IOP, or intensive outpatient treatment, allows patients to seek intensive services without uprooting them from their lives. Unlike an inpatient treatment center, teens are still able to attend school and return home at night to their families during IOP. For teens struggling with mental health issues and with addiction, IOP can teach them healthy habits and coping skills that they can then practice throughout each day outside of the treatment sessions.
Holistic Approaches to Mental Health
Holistic therapies promote whole-person wellness through therapeutic approaches that address the body, mind, and spirit. There are several types of holistic therapies that patients can use as part of their IOP treatment. These therapeutic approaches help treat a wide range of co-occurring conditions including anxiety, depression, and trauma.
During holistic therapy, teens learn and practice experiential therapies, such as meditation and relaxation techniques that can be used to cope with stress, as well as expressive therapeutic approaches such as somatic therapy. As opposed to just treating symptoms, holistic therapy prioritizes improving the connection between body and mind, using strategies that can help patients in their journey to overall wellness.
Addressing Negative Thoughts
Treating addiction or mental health struggles requires teens to address negative thoughts. IOP sessions teach teens about coping skills in order to address or detach themselves from negative thoughts and emotions. Therapeutic approaches like mindfulness therapy help patients become more self-aware about their triggers and symptoms. By addressing negative thoughts, teens have a greater understanding of the best ways to cope with them and overcome them.
Not every treatment session through IOP is the same. It requires a unique approach that can be adjusted based on the needs and symptoms of each patient. To receive the best treatment, therapists and board-certified psychiatric teams in IOP programs can help patients identify and address their struggles, symptoms, and negative thoughts.
Developing Positive Coping Strategies
Once a patient has received help identifying negative thoughts, an IOP program can help them develop positive coping strategies that they can carry with them throughout each day. Because an IOP is not an overnight facility, patients have the opportunity to practice coping strategies in their day-to-day life while still in the program. This helps best set them up for success upon completion of the program.
Preventing Isolation
IOP programs allow teens to continue with schooling and socialization outside of the program. Many of our clients have been very isolated at home before coming to care at New Harbor. It is common for teens who struggle with addiction or mental health issues to feel loneliness in that struggle. An IOP program prevents healing teens from experiencing isolation from family, friends, and their normal environment. This helps them create a strong support system to help carry them through the program.
When teens need to seek treatment to help them with mental health and addiction struggles, it can be hard on them socially. An IOP program provides teens with more privacy while seeking help, giving them the control to determine for themselves how much or how little their peers can be aware of their treatment. It allows patients who work to determine how much their workplace or employers should be aware of the program that they are undergoing. The privacy that patients receive through IOP, as opposed to a residential program, places them in more control over the comfortability of their environment as they seek help.
Personalized Therapeutic Approaches in IOP
Every patient in an IOP program has a unique story. All therapeutic plans at New Harbor are custom tailored to each client, whatever their issues may be. Through an IOP program, teens receive a personalized therapeutic approach that works with their struggles, conditions, and life outside of the program. With the help of an experienced and board-certified team, teens going through an IOP program will receive the highest level of care to improve their overall wellness.
While seeking help through IOP, clients and staff can adjust the approach to suit the lives and schedule of the patient. This becomes much more encouraging for patients to stick with IOP, as it can be worked around their schedule to reduce any inconvenience. With flexibility, patients have the ultimate motivation to continue to seek proper treatment for their unique struggles.