Dr. Joanna Bronfman (known as “Dr. B”) is the founder of Backcountry Wellness, an eating disorder treatment facility for adolescents and young adults. Recognized as a thought leader in the field of eating disorder treatment, she loves what she does. “While teaching English in a West Philadelphia Catholic girls school, I realized I was more interested in their lives than teaching grammar rules,” Dr. B tells me of her career journey. “I got interested in neuropsychology — the beauty of this work is that it gives us data in order to understand the complete child,” she says. From that data came two prominent moments in history, both sharply connected to a rise in disordered eating — when the iPhone had a camera put in it, and the onset of Covid. “Girls began taking pictures of themselves and sharing them, which fed into this dangerous game of comparing and despairing,” she said. During our conversation, I learned there are a variety of factors that contribute to disordered eating. These can include not sitting at the “cool” lunch table, parents divorcing, or self-esteem issues.
What Makes Backcountry Wellness Different
Backcountry Wellness has been serving the Greenwich community for 10 years, priding itself on emotionally-focused family therapy, an evidence-based way of acknowledging the patient and struggles they’re going through. “Making the family part of the treatment team is essential,” Dr. B states, as “food is served in the home.” Also part of the treatment team are therapists, nurses, meal coaches, and care coaches. Four levels of care are offered at Backcountry Wellness: Outpatient, Intensive Outpatient Program (IOP), Partial Hospitalization Program (PHP), and Residential. The goal for everyone is to rebuild their relationship with food while simultaneously understanding what their triggers are. “There is a good shot patients are on their way to lifelong recovery after receiving treatment,” Dr. B says. “Especially if it’s caught early.”
How We Talk About Food Matters
Shifting gears to speak on the language we use around food, Dr. B couldn’t stress enough how important it is to be careful of the words we’re using in our homes and around our families to describe food. “How we language food, body, and self is so, so important,” Dr. B tells me. For example, if we tell a child a certain food is ‘bad,’ they may associate that with thinking they are ‘bad’ for wanting it. The same goes for our bodies. If we’re looking in the mirror and talking negatively about our appearance, kids are going to pick up on that. Dr. B also voices her concern over wellness culture’s “healthy” messages of “clean eating,” “vegan,” and “whole foods only,” as they can confuse the consumer with thinking they have to eat a certain way in order to look like the influencers they see online.
Food is Community
Ending on a lighter note, Dr. B encourages families to treat food and mealtime as enjoyable experiences, modeling healthy eating habits including eating when we’re hungry and sitting down for family dinner. “Food is meant for community,” she says. “Whether it’s Sunday morning breakfast or weekday dinner, food should be joyous, and should be enjoyed together.” “If you can somehow live in the middle of our motto, ‘There are days for kale and there are days for cupcakes,’ and be at peace with that, then that’s a beautiful thing,” Dr. B says.
WEBSITE: backcountrywellness.com
PHONE: 203.992.1700
“If you can somehow live in the middle and be at peace with that, then that’s a beautiful thing,” - Dr. B