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McKenzie Robinson | SBJ

2021 Health Care Champions Therapist: Stephanie Robbins

Burrell Behavioral Health

Posted online

The personal experience of struggling with an eating disorder became a professional motivator for Stephanie Robbins.

Robbins has worked the past six years for Burrell Behavioral Health as a licensed professional counselor, where she’s had a particular passion for helping patients who have eating disorders. It led her to create and coordinate Burrell’s RecoverED outpatient eating disorder program in February 2020.

“When I was seeking care many years ago, it quickly became apparent to me that I would have to travel away from my home to receive the care it would take to keep me alive,” she says. “My journey to recovery helped me realize that our community desperately needed someone to champion the cause of providing care to those who were struggling with an eating disorder. My passion for this field, and this community, grew as I realized that I could become an advocate for those in our area who are struggling.”

RecoverED treats eating disorders with a team approach, including therapists, dieticians and psychiatrists. As program coordinator, Robbins says the team has access to training materials she researched and assembled to educate area mental health professionals on best practices for treating the illnesses.

Robbins says the COVID-19 pandemic has heavily impacted the number of people developing or struggling with eating disorders. The combination of social isolation and food scarcity fears caused by the pandemic created a deadly situation, she says. That led her to start another initiative, RecoverED Intensive Outpatient Program, for those needing a higher level of care. The four-day-a-week program for youth ages 12-18 started in January 2021. It includes groups for cognitive behavioral therapy, goal setting, relapse prevention, art, music and yoga.

The new program is the first of its kind in Springfield, Robbins says, offering “a lifeline to our clients who would have otherwise been forced to travel away from home to receive this level of care.” She has plans to expand the program for adults.

Angela King, executive vice president of operations at Burrell, says Robbins leads by example, and she’s one of the most passionate and persistent providers she knows.

“She is a consistent advocate for her clients and for anyone needing our services,” King says. “Stephanie wears a pin on her Burrell badge that says, ‘You are beautiful.’ This simple yet powerful statement represents Stephanie’s heart. She tries to make sure all of her clients, supervisees, colleagues, etc., know that they are valued and beautiful.”

Aside from her work with the RecoverED programs, Robbins meets with individual clients on an outpatient basis at least weekly to help them work on barriers to overcome their eating disorders, including discovering personal passions.

“One of the things that is very important to me is in helping my clients understand that they are so much more than any diagnosis they have been given,” she says. “As therapists, when we really lean in to being present with our clients in whatever space they are currently in, we can help them begin to find hope and purpose in their lives. … My clients’ successes make me feel proud that I did not give up and used my own pain to make a way where there was none.”

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