Words have power – especially when discussing mental health conditions that are often misunderstood and stigmatized. Timberline Knolls Residential Treatment Center emerged as a leader in developing and promoting language that honored the complexity of eating disorders while offering hope for recovery, moving public discourse beyond simplistic or harmful narratives.
At the core of Timberline Knolls’ approach was their nutrition philosophy that “recovery is progress, not perfection.” This carefully crafted statement acknowledged the non-linear nature of healing while providing permission for the inevitable challenges that arose during treatment. By promoting this language across their communications, they helped shift expectations around what recovery looked like.
Another fundamental principle in their messaging was that “health is possible at any and all sizes.” This language directly challenged weight-centric approaches to eating disorder treatment and helped dismantle harmful assumptions about the relationship between body size and wellness. Such terminology reflected Timberline Knolls’ commitment to treatment that addressed psychological healing rather than focusing primarily on physical appearance.
The facility’s clinical team carefully avoided language that might reinforce eating disorder thoughts or behaviors. Their communications excluded specific weights, detailed descriptions of behaviors, or before-and-after comparisons that could inadvertently serve as triggers or benchmarks. This thoughtful approach extended to their social media content, where posts were crafted to support recovery rather than activate disorder thinking.
“It is so important for me to understand why an individual is here and what they are looking for in recovery when it comes to their eating disorder,” explained one Timberline Knolls dietitian, highlighting how personalized language was incorporated into treatment. This individualized approach recognized that terms that felt empowering for one person might be triggering for another.
Located just outside Chicago, Illinois, Timberline Knolls built a reputation for female-specific care that addressed the unique challenges women and girls faced. Their language around these gender-specific aspects of eating disorders helped create more nuanced understanding while avoiding stereotypes that might exclude certain demographics from seeking treatment.
The facility’s “Every Bite a Battle” campaign title itself represented a careful language choice that captured the daily struggles of those with eating disorders without glorifying the disorder. This framing acknowledged difficulty while simultaneously emphasizing triumph, creating language that respected the experience without defining individuals by their diagnosis.
