Many people know when they need to get help for their mental health. But they worry that the time commitment required by treatment will take away from important responsibilities. An Intensive Outpatient Program (IOP) provides flexible, comprehensive care without jeopardizing the daily activities people care about. In this partial-day program, patients build practical skills to overcome mental health challenges and use those skills in real life.
If you or someone you know is struggling in their daily tasks due to a mental health condition but doesn’t need 24/7 care, an IOP could be the right treatment option. Learn about Intensive Outpatient Programs and the benefits they provide for people of all ages with mental health challenges.
What Is an Intensive Outpatient Program (IOP)?
An Intensive Outpatient Program (IOP) is a more rigorous mental health treatment than traditional weekly therapy. The IOP level of care offers group and individual therapy for about three hours daily, four to five days a week. Depending on their symptoms and support needs, patients are typically in the program for five to eight weeks (about two months).
IOP is considered the least intensive option among the higher-level psychiatric care options. People often confuse IOP with PHP—Partial Hospitalization Program. The most significant difference between the two levels of care is the time commitment. PHP is a full-day program, typically 5-8 hours a day, five days a week. Meanwhile, an IOP is a partial-day program that allows patients to maintain other daily activities and routines, such as work or school.
An intensive outpatient program (IOP) can serve as a transitional program for patients who are shifting from a higher level of care back into their daily lives. With IOP treatment, patients recently discharged from an inpatient hospitalization or residential program can access therapeutic support while transitioning back to their typical day-to-day activities. Or, an IOP level of care can be beneficial for patients who aren’t improving with weekly therapy and medication management. For these individuals, IOP can offer more in-depth treatment and jump-start patient healing.
Signs a Person Could Benefit from IOP
An Intensive Outpatient Program can be an essential step in mental health treatment for people of all ages. IOP provides a flexible yet effective approach to treatment when an individual is experiencing moderate to severe symptoms.
Signs a person may benefit from an IOP:
- Weekly therapy isn’t improving symptoms
- Symptoms are getting worse and significantly impact daily tasks
- Recently discharged from a higher level of care or an emergency department
- Needs intensive care with less of a time commitment than a full-day program
However, an IOP is not an appropriate therapy option for people who are at risk of hurting themselves or others. Nor is IOP recommended for patients who need constant supervision or detox. In these situations, we can refer the patient to a higher level of care within the PrairieCare system of care or another treatment program.
At PrairieCare, we offer no-cost mental health screenings to determine whether you or a loved one are a good fit for any of our programs. Fill out a short form today to request a screening, and our team will contact you within one business day.
5 Benefits of Intensive Outpatient Treatment
#1: Flexibility
One of the most significant benefits of an IOP is the flexibility it provides to patients. Since it’s a partial-day program, patients can still maintain daily responsibilities while receiving comprehensive and effective mental health treatment. Many people can continue important daily activities such as attending school, working, and spending time with their families. In addition, many IOPs offer telehealth options, which increase access for rural communities, people with disabilities, and other underserved communities.
#2: Continued Support After Inpatient Care
An IOP provides continued support to any patient who needs to increase their therapeutic progress or needs support after discharge from an inpatient program. For people who have been in an acute inpatient hospital or a residential treatment program, it can be daunting to go back to everyday life and all its stressors. An IOP allows people to return to their daily activities, but still have rigorous mental health professional support to ensure they continue to heal.
#3: Opportunities to Practice Skills Outside of Treatment
Unlike an inpatient program, in IOP people can immediately use the skills they learn in their daily lives. When a patient gains a new coping skill, they can start utilizing it in real-life scenarios at home, in relationships, in parenting, in their community, or at school or work. If a challenge arises, they can still access support and unpack the experience in treatment. By exploring the situation with a mental health expert, patients can find new management techniques to overcome similar complications in the future.
#4: Structured Schedule
An IOP is a partial-day program, but it still provides a therapeutic structure and a stable routine. In addition, patients are helped to identify their path to healing by a clear treatment plan. The daily schedule may include psychoeducation, skills groups, individual therapy, occupational therapy, and other modalities. An organized schedule in an IOP helps patients create healthy management skills for when they are discharged from the program.
#5: Support System
Group therapy is a central component of IOP. A group of peers with the same challenges and treatment goals becomes a support system for each other. Patients can feel comfortable sharing their experiences in a nonjudgmental setting, with others who understand what they’re going through. And they learn coping skills from experienced therapists who guide the group through daily life challenges.
What Do You Do in IOP?
An IOP provides intensive therapeutic services in a coordinated and structured environment. Each patient’s treatment team considers their unique cognitive, emotional, developmental, family, and spiritual needs as part of their individualized mental health treatment plan. Patients collaborate in developing the treatment plan with a multidisciplinary team that guides them in setting goals.
Each day, patients participate in a variety of treatment modalities based on the specialty track they’re enrolled in.
Types of groups an IOP patient may participate in:
- Group therapy: A safe place where patients meet with a therapist and other group members struggling with similar issues. In this setting, each group member can process the impact of stressors and manage their symptoms. These groups provide a safe place for support, increased self-awareness, and integration of skills learned in the psychoeducation groups.
- Psychoeducation group: Designed to offer specific education and skills to help patients learn and utilize coping strategies to decrease the severity and duration of their symptoms.
- Yoga group: Provides patients with a gentle, refreshing, and relaxing experience, emphasizing breath and gentle movement. All exercises can be modified to meet everyone’s needs.
- Art therapy: Uses visual art, facilitated through a therapeutic lens, to support patients’ insight, self-esteem, psychological health, cognitive abilities, sensory-motor functioning, interpersonal skills, and symptom management
- Occupational therapy: An occupational therapist works with patients in groups and/or individually to work on skills to maximize their ability to participate in life activities that are important and meaningful. Occupational therapists help people to adapt and organize their daily activities related to self-care, education, work, home management, medical management, community participation, and leisure activities into daily routines to promote health and wellness and to prevent or minimize dysfunction.
PrairieCare’s Approach to Intensive Outpatient Treatment
We offer IOP for people of all ages and life stages, knowing people need flexibility even when they’re experiencing moderate to severe mental health symptoms. Our treatment includes support for the most common mental health conditions, including anxiety, depression, trauma, and neurodevelopmental disorders. Our team is experienced in the complexities of mental health and can recommend a higher level of care without patients needing to leave our healthcare system.
In our IOP programs, patients receive support from a multidisciplinary team that includes a psychiatrist, advanced practice nurses, psychologists, therapists, and social workers. Through individual and group therapy, patients can work on their mental health challenges in a structured environment with peers who share similar experiences to them.
We provide the following IOP specialty tracks to accommodate people throughout the life stages:
- Perinatal: For pregnant and postpartum people who are experiencing postpartum depression and other Perinatal Mood and Anxiety Disorders
- Youth IOP: Utilizes evidence-based practices to treat youth ages 11–17 whose mental health interferes with their daily functioning
- Young Adult IOP: Addresses symptoms in young adults having trouble transitioning into their next stage of life
- Adult IOP: A structured environment for adults who need intensive therapeutic services that allow them to maintain their responsibilities outside of treatment
- Adapted Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (A-DBT): Uses DBT skills and approaches to treat depression and improve associated issues, such as suicidality, self-injurious behavior, emotional dysregulation, and/or struggles with interpersonal relationships
Interested in IOP? Contact Our Team.
Each person experiences mental health issues differently, and that’s why we offer a no-cost screening with our experts to help you access the care you need. Call 952-826-8475 Monday-Friday, between 8:00 am and 5:00 pm, to learn more about IOP, access a mental health screening, and start the admissions process.
Our trained Assessment and Intake Department will help you identify mental health symptoms and find the appropriate service to fit your needs. We pride ourselves in creating compassionate and comprehensive treatment settings where you or your loved one can focus on healing.
Learn more about assessment and intake at PrairieCare.
Intensive Outpatient Locations in Minnesota
PrairieCare has convenient locations throughout the Twin Cities to provide access to needed mental health services.
Our in-person intensive outpatient program locations in Minnesota include:
We offer telehealth options for our IOP services that combine flexibility with comprehensive care. Patients can access the following programs through telehealth appointments:
- Pregnancy and Postpartum IOP
- Adult IOP
- Adult Adapted DBT
About PrairieCare
At PrairieCare, we believe that mental illness is real, common, and treatable. We provide individuals of all ages with the psychiatric care they truly need. PrairieCare is one of the nation’s largest providers of premier psychiatric services to the Twin Cities metro area, Rochester, and Mankato. Our programs and services span the full continuum of care, with the understanding that each patient has unique experiences, life stages, and needs.
Whether a child is experiencing anxiety in school, a new parent needs perinatal psychiatric services, or a teenager needs support for an eating disorder, our clinicians are accredited and highly experienced in supporting patients of all ages with a wide variety of diagnoses.