TheEvidence-Based Treatment Institute
The right therapy, delivered right.
When Every Other Approach Has Failed, There Is Still a Way Forward.
From weekly sessions to in-home and virtual intensives, we deliver specialized treatment for children, adolescents, and adults.
What We Treat
We specialize in eating disorders, OCD, anxiety, and related conditions across children, adolescents, and adults. Our clinicians have trained at, practiced in, and built and led programs at some of the nation's most renowned academic medical centers and specialty treatment programs, across every level of care, from outpatient to intensive outpatient (IOP), partial hospitalization (PHP), residential, and inpatient. That depth is why we can treat both routine presentations and the most complex, "treatment-resistant" cases. Every treatment we provide is grounded in cognitive behavioral therapy and other specialized, evidence-based treatments.
We're the Right Practice for a Specific Kind of Patient.
The Evidence-Based Treatment Institute was founded by two licensed psychologists who are also partners in life: Drs. Zach Appenzeller and Allie Appenzeller. Every clinician at this practice was selected because they meet the same standard: rigorous training in evidence-based treatment, real experience across levels of care, and genuine commitment to the patients in front of them.
We're not the right fit for everyone, and that's by design. The Evidence-Based Treatment Institute is a specialty practice, which means we work with a carefully selected caseload of individuals and families who are ready for something more than what they've received elsewhere.
And it hasn't worked, or hasn't worked well enough. They're not starting from zero; they're starting over with a practice that specializes at a level most don't.
Some of the people we work with are facing serious, life-disrupting conditions; others are navigating everyday stress, a rough patch, or a hard season of life. Both get the same depth of care.
An eating disorder and OCD or anxiety aren't always separate problems; sometimes they're one clinical picture, each feeding the other. Treating both at once, in the right order, is our deepest expertise.
We also have real depth in trauma and PTSD, disruptive behaviors, and women's and perinatal mental health. And beyond any single diagnosis, we treat the longstanding patterns that standard CBT hasn't reached, where people are too often labeled "treatment-resistant" and deserve more than that.
Our treatments are active, structured, and sometimes hard. The patients who do best are the ones who are motivated, even when they're terrified.
For families with a child, teen, or young adult who isn't yet motivated for treatment, parents can still be the agents of meaningful change. Approaches like Family-Based Treatment (FBT), Supportive Parenting for Anxious Childhood Emotions (SPACE), Parent Management Training (PMT), and Parent-Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT) are designed for exactly this: helping parents shift their own responses in ways that reduce their child's symptoms, even when the child isn't on board.
They're not looking for a therapist who does a bit of everything. They want the clinician who has seen a hundred cases like theirs and knows exactly what to do.
The People You'd Be Working With.
The treatments we deliver were developed and tested inside academic medical centers and specialty hospitals, and that is where we came from. Between us:
Founded & Directed
- UTHealth Houston Center for Eating Disorders: outpatient, IOP, PHP & inpatient care
- University of Michigan Comprehensive Eating Disorders Program: founding developer & director
- Medical University of South Carolina Eating Disorders Program: founding developer & director
- School Anxiety & School Refusal Program, Baylor College of Medicine
- Fay J. Lindner Center for Autism and Developmental Disabilities
Clinical Leadership
- Rogers Behavioral Health: supervised the Adult Inpatient & Residential Eating Disorders Centers
- Rogers Behavioral Health: co-wrote the manualized protocols used across its eating disorder programs nationwide
- Rogers Behavioral Health: Clinical Supervisor of the Child, Adolescent & Young Adult OCD and Anxiety Residential Programs; helped launch its first Young Adult Residential Program
- Rogers Behavioral Health: clinical oversight across its Adult & Young Adult OCD, Anxiety and Depression Residential Programs; supervises trainees in its APA-accredited doctoral internship
- Eating Recovery Center/Pathlight: Director of Research across every level of eating disorder care
- Training Institute for Child and Adolescent Eating Disorders: faculty, training clinicians worldwide toward FBT certification
Specialty Training & Clinical Experience
- University of Chicago Eating Disorders Program: internship, fellowship & faculty; study therapist & supervisor on the NIMH trials that established FBT
- Duke Center for Eating Disorders
- Rogers Behavioral Health: Adult OCD & Anxiety Residential Center internships
- The OCD and Anxiety Center, Oak Brook, Illinois: exposure-based treatment for children & adults with OCD and anxiety
- OCD Institute of Texas: residential, partial-hospitalization & outpatient OCD care
- National Institute of Mental Health: intramural suicide-screening research, including the ASQ toolkit now used in hospitals nationwide
- Laureate Eating Disorders Program
- Eating and Anxiety Treatment (EAT) Lab, University of Louisville
- Anxiety and Obsessive-Compulsive Disorders Lab, Northern Illinois University
- University of Hawai’i at Mānoa Eating Disorders Clinic
- Ascension Alexian Brothers: Center for Eating Disorders · Center for Anxiety & OCD
- Behavior Therapy Center of Greater Washington
- Capital Institute for Cognitive Therapy
- Children’s National Hospital
- MedStar Georgetown University Hospital
- University of Florida Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (UF OCD) Program: outpatient and intensive ERP for children and adults with OCD
- UF Center for OCD, Anxiety and Related Disorders (COARD)'s Fear Facers Camp: all-day exposure work with children
- University of Florida Outpatient Therapy Services: Parent-Child Interaction Therapy and Parent Management Training for disruptive behavior, ADHD and autism
- UF Health Shands Psychiatric Hospital
- St. Luke's Health System, Idaho
- Southern Illinois University Edwardsville Attention and Behavior Clinic
For Those Who Can't Wait, or Who've Waited Long Enough.
Weekly therapy is right for many patients. But for some (those in acute distress, those who have been stuck for months or years, those who need to build momentum quickly), a more intensive approach is what actually breaks the pattern.
We offer specialty intensives for eating disorders and OCD & anxiety, calibrated to your clinical picture, your family situation, and your geography.
In-Home & In-Vivo Intensives
One-on-one treatment delivered where recovery actually has to happen. In your home, and out in the real-world places an eating disorder, OCD, or anxiety takes hold (what clinicians call in-vivo work): the kitchen table, the grocery store, the mall, the highway. A genuine higher level of care, without sending anyone away to a facility. Available in South Florida, Houston, Denver, and Chicago, and for OCD and anxiety in Milwaukee and Twin Falls.
Virtual 1:1 Intensives
High-frequency 1:1 therapy delivered by secure video: more frequent, longer sessions with your own clinician, with real-time coaching during meals or exposures in your own environment. Delivered to your home across 40+ states, built on years of leadership running intensive eating disorder and OCD programs at nationally recognized centers.
Private Pay, So Your Care Comes First.
Being a private-pay practice is a deliberate choice, and we don't take it lightly. The reimbursement rates insurers set for specialized care, and the hours of paperwork and back-and-forth they require, would mean larger caseloads, shorter sessions, and far less time for the work that actually helps. We chose private pay so that doesn't happen: our time and full attention go to you, and to helping you get your life back.
It also means your treatment is shaped entirely by what you need: the right approach, at the right frequency, for as long as the work calls for. When extended sessions or an intensive format would help you move faster, we can offer them.
While we don't bill insurance directly, many patients offset the cost through their out-of-network behavioral health benefits. We provide detailed superbills you can submit to your insurer for reimbursement, and we're glad to share a sample with the exact codes up front, so you know what your plan is likely to cover before you begin.
We know this is a significant investment in your health, and we treat it that way. Our job is to make every session count, so the care you're paying for is the care that moves you forward.
See Our Fees & Reimbursement DetailsIn Person in Seven Cities. Telehealth in 40+ States.
In-person sessions: from anxiety treatment in Boca Raton, our headquarters, to Houston, TX, Austin, TX, Denver, CO, Chicago, IL, Milwaukee, WI, and Twin Falls, ID. In Austin, our psychologists see families by telehealth, and in-person care is caregiver mentorship with Nina Jolly. Telehealth available in 40+ PSYPACT states, plus New York and Hawaii through individual licensure.
Coverage summary: in-person care in Boca Raton, Florida; Houston, Texas; Denver, Colorado; Chicago, Illinois; Milwaukee, Wisconsin; and Twin Falls, Idaho. In-person caregiver mentorship in Austin, Texas. Telehealth is available in 40+ PSYPACT states, plus New York and Hawaii through individual state licensure. Not currently available in California, Iowa, Louisiana, Massachusetts, New Mexico, or Oregon.
Hover or tap any state to see coverage status. PSYPACT membership keeps expanding, most recently Alaska. Check psypact.gov for the most current map.
In-Person, Seven Cities
Boca Raton · Houston · Austin · Denver · Chicago · Milwaukee · Twin Falls
By appointment only · Caregiver mentorship in Austin
Telehealth in 40+ States
Available to patients in 40+ PSYPACT states via secure telehealth, plus additional state coverage in New York and Hawaii. Weekly appointments and virtual intensives.
Get Started via TelehealthIn-Home & In-Vivo Intensives
In-home and in-vivo intensives are available in South Florida, Houston, Denver, and Chicago, and for OCD and anxiety in Milwaukee and Twin Falls. A virtual intensive option is available everywhere we're licensed.
Eating Disorder Intensives · OCD & Anxiety IntensivesFrom First Contact to First Session.
Reaching out is simple, and you won't navigate it alone. Here's how getting started works.
You Hear Back from a Clinician
Send a brief inquiry, and a licensed clinician, not a scheduler, personally gets back to you within one business day.
We Understand Your Situation
A short screening call that lets us match you to the right clinician, the right treatment, and the right level of care.
Assessment & Treatment
Two pathways to begin: a standard intake, or an extended launch session that moves straight from assessment into psychoeducation and treatment planning, so you leave day one understanding your condition, with between-session work and a clear path forward.
A Clinician Responds Within One Business Day.
Getting started is simple. Fill out our brief new patient inquiry form and we'll respond within one business day to discuss fit, availability, and what treatment would look like for you.
When you're ready, we're ready.
Request a Consultation