Intensive Outpatient Therapy

Restoration’s Intensive Outpatient Program is based on Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT). The program is conducted over a five-week period. During the program, DBT skills that include crisis management skills, the ability to regulate emotional reactions, and the ability to enhance motivation to change are taught and practiced. The intended outcome of the Intensive Outpatient Program is to decrease in life threatening behaviors like self-harm or suicide attempts and improve overall quality of life.

In general, an Intensive Outpatient Program (IOP) is a short-term treatment modality that teaches useful coping skills that reduce emotional distress. An IOP can be a good fit for an individual who is experiencing significant mental health distress (depression, anxiety, eating disorder, substance abuse) that needs more intensive therapeutic intervention than weekly counseling sessions, but does not necessarily meet the requirements for hospitalization.
Restoration’s IOP is a five (5) week treatment that assists people in developing skills to manage their emotional distress. The skills that are taught are taken from Dialectical Behavior Therapy.

Those who participate in Restoration’s IOP are expected to attend three group meetings a week. Groups will be held in the evening. The length of each session will be approximately two hours. Restoration recommends those who participate in the IOP engage in two cycles of the five-week program.

The IOP will be conducted in a group format. During the IOP, the (DBT certified) facilitator will train participants on specific DBT skills (i.e. Mindfulness, Interpersonal Effectiveness, Emotional Regulation, and Distress Tolerance), provide an opportunity for each participant to practice the DBT skills, and process the group’s experience.

Participants in the IOP program are also encouraged to engage in individual therapy while participating in the IOP program. The individual therapist does not have to be a therapist at Restoration, but the therapist should be knowledgeable of DBT principles and skills. Restoration can provide a DBT therapist if a participant in the IOP program does not already have an individual counselor.

Ineffective behaviors include:

• Mindlessness; emptiness; being out of touch with self and others; being judgmental.
• Interpersonal conflict and stress; loneliness.
• Absence of flexibility; difficulties with change.
• Up-and-down and extreme emotions; mood-dependent behaviors; difficulties in regulating emotions.
• Impulsive behaviors; acting without thinking; difficulties accepting reality as it is; willfulness; addiction.

Skillful responses include:

• Mindfulness.
• Interpersonal Effectiveness.
• Emotion Regulation.
• Distress Tolerance.