The Renfrew Center joins forces with AKASA for treating women with eating disorders

Aug 27 2009

The Renfrew Center, the country’s leading authority on eating disorder treatment and research, recently announced the expansion of its services into Central America through a partnership with the Guatemala-based AKASA treatment center. The first center in Central America exclusively dedicated to the treatment of women with eating disorders, AKASA now operates as an independent affiliate of The Renfrew Center.

For many years, The Renfrew Center has been training eating disorders professionals from around the world, but this partnership takes the organization’s expertise in eating disorders treatment into another country for the first time. By doing so, it offers patients outside the U.S. a new opportunity for direct access to services critical to long-term recovery.

"Many women from Central America receive treatment at The Renfrew Center, but unfortunately, until now there has been no resource for intensive follow-up work once they return home," said Samuel E. Menaged, JD, President and CEO of The Renfrew Centers. "Because of our partnership with AKASA, these women can now obtain the same essential follow-up services we provide in the U.S., including comprehensive outpatient programs which serve as a step-down program from our residential treatment."

In addition, if they require more intensive care, women being treated at AKASA can transition seamlessly to The Renfrew Center's residential programs in the U.S. will allow them to continue to benefit from the uniquely empowering Renfrew modalities offered at AKASA and leverage the progress they have already made. The Coconut Creek facility in south Florida, which has Spanish-speaking experts on staff, will treat most of the women referred from AKASA. The affiliation of AKASA with The Renfrew Center serves to benefit all those involved: the two facilities, as well as the thousands of women who can receive treatment closer to home.

“As the first facility to solely focus on treating eating disorders in Guatemala and Central America, what better partner than the American pioneer in residential treatment, The Renfrew Center,” said Itziar Fernandez, M.H.A., CEO of AKASA. “Through this affiliation, we hope for AKASA to capitalize on the latest treatment protocols and programs, giving hope to women with eating disorders in Latin America.”