Eating disorder, mental health treatment center opens in Kennewick

Oct. 10--A new treatment and education center dedicated to helping people with eating disorders and other mental health illnesses is launching in Kennewick.

The Recovery & Wellness Center of Eastern Washington is at 3104 W. Kennewick Ave., Suite C, across from Safeway.

"It's amazing" to see the center make its debut, said Katie Klute, CEO.

"We're creating an opportunity and a safe place to stand up to the silence that people are living in and demand something different for life," added Erin Sharma, clinical director.

The center is starting out with a focus on treatment for eating disorders, including anorexia, bulimia and binge eating/food addiction.

The plan is to soon expand to mental health illnesses, including depression, anxiety and mood disorders. Klute and Sharma also want to add substance abuse help down the road.

The center's intensive outpatient program for eating disorders is set to start in December.

It will meet a need locally. While the Tri-City area has therapists who work with eating disorder patients, it doesn't have an outpatient program like the one the center is offering.

Eating disorders are pervasive and affect millions of people -- men and women, young and old.

They are challenging to treat, and they have the highest mortality rate of any mental health illness.

Klute said she and Sharma are extremely passionate about the victims.

The 12-week outpatient program runs three hours a day, three days a week and includes nutrition education plus individual therapy once a week.

The center also is offering weekly "stabilization groups," designed for people who need less structure or who have completed the intensive outpatient program and need ongoing support.

The groups meet for 13 weeks and are set to launch in a couple weeks.

The center's approach to treatment is focused on the whole body, the whole person.

"Erin and I both feel strongly about the whole body -- making sure our mind is healthy, our body is healthy, we are healthy in the community, we are healthy in our relationships," Klute said.

She and Sharma said they will work with patients who can't pay and won't turn anyone away.

Klute has worked nearly a decade to bring an intensive outpatient program to the Tri-Cities.

She's a survivor of anorexia.

"I was one of the lucky ones," she said. "As my life sort of progressed, and my recovery progressed, I really started to believe that my eating disorder was meant to be purposeful. I knew that I wanted to do something for someone else."

To learn more about the treatment options, go to www.recoveryandwellness.org, call 509-619-0519 or stop by.

Sara Schilling: 509-582-1529; sschilling@tricityherald.com; Twitter: @SaraTCHerald

___

(c)2015 Tri-City Herald (Kennewick, Wash.)

Visit Tri-City Herald (Kennewick, Wash.) at www.tri-cityherald.com

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.