Puente de Vida

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When my husband and I came to the realization that it was necessary to place our daughter in a residential treatment center for her eating disorder, the biggest question in our minds was “With the many choices available to us, which center will provide the best care with the best potential for our daughter’s recovery?” Our daughter’s physician, Dr. Tyson, and our local healthcare providers recommended several Eating Disorder centers. Puenta De Vida (PDV) was a recommendation offered by both Dr. Tyson and our local healthcare team. After much research, soul-searching, and prayer, we decided to entrust our daughter to the team at Puenta De Vida. Natalie Signorelli at PDV was a great asset in coordinating our daughter’s insurance coverage, admission date, and travel arrangements. She patiently accepted our numerous phone calls, knowledgeably answered the numerous questions and concerns we had, and even personally met our daughter at the San Diego airport.

The treatment team at PDV was, to say the least, excellent! I personally have been a healthcare provider in a hospital for over 30 years, so I have a good understanding of everything that is required of a healthcare facility. The program at PDV is structured, organized, well-planned and efficient, AND it adheres to the stringent regulations that are required for healthcare facilities. Yes, there are rules and guidelines that the patients, staff, and any visitors have to follow on a daily basis. However, these rules and guidelines are in place for the patients’ benefit, care, and well-being. Patient safety, patient privacy and confidentiality, and, most importantly, QUALITY PATIENT CARE and RECOVERY are the priorities at PDV at all times. The majority of the patients that arrive at PDV are in critical condition from their eating disorder by the time they are admitted to PDV. As with our daughter, they have battled their eating disorder and eating disorder-associated complications for years without success. The Treatment Team at PDV consists of eating disorders specialists – physicians, counselors, dieticians, social workers, nurses, and other professionals – all working together in seamless continuity to guide the patient toward successful recovery. The Treatment Team at PDV TREATS the ENTIRE PATIENT and focuses on HEALING the ENTIRE PATIENT, not just the “eating disorder”. My husband and I were fortunate enough to be able to visit for two separate 1-week portions of our daughter’s stay at PDV. We participated in numerous group sessions and family sessions. We had meals with our daughter, during which we learned meal-support techniques. To say the least, we were impressed! We learned SO much during our visits and during our daughter’s treatment stay at PDV. Steve and Dana Schaefer, along with the entire PDV staff, are awesome! They have been blessed with tremendous talent for helping individuals with eating disorders, and the families of these individuals, in their healing process. Because of the care and treatment received at Puenta De Vida, our daughter has a new beginning on her future and her life. I would highly recommend this facility to anyone seeking help and recovery from an eating disorder, whether it is for themself or for a loved one. From the bottom of our hearts, THANK YOU to Steve, Dana, and the entire Treatment Team at Puenta De Vida!

EB in Louisiana

Please anyone who has an eating disorder please do not base where to go to treatment from a review site. You should speak to the facilities yourself and make an informed decision. This is not like picking a movie or a restaurant to go to this is a very serious decision and most of the time when people write reviews about something like this it is in a time that they are upset. So please take everything into account and not just the ranting’s of people who may not be in a good place emotionally. However if this is the only resource you have then let me explain why I think this is a great place to go.

1. Puente De Vida is a small facility. This allows for many benefits such as the ability to focus on the individual rather than having to deal with the masses. It allows for the residents to become close and support each other. It allows the staff to supervise the patients thoroughly to help prevent behavior that is unhealthy and that encourages the eating disorder.

2. The facility has highly qualified staff from every discipline to effectively treat the whole patient. Including nutritional restoration, psychiatric evaluation , nursing staff to monitor the patient’s health at all times, a nurse practitioner to oversee the medical progression of health, and of course a full staff of licensed therapists that guide the patients through intense group and individual therapy sessions.

3. The staff fights the insurance companies to try to keep the patients until the patient and the whole treatment team feels the patient is ready to go home.

4. There is a very strict schedule to provide structure and stability in a time in our life that is chaos.

These points and many more make this an effective facility for recovery . I entered PDV in December of 2007 and left in March of 2008. I was fifteen at the time and traveled a long way from my home in Texas. I was in a terrible emotional state at the time and was fully immersed in my eating disorder. Today five years later I am fully immersed in recovery I am happily married I am a Licensed Nurse with a full time Job and can live a full happy and functional life. This full turnaround of my life is largely due to the fact that I was fortunate enough to spend time in a facility like this one. The strengths of residential programs are numerous and this facility truly exemplifies these strengths.

This is a place that if you follow the rules, you trust the treatment team, are ready to recover and work as hard as you can you will find your way to recovery and that should be your goal. If you want an easy time, do not want to dig deep or work on your real issues and want to just go in and put a band aide on then this is not the right place. Of course you won’t always get along with all the therapists it is not their job to be your friend it is their job to help you get better and that is what they do best.

This is the only facility that I have ever been to so there may be others out there that are also effective but I do know that this place really does provide what it takes to find your way to recovery.

I went to Puente de Vida from February 2011 to June 2011. I am from Texas. Going to Puente de Vida was the most important decision of my life and turned out to be the greatest and most valuable experience. I am beyond grateful to the entire staff. Steve did my intake and spent hours listening to my story and figuring out the treatment I needed. Through body work therapy, he helped other women identify their traumas that have been suppressed for years. I have heard from many women that he is the best trauma therapist in the nation and one of the few who uses body work. Dana holds a special place in my heart because she helped with my weekly family therapy and was able to do it all over the phone since my parents couldn’t afford to travel numerous times to San Diego. I trusted her and went to her with all my struggles. I appreciated her time, attentiveness, care, sense of humor, and ways to explain things so I could understand them. Outings were also very fun with her! I would not be here without them, physically, mentally, or emotionally.



To recover from an eating disorder, someone needs treatment 24/7. ED doesn’t rest; he is even present in your dreams. He greedily awaits any moment when you will be vulnerable. I was lucky to spend 3 months in residential treatment at PDV. I was moved down to PHP and IOP when they felt I was ready, otherwise they fought for my insurance company to pay for what I needed, and I am grateful for that.



PDV is so special because it is run by a family that is 100% dedicated to its patients, their family members, and their futures, ones without ED. They are all intimately involved. I have nothing but good things to say about PDV. Those, like me, who have completed their treatment and are in a good spot in recovery today will have the same positive feedback. PDV has changed our lives. I have met lifelong best friends who are amazing women. I know what FREEDOM tastes like and I fight for it every day in recovery. After peeling back layers and layers of what life has thrown at me I have uncovered the true me again. I have gained priceless skills to help me beat ED, for life, and to pass on. What I learned in treatment is beyond anything and far more important than anything I would learn in college. I learned what there needs to be more of in the world today. I’ve gained empathy and awareness. I know longer believe that I am unlovable, ugly, a failure, undeserving, etc. I am more powerful than my thoughts now!



No one choices to have an eating disorder, but I encourage you to choose recovery starting at PDV, health, hope, and freedom.