Mental Health
Youth Services: Intensive Outpatient Program
IOP is more intensive than traditional outpatient
and is designed to achieve short-term stabilization and resolution of immediate
problem areas. The patient and family are offered services by a team of professionals.
The patient is enrolled in a time-limited program with other patients working
on similar issues. The treatment team may include licensed therapists, nurses,
program specialists and a doctor.
Montevista Hospital offers child and adolescent
psychiatric intensive outpatient program. It's a four-hour on-campus program
that is recommended as a step down from partial hospitalization or as a direct
admission. As with partial hospitalization, Montevista provides transportation
to and from home and serves meals or snacks dependent on time of day the patient
is on campus.
The length of each child's treatment is determined
by his/her psychiatrist's evaluation of the child's progress; however, the average
length of stay is three to six weeks for a child and two to three weeks for
an adolescent.
What kind of treatment will my child get?
Children and adolescents will (separately by
age) attend group therapy five days per week and will be seen individually by
their doctor at least once a week. They set daily goals every morning, and then
attend an on-campus school for three hours. After lunch they attend daily progress
group sessions led by a mental health professionals, where they identify the
feelings they are experiencing, their causes and effects. This includes focus
groups facilitated by trained mental health technicians where the participants
learn and work on coping skills such as anger management, communication and
relationship skills. Adjunctive therapies such as art and physical education
are offered for an hour and a half during the day. Nurses administer medications
as prescribed; and children may see a nurse at any time for any issue.
Advantages of IOP:
- Individual lives at home
- Sessions may be conducted while the individual
continues to go to work or school.
- Individual therapy is augmented by group
therapies specific to the patient's needs.
- Multiple professional disciplines work with
the patient and family.
- Frequency of attendance is determined by
the individual's specific needs.
- Specialty programs available
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