When it comes to mental health and/or substance use concerns, the sooner your child and family get help, the better. That’s why with just one call to 1-800-468-3120, you can connect with our team of caring and expert pediatric mental health professionals who are committed to getting your child the help they need.

Our mental health and substance use intensive outpatient programs (IOPs) offer several advantages for children and families:  

• Children and adolescents can participate in more intensive therapy than is possible in a weekly outpatient appointment, enabling us to address more challenging behaviors in partnership with your family. 
• The program’s structure – three or four hours a day, five days a week – enables our multidisciplinary team to do deeper work with the child and family to improve mental health symptoms while teaching needed skills that will help a child cope.
• The child can avoid full-time hospitalization, which can be stressful for both the child and the family.
• The child can continue to live at home and have a normal life outside treatment.

How does IOP work?

• In IOP, patients participate in the onsite program three or four hours a day, five days a week.
• Patients participate in intensive therapy and see a psychiatry provider once a week for medication management.
• The typical length of participation in the program is one to three months. After participation in the program, patients typically step down to a less intensive level of outpatient care for ongoing support once or twice a week.
• Because we believe that each child’s family is an integral part of the child’s overall mental health and long-term wellness, we require family involvement as part of our program.
• We know that children’s needs are different at different developmental stages. That’s why we offer separate mental health IOP programs for children ages 6 to 12, tweens ages 10 to 14, and adolescents ages 13 to 18.
• For young adults ages 18-25, we offer a separate adult IOP program.
• We offer three separate IOPs in local communities for adolescents with both substance use and mental health issues.

If your child or teen is struggling with mental health or substance use challenges, our caring and compassionate team of M Health Fairview pediatric mental health and addiction experts can help. Our goal is always to treat the whole child – mind, body, and spirit – to help your family build a brighter future. Learn more about our comprehensive pediatric mental health services.

How is our IOP service different from our mental health partial hospitalization program (PHP)?

IOP and PHP are both intensive outpatient programs that enable us to do deep work and address challenging behaviors in partnership with your family. Of the two, the IOP is less intensive, lasting three or four hours daily, five days a week.  In IOP, patients also meet with the psychiatric provider once a week for medication management.

The good news is you don’t need to decide yourself what the right level of care for your child will be. Our team of caring experts will conduct an assessment and place your child in the right level of care for their unique needs and challenges.