We're Here
To Help You
Help Your Patients.
The Evidence-Based Treatment Institute provides specialist-level psychological treatment for eating disorders, OCD, anxiety, trauma, and perinatal mental health in person in Boca Raton, Houston, Chicago, and Denver, with in-person caregiver mentorship in Austin, and via PSYPACT telehealth in 40+ states. We respond to referrals within one business day, coordinate actively with referring providers, and provide honest feedback on clinical fit.
If you have a patient you're not sure how to help, or a patient who needs more than you can provide, we want to hear from you.
For urgent referrals or to discuss a patient before submitting a formal referral, contact us directly.
Refer a PatientSend Us Your Patient.
Send what you have: a patient name and a way to reach them are enough to start. We will contact the patient or family directly and follow up with you once we have made contact. For complex cases, high medical acuity, or urgent situations, call us at (954) 247-1114. A clinical conversation is often the most useful first step.
Referral Form
Everything you send goes directly to our clinical team.
We respond within one business dayWe understand what it means to refer a patient to someone you don't know. You are trusting us with someone who trusts you. We take that seriously: clinically, ethically, and practically.
The Evidence-Based Treatment Institute is a boutique specialist practice for eating disorders, OCD, and anxiety: the conditions where fidelity to evidence-based treatment makes the difference. We welcome referrals, communicate closely with referring providers, and return patients to your care when specialty treatment is complete.
We are not a general mental health practice that sees a wide range of presentations. We treat specific conditions with specific evidence-based approaches, which means the patients we accept are patients we are actually equipped to help.
What We Treat
Our primary clinical specializations (each card links to its full clinical page):
Eating Disorders
Anorexia, bulimia, BED, ARFID. FBT for adolescents, CBT-E for adults, CBT-AR for ARFID. In-home intensives in South Florida, Houston, Denver, and Chicago. Virtual care, including virtual intensives, in 40+ states.
OCD
Every subtype: contamination, taboo/harm, scrupulosity, "just right," Pure O. ERP with rigorous response prevention, including the mental compulsions. SPACE for children not yet willing to engage. Intensives available.
Anxiety Disorders
Social anxiety, panic disorder, GAD, health anxiety, school refusal, separation anxiety, phobias. Exposure-based CBT; SPACE for childhood anxiety. Intensives available.
Co-Occurring ED + OCD
When restriction and rituals share one engine. Function-based formulation and one integrated team, including the FAM Model, our FBT-anchored adolescent approach. Our deepest specialty.
PTSD
PTSD, complex trauma, birth trauma, childhood trauma. Prolonged Exposure (PE) and Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT) for adults and adolescents.
Perinatal Mental Health
Full reproductive continuum: prenatal anxiety and OCD, postpartum depression, postpartum OCD, birth trauma, pregnancy loss, infertility. Led by Allie Appenzeller, PsyD.
Oppositional & Defiant Behavior
Oppositional Defiant Disorder, disruptive behavioral patterns. Parent Management Training (PMT) and CBT for children and adolescents.
Longstanding Patterns
Personality disorders, chronic depression (CBASP), emotional dysregulation. Schema Therapy, DBT, RO-DBT for presentations that standard CBT hasn't fully reached.
How We Work With Referring Providers
Submit a referral or contact us directly
Use the referral form above, or call or text us. For complex or urgent cases, a direct call is often the most efficient first step. We welcome clinical conversations before a formal referral is submitted.
We contact the patient within one business day
A clinician, not an administrator, reviews every referral and contacts the patient or family directly. We confirm receipt with you.
Screening call and intake assessment
We conduct a brief screening call to confirm fit, then schedule a comprehensive intake assessment.
Coordination with your team throughout treatment
With patient consent, we coordinate actively with referring providers: sharing clinical updates, requesting relevant records, collaborating on medication management, and looping you in on significant clinical developments. We treat coordination as a clinical obligation, not a courtesy.
Discharge summary and transition planning
At the conclusion of treatment, we provide a discharge summary and, where relevant, a transition plan for ongoing care. If a patient requires a different level of care at any point, we communicate that proactively.
What We Need From You
A referral to the Evidence-Based Treatment Institute requires nothing more than a patient name and a way to reach them. Age and primary concern are helpful too. The fastest route is the referral form at the top of this page.
For eating disorder referrals specifically, we ask that patients are medically stable or actively monitored by a physician before beginning outpatient or intensive treatment with us. If you have concerns about medical stability, please note this in your referral and we will discuss appropriate coordination.
Our Clinical Team.
Every clinician at the Evidence-Based Treatment Institute is a specialist. When you refer a patient to us, we match them to the clinician whose expertise and approach best fits their specific presentation.
Zach Appenzeller, PsyD
Founding Director, UTHealth Houston Center for Eating Disorders. Clinical Asst. Professor, Baylor College of Medicine (BCM) OCD Program. Developer of the FAM Model. Expert in ED + OCD co-occurrence.
Full Bio
Allie Appenzeller, PsyD
Clinical Asst. Professor, BCM OCD Program. Founding Director, ARPA School Anxiety & School Refusal Program. Specialist in ERP, SPACE, and perinatal MH.
Full Bio
Renée D. Rienecke, PhD, FAED
Fellow of the Academy for Eating Disorders and Director of Research at Eating Recovery Center/Pathlight. Study therapist and supervisor on the NIMH trials that established FBT, with more than 115 peer-reviewed publications. FBT and CBT-E for anorexia, bulimia, BED, ARFID, and atypical anorexia; in person in Chicago and virtual in 40+ PSYPACT states.
Full Bio
Kimberly Osborn, PhD
Specialty in eating disorders, OCD, and anxiety in children, teens, and adults: CBT-E, FBT, CBT-AR, and ERP, plus trauma-focused CPT and PE. Postdoctoral Fellow with the Eating and Anxiety Treatment (EAT) Lab at the University of Louisville; in person in Houston and virtual in 40+ PSYPACT states.
Full Bio
Kaitlin Hill, PhD
Former Clinical Supervisor, Rogers Behavioral Health Eating Disorder Services. Deep higher-level-of-care experience. Specialist in eating disorders and co-occurring anxiety and OCD across older adolescents and adults.
Full Bio
Eliza Lanzillo, PhD
BCM OCD Program internship. Old Town Psychology fellowship. Brown University BA. Specialist in ERP, CBT-E, FBT, and CBT-AR across adolescents and adults.
Full Bio
Nina Jolly
FBT-informed peer support for parents and caregivers in the thick of renourishment: practical coaching between sessions, in the moments meals actually happen.
Full Bio
Natalia Levy, PhD
PhD, UNC Chapel Hill. Former Clinical Director, Lindner Center for Autism. 30+ years clinical experience. Anxiety, depression, ADHD, life transitions, family therapy.
Full BioWhat Your Patients Get Here That They Often Haven't Gotten Elsewhere.
Measurement-based care, with data back to you. Validated measures (EDE-Q, Y-BOCS, GAD-7, and others as indicated) at intake and across treatment. So when we report back, you get trajectories, not impressions.
ERP with rigorous response prevention. If your patient "did ERP and it didn't work," the most common reason is exposure without true response prevention: the mental compulsions (rumination, covert reassurance-seeking, reviewing) were never identified or stopped. Mapping and interrupting the full compulsion profile, including the invisible ones, is our particular emphasis.
An answer for the child who refuses treatment. SPACE is parent-based treatment shown in a randomized noninferiority trial to match child-delivered CBT for childhood anxiety. It lets us begin treatment through the parents alone. Family accommodation is assessed and systematically reduced. When you have a family whose child won't engage, you have somewhere to send them.
Renourishment competence, including hypermetabolism. Our eating disorder team anticipates the metabolic curve of refeeding (including the hypermetabolic surge that derails non-specialist care) and coordinates closely with pediatricians, PCPs, and dietitians throughout. We monitor for medical risk and we are direct with you and the family when a higher level of care is indicated.
Genuinely integrated treatment for ED + OCD/anxiety overlap. Function-based formulation distinguishes which engine drives which behavior, and one team treats both, including the FAM Model for adolescents, our FBT-anchored, modular approach to adolescent eating disorder care. No more ping-ponging your patient between two specialty practices that each treat half the picture.
And honesty about fit. If we are not the right level of care or the right specialty match, we will tell you quickly and help you find who is.
Ready to Refer?
Refer a PatientPrefer to talk it through first? Call (954) 247-1114.
Need Consultation or Training Instead?
We offer case consultation, clinical supervision, and professional workshops for therapists and clinical teams working with eating disorders, OCD, and anxiety, nationwide via telehealth.
Professional Training & Consultation