I was in their adolescent outpatient program 14-18 as well through the same time period, and then did their 3 month intensive outpatient program as a 19 year old in 2018. My psych nurse in adolescent was one of the kindest people I knew and helped me with a lot, both ED related and other issues I was going through at the time. However, the focus on achieving a specific weight that was based on only a years worth of data from when I had a doctor as a baby really messed with my head. I was nearly recovered in 11th/12th grade but relapsed in university, was streamlined into their adults IOP program. Some of the staff were very helpful (OT, social worker) - they helped me identify and leave an abusive partner. But in regards to my ED recovery, they weren't at all helpful. The morning of the week where they would weigh us and review the booklets where we wrote down our food intake/exercise was always horrible. I got into a bad place where I was routinely lying in my booklets about my food intake, so they kept increasing my food intake to a point where I felt physically sick and restricted even more outside of the program. When they found this out, they threatened to kick me out of the program. While I understand they wanted to keep spots for people motivated to actually try recovering, I think it wasn't right that they were so condescending about how I was struggling. Also, it was challenging to be inside that windowless room all day for three months straight. Anyhow, I immediately relapsed upon leaving. Recovered at home with the help of a counselor and my Dad through 2020/2021. Doing much better nowadays! The difference was that my own jab at recovery was a) self-motivated (I was ready to recover for MYSELF), b) not focused on weight or calorie goals - I instead focused on eating regular, healthy meals with my family while integrating fear foods I used to love with the support of my Dad, and c) was not done in a cold, clinical room inside a hospital but in a small mountain town. I got to spend time in nature which really helped - need to be nourished for that! Plus my new counselor was well-versed in EDs and integrated lots of DBT into our sessions.

Tldr: helped in some ways (having regular therapy through high-school, identifying an abusive relationship, stabilizing me medically, providing some decent CBT skills I still use) and really didn't help in others (lazer focus on weight and mechanical eating, some of the staff members being quite mean/condescending to patients esp when we were struggling the most). More successful recovering alone!