When two University of Chicago-trained clinicians, one who cut her teeth working directly with a pioneer in adolescent eating disorder research and one who has spent her career helping families navigate some of their hardest moments, decide to build something together, you get more than a therapy practice. Sara Desai and Kristen Anderson co-founded the Chicago Center for Evidence Based Treatment (CCEBT) with a combined four decades of experience treating eating and anxiety disorders, and a shared belief that families aren’t just bystanders in a child’s recovery but an essential part of the solution.
This summer, they’re bringing that philosophy right into the community with a first-of-its-kind summer camp at Kohl Children’s Museum June 8 – 12, 2026, designed for kids ages 5 to 11 with selective eating, featuring sensory exploration, food investigation, and creative activities that make trying something new feel a lot less scary. If this camp sounds like a fit for your family, you can find the full details and register here! Welcome, Sara and Kristen!
CCEBT co-founders Sara Desai and Kristen Anderson
Hi Sara and Kristen! Give us a quick snapshot of you and your life right now.
Sara: I live in Glenview and Kristen lives in Elmhurst. We both have school aged kids, and are spending time managing kids sports and activities.
What’s something about you that might surprise people—outside of your work and mom life?
Sara: I love playing tennis and Kristen loves to make art in all forms.
What are you loving lately?
We are both loving the podcast The Good Hang with Amy Poehler, and the book The Correspondent.
What’s something about motherhood, work, or balancing both that you wish more people talked about honestly?
Ask for help! In the end it takes a lot of support and coordination to navigate parenting. We aren’t meant to do it alone.
You’re both co-founders of the therapy practice Chicago Center for Evidence Based Treatment (CCEBT). What type of therapy practice is this, and what is the target age range for patients?
Chicago Center for Evidence Based Treatment (CCEBT) is a group practice specializing in the treatment of eating and anxiety disorders. We work with people from young kids to older adults and specialize in working with families. We have offices in Northbrook and Chicago and practice virtually across the United States and abroad.
The team of therapists at CCEBT
Kristen, you started your career working alongside one of the most recognized names in eating disorder research. How did that shape the clinician you became?
Working with Daniel Le Grange early in my career was really the foundation for everything. He is one of the pioneers of Family-Based Treatment, and being immersed in that work from the very beginning shaped how I think about eating disorder treatment at every level. It cemented my belief that families are not the problem — they are the path forward. That perspective has stayed with me through twenty years of clinical work, and it is really the heart of what we do at CCEBT.
Your team works with families going through a really difficult time in their life. What keeps you coming back to this work after all these years?
Hope! People recover and get better. When parents come to us they are often scared, exhausted, and desperate for someone to tell them what to do. Being able to give them a concrete role in their child’s recovery and then watching them step into it never gets old. We get photos from former clients now living full, wonderful lives, and that says everything. This work is hard, but the outcomes remind you exactly why it matters.
Kristen, you have presented on eating disorder treatment nationally and internationally, and you were the Clinical Director at the University of Chicago Eating Disorders Program. At what point did you and Sara decide that the North Shore community needed something you weren’t seeing anywhere else?
We both saw firsthand how hard it was for families to find specialized, evidence-based care close to home. The families we were working with were often driving long distances or piecing together treatment that wasn’t really designed for how eating disorders actually work in a family system. We knew there was a better way to do it, and we knew this community deserved to have access to it. Starting CCEBT felt less like a business decision and more like a natural next step.
Sara, before specializing in eating disorders, you worked as a crisis worker in a hospital emergency department. That’s a pretty different world from an outpatient therapy practice — what did that experience teach you?
Working in the ER is intense. You assess situations quickly, meet people in their most acute moments of distress, and figure out the right next step — fast. It gave me an understanding of how families experience crisis, and how important it is to connect people to the right resources at the right time. That instinct carries into everything we do at CCEBT, especially when a family comes to us not knowing where to turn.
How is your program different from traditional IOP PHP programs?
We believe families play an enormous role in their young people’s lives. We work to ensure families know how to best support their child during this difficult time.
What advice do you have for parents regarding when it might be time to reach out for support related to an eating disorder?
Follow your gut and don’t wait to ask questions if you are concerned!
This year you have a summer camp program at Kohl Children’s Museum in June; tell us about this program!
We are very excited about our CCEBT summer camp! Hosted at Kohl Children’s Museum, this program will allow kids age 5-11 with selective eating to participate in fun, engaging and creative activities to help support engaging in new experiences. Each day of camp has a different theme including Sensory Superpowers, investigating new foods, and exploring emotions. If this resonates with your family, sign up for the camp here!
Is there anything else you’d like us to know about CCEBT that we didn’t cover above?
We are proud of the amazing team at CCEBT. Our therapists are experts in the area of eating and anxiety disorders, great clinicians, and wonderful people. We are all very passionate about supporting people across the lifespan with eating and anxiety disorders.
Where can we connect and ask questions?
We are proud to be a part of the Chicago and North Shore community and are available to help support our community in any way we can. Please feel free to reach out to us directly at [email protected] with any questions. Phone: 312-600-3936 Web: www.ccebt.com.
