovery coaches then provide support to help clients carry these plans into daily life, guiding clients through meal plans, grocery shopping, or dining out, and offering encouragement along the way. This support might include check-ins via text or support during social events. By staying close throughout the recovery journey, they help clients build confidence and bridge the gap between sessions and everyday life.

Recovery coaches also collaborate with healthcare providers, carers, and parents to coordinate care across all areas of recovery. This ensures that the support provided in sessions aligns with the broader treatment plan and that all members of the team are working towards the same goals.

In this role, recovery coaches serve as a connecting thread across the treatment team — reinforcing what’s discussed in therapy and turning recovery from something conceptual into something lived and supported throughout the week.

With recovery coaching woven into collaborative care, the focus naturally shifts toward how this connected approach supports broader clinical outcomes and the clinical foundations of collaborative care and multidisciplinary treatment teams, which we explore in more depth here.

Interested in more connected recovery support?

Uncovery and Person-Centred Psychology & Allied Health are currently exploring a collaborative care approach that brings together clinical treatment and recovery coaching in a more consistent and connected way.

If you’d like to stay informed or express interest as this offering develops, you’re welcome to register your interest here.

Co-authored by:

Olivia Soha, Founder and Director of Uncovery, Eating Disorder Recovery Coaching

Deborah Newburn, Clinical Psychologist and Director of Person-Centred Psychology and Allied Health