It is with sincere regret that I have made the decision to close the Oak House in September 2010.  This has been a really difficult decision for me to make, as the Oak House has been a large part of my life.  We have put a lot of time, energy, effort and personal sacrifice into trying to make the Oak House sustainable.  We have also considered the needs of everyone involved, and as a management team we have unanimously agreed that to continue, is not possible.  I am aware of the huge gap in outpatient services closing the Oak House will create, and for that, I am sorry.

I have lived and breathed the Oak House for the last 10 years of my life.  I know the need, I understand what is required to help people and their families with this illness and I have not lost passion for this area. We are proud of what we have achieved and fully believe our program and treatment philosophies are effective.  I have a team of highly skilled, experienced and passionate staff who are all experts in this field.  This decision is not as a result of their performance, quite the contrary. 

I established this business with the passion and commitment to deliver effective, respectful and accessible treatment for people with Eating Disorders.  I believe that we have a highly successful program that achieves excellent results.  We have learned, in order to achieve effective results, a multidisciplinary specialist team offering time intensive treatment for the duration of the illness is required.  This model of care is very costly for most families.  We have strived for years to walk the fine line between what we charge and managing the business needs.  The real costs of providing a comprehensive program of recovery for clients and their families has increased well beyond what we are currently charging.  We have only been able to remain viable in more recent years due to a significant and generous philanthropic donation and community support.  This funding is not ongoing, nor recurrent and therefore leaves the Oak House unviable for the future. We have exhausted all possible options available to us, such as seeking government support and private health insurance rebates across the program, which would allow us to continue on.  I am not prepared to significantly increase our fees to make us viable, as this would provide a service only a very select group of clients could afford and is incongruent with our aspirations.  Therefore I have decided to close the Oak House and to do so with integrity, ensuring smooth transitions for all the staff, clients and families.

I would like to acknowledge the brilliant Oak House team and their dedication to our clients and families.  They are all very talented and experienced in their field in working with people of all ages with eating disorders. I highly recommend them to potential employers, as it would be a great loss to the eating disorder community if they were not able to find employment within this area of expertise.  All of the Oak House team are going into private practice (on a full or part-time capacity) and I am providing their names and contact details for you to access for effective treatment that upholds the Oak House philosophies. 

I would like to thank all our clients, families and staff, both past and present, for sharing and enriching our journey.  We have learnt so much from each of you.  I have tried to contact each of you to inform you of this decision personally.  I am sorry if we were unable to make contact directly.  My sincere thanks also goes to Claire Vickery and Christine Morgan of the Butterfly Foundation and the support we have had within the eating disorder community over the years. I highly recommend supporting the Butterfly Foundation in their important work as they continue to advocate for sufferers and their families, collaboration, research, training and effective treatment.

On behalf of the entire Oak House Team, I want you to know, we are all devastated by this decision. Personally, this has been an incredible journey and I will miss the Oak House more than I can express.  Despite this, I know it is the only sound decision.  I wish the eating disorder community every success in working collaboratively to achieve freedom from eating disorders for all.

Kind regards,

Belinda Dalton
Director
0411 257 079