Your Ultimate Guide for Balanced Living

Practical ideas on how to support your child's mental health this summer. At Home For Balance, we know summer is not always carefree for every child or teen. Without structure, emotional dysregulation, anxiety, depression, obsessive thoughts, eating disorder behaviors, isolation, or family conflict may increase. With the right support, however, summer can become an opportunity to build resilience, strengthen family connection, and create a healing plan before the school year

Animal-assisted therapy is often viewed as a complementary intervention, but the research base is growing. While it does not replace evidence-based eating disorder treatment, medical monitoring, nutrition rehabilitation, family support, or trauma-informed therapy, animal-assisted interventions may offer something deeply meaningful: a pathway into safety, connection, embodiment, and emotion regulation.

“Food noise” is a term that has gained popularity in recent years, often used to describe constant thoughts about food—what to eat, when to eat, how much to eat, or how to stop thinking about eating altogether. While the term is frequently framed as a biological or willpower issue, from an eating disorder therapist’s perspective, food noise is rarely just about food. Food noise is information. And when we listen closely, it often tells a much deeper story.

Eating disorders are complex medical and psychological conditions with far-reaching medical and psychological consequences. They affect not only emotional well-being and cognition, but also the functioning of vital organs, hormonal regulation, bone health, and neurological systems. They don't discriminate, and anyone from any race, gender, culture, or sexual orientation can develop one.