A new intensive outpatient program at CHOC will offer solutions to teenagers and their families seeking hope and intervention for emerging mental health problems.
The Intensive Outpatient Program (IOP) at CHOC is designed for teens who show moderate to severe symptoms of anxiety, depression or other mental health problems.
Participants ages 13 to 18 attend after-school programming for three hours a day, four days a week in sessions that span eight weeks total.
Run by experienced, licensed clinicians who specialize in working with teens, the IOP incorporates therapy, mindfulness exercises, coping and problem-solving skills, art therapy and other expressive therapies to help teens develop and practice healthy behaviors and how to manage their feelings, emotions and personal interactions.
Parents or guardians also participate in family counseling and skills groups two days a week in the late afternoon and early evening.
A board-certified adolescent psychiatrist is also available for consultation and medication management, as is case coordination with other medical providers and the teen’s school, and crisis support.
Teens who could benefit from the program may exhibit a range of behaviors:
- Moderate to severe symptoms of anxiety and depression
- Extreme emotional outbursts
- Significant conflict with family or friends
- Suicidal thoughts
- Decreases in functioning at home or school
- Self-harming behaviors, such as cutting, burning, pulling out hair, excessive picking and scratching the body to cause bleeding
Time in the IOP is spent on identifying interventions that can aid participants in a variety of ways:
- Improve symptoms of depression and anxiety
- Improve functioning at home, school, and with friends
- Develop new skills to cope with stress.
- Establish new and healthy behaviors to learn how to manage feelings, emotions, and personal interactions.
The program is a component of CHOC’s landmark pediatric mental health system of care launched in spring 2015 to ensure children, adolescents and young adults with mental illness get the services and support they need.
The system of care also includes outpatient support for patients whose physical conditions are complicated by mental health challenges; mental health screenings for all 12-year-olds at their well child visits with CHOC pediatricians; and an increased presence of psychologists and social workers in the Julia & George Argyros Emergency Department at CHOC Hospital.
The cornerstone of the wide-ranging effort is the CHOC Mental Health Inpatient Center, set to open this spring at CHOC Hospital. With 18 beds, it will be the first unit in Orange County to accommodate children younger than 12.
Call 714-509-8481 to refer a patient to the Intensive Outpatient Program at CHOC.
