Our Journey
Maria Ganci is a Registered Clinical Mental Health Social Worker and Child and Adolescent Psychoanalytic Psychotherapist with a career that spans over 30 years’ of working with families, children and adolescents in a variety of mental health settings.
Dr. Linsey Atkins is a Registered Clinical Psychologist with over 15 years’ experience providing child, adolescent, parent, and family-based therapy for eating disorders, ASD, depression, anxiety and ADHD. She currently runs a successful private practice focusing on evidence-based treatment for eating disorders.
Both Maria and Linsey were initially trained in Family Based Treatment (FBT) for Anorexia Nervosa under the guidance of Professor Daniel LeGrange and Dr. Katherine Lobe. This provided them with a strong foundation in the treatment of eating disorders.
As their knowledge in the field expanded, they developed an awareness of the many gaps in treating Anorexia Nervosa. In particular, the lack of inclusion and support for the adolescent along with the lack of education and support for parents undertaking the daunting task of re-nourishing their child.
Their passion to engage adolescents and make therapy more acceptable to them, together with their deep desire to heal the emotional pain that accompanies an eating disorder, led them to explore alternative treatment options. In 2015 they traveled to Michigan, USA to learn from Dr. Ann Moye and Dr. Art Robin, who are pioneers and experts in the field of adolescent therapy for Anorexia Nervosa. Maria and Linsey received training and mentoring in Ego Oriented Individual Therapy (EOIT) for adolescent Anorexia Nervosa which Dr. Moye and Dr. Robin had developed as an evidence-based specialist treatment.
Further information about the evidence supporting the EOIT model can be found in the Resources section of this website.
Under the guidance of Dr Ann Moye and leveraging her philosophy and expertise, Maria and Linsey have become highly skilled in her comprehensive treatment approach. The main tenet of this approach is parental re-feeding in tandem with a psychological component to treat the adolescent.
The name EOIT was later changed to Adolescent & Parent Treatment (APT) to reflect its true holistic approach. Dr Moye, Maria, and Linsey have continued to develop Adolescent and Parent Treatment over the past four years.
Maria and Linsey are now co-directors of APT Therapeutic Solutions P/L which aims to provide APT treatment resources, consultation and training for adolescents, parents, and treatment providers for Anorexia Nervosa and Atypical Anorexia Nervosa.
Dr Ann Moye
A major component of APT Therapeutic Solutions is to provide consultation, supervision and training in APT treatment for Anorexia Nervosa and Atypical Anorexia Nervosa as well as providing resources for adolescents, parents and treatment providers.
To date, Maria and Linsey have provided APT training and supervision to both local and international teams of clinicians.
Both Maria and Linsey have also published books and research articles in the field of adolescent eating disorders. They have jointly written “Unpack Your Eating Disorder: A Journey to Recovery for Adolescents in Treatment for Anorexia Nervosa and Atypical Anorexia Nervosa” and the accompanying journal “Letting go of Ed – Embracing Me”. Maria is also the author of Survive FBT, a manual that supports parents through Family-Based Treatment for Anorexia Nervosa, which has been translated into Japanese and Swedish.
Further information about their research publications can be found in the Resources section.
Our Mentors and Supervisors
The treatment trial outcomes demonstrated that young people made a significant improvement in physical and psychological health at the end of treatment and at 12 months follow up (Robin et al., 1999).
Their research has highlighted that young people can benefit from receiving individual therapy whilst parents support their adolescent with renourishment during the recovery process.
“What I believe is a key strength of APT, and why I see it as an evolution in our thinking is the holistic approach it takes. APT integrates patient and family, mind and body, therapist and pediatrician with a focus on both physical and psychological recovery. Taken altogether this is a powerful, comprehensive and effective way of tackling adolescent anorexia.”
“I am genuinely excited about the direct APT represents in the eating disorder treatment and fully endorse the approach it is taking. I am also impressed with both Maria and Linsey as practitioners, supervisors and trainers. I feel privileged to be involved in developing treatment and resources further with them for the good of eating disorder sufferers and their families everywhere.”
Our Consulting Team
INGRIG HILTON, DIETITIAN
SIAN PASCALE, YOGA TEACHER
Ingrid Hilton is an Accredited Practising Dietitian with specialist skills and training in adolescent eating disorders. Ingrid has worked in various clinical and outpatient settings as a senior dietitian in overseeing eating disorder treatment.
Sian Pascale is an experienced Energetic, Breath, Meditation and Yoga teacher and founder of The Light Collective (www.thelightcollective.yoga). Her teachings draw from India where she lived and trained for several years, learning through the hatha, ashtanga and tantric lineages.
Ingrid has her own specialist private practice which focuses exclusively on disordered eating and recovery in adolescence and young adults (www.ledadietetics.com.au). Ingrid has also helped found the ‘guysgetittoo’ eating disorder recovery not for profit organisation and currently sits as vice president on the board. She has been working collaboratively and under the guidance of Maria Ganci and Linsey Atkins to develop the nutritional component of APT.
Sian has developed a series of videos for APT Therapeutic Solutions to be used in conjunction with the book and the journal. A link to her videos is available under the videos section of this website.