Unlike a residential program, IOP is a lower level of care that can accommodate those with particularly busy lifestyles. During intensive outpatient, you can expect to take part in various therapeutic activities such as counseling and educational classes. However, the frequency of required sessions is significantly lower than inpatient treatment to allow patients more time to focus on their reintegration into daily life.

Alongside PHP, IOP treatment offers comprehensive aftercare services. Similar to partial hospitalization, patients in IOP receive continuing care services and support while recovering outside of an inpatient facility. Unlike PHP, however, IOP services are less restrictive and provide more time for patients to focus on their life responsibilities outside of treatment.

As a step-down level of care, intensive outpatient programs can run at varying lengths depending on the provider and the patient’s treatment needs. With that being said, most IOP programs occur or the course of a month or longer to ensure patients require the support they need while re-integrating into everyday activities.

Typically, there are two levels of intensive outpatient care, IOP 5 and IOP 3. IOP 5 means you will attend 5 IOP groups/week, IOP 3 means you will attend 3 IOP groups/week.

IOP 5 is better for someone who needs a bit more structure and support, or is stepping into IOP from a partial-hospitalization or inpatient program. IOP 3 is better for individuals who are balancing life with their recovery, and may have a part or full-time job, a family, or other obligations that limit their schedule.

Group therapy sessions in IOP usually last from 1-1.5 hours. Individual therapy sessions can also count as your clinical hours, toward your IOP clinical requirements. Individual therapy sessions last for one hour.

During IOP, patients typically have access to amenities such as recreational activities, individual and group counseling, and access to substance abuse education classes and support groups. 

After completing an intensive outpatient program, patients may join a traditional outpatient program, move into a sober living home, or continuing participating in local recovery meetings to help them maintain their sobriety surrounded by community support. 

As a quality substance abuse treatment provider, we are extremely fastidious when it comes to personally vetting local outpatient treatment programs for patients who graduate from our higher levels of care. This is because we can only speak to the quality of our program and offerings with utmost certainty.

With that being said, we conduct meticulous research into the program details and service offerings prior to recommending any outpatient centers to our patients who request additional aftercare options.

If you prefer to continue your immersion within our local recovery community, you can speak with your case manager about sober living options. Our ties within the community make it easy to find you housing arrangements with one of our preferred providers for sober living.