Adult Intensive Outpatient Program

The Adult Intensive Outpatient Program, for ages 18+, encourages you to remain in control of your own life. You can still live at home, go to work, get a job, and attend school while beginning to rebuild your personal life with the help and support you receive from the clinical, emotional, and peer support systems provided. The Adult Intensive Outpatient Program offers you a minimum of 13 hours of services weekly.

You will receive weekly individual therapy with your DBT clinician and acquire DBT skills in 3 hour groups 4 days a week. The Adult Intensive Outpatient Program offers three tracks to best meet individual needs.

MORNING PROGRAM 9:00 am – 12:00 pm Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday (In-Person)
AFTERNOON PROGRAM 11:00 am – 2:00 pm Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday (In-Person)
EVENING PROGRAM 5:00 pm – 8:00 pm Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday (Telehealth)

Our Adult Intensive Outpatient Program includes the following:

Mindfulness: Participants are taught how to focus the mind, direct their attention, and observe and describe what they are feeling and thinking in the moment without judgment.

Distress Tolerance: Participants are taught effective ways to distract and soothe themselves while considering pros and cons of their actions. These skills are used to replace maladaptive behaviors such as angry outbursts, binge eating, substance use, and self-injury.

Emotion Regulation: Participants learn how to identify and label their emotions, how to increase positive moods, and how to become less vulnerable to negative moods such as chronic depression, anxiety, or anger.

Interpersonal Effectiveness: Participants address difficulties in maintaining consistent and healthy relationships by acquiring skills such as how to ask for what you want, how to say no, and how to maintain self-respect and independence.

Weekly Consultation Team: Our DBT treatment team meets weekly for 120 minutes to share feedback and discuss methods to ensure effective and compassionate treatment. Time is spent discussing any aspects of the treatment that may interfere with a participant’s progress – all the while keeping each other practicing within a dialectical framework.

Individual Psychotherapy: Participants must meet with an individual DBT therapist weekly to strengthen and apply the skills taught. Participants will be assigned diary cards to complete and engage in Behavior Chain Analysis in session to bring about greater awareness of their behaviors, thoughts, feelings, and actions. These are 50 minute sessions.

Phone Coaching: When patients feel unsure of how to approach a particular issue or situation, they are encouraged to contact their individual therapist for help in using DBT skills. This is designed to help and support the use of skills in daily life.

The Intensive Outpatient Program is designed for people who are struggling with problems associated with behaviors such as substance use and abuse, eating disorders, mood disorders such as anxiety and depression, and personality disorders like Borderline Personality Disorder.

Eligibility for the Adult Intensive Outpatient Program is determined by a mandatory clinical 90-minute assessment which is conducted as part of the admissions process. The Adult Intensive Outpatient Program is customized for each person, guided by the initial assessment and follow up.

Our Adult Intensive Outpatient Program curriculum runs for a period of eight (8) weeks but we recognize that each patient has different needs. Some of our patients require more support and may sign up again to strengthen their skills and solidify their ‘recovery’ and then move into a 20-week Skills Training Group for further skills practice and generalization.

DBT is an evidence-based treatment and research shows that 6 months to 1 year of continued treatment inclusive of step-down levels of care, is highly advisable. Your DBT primary clinician will oversee your progress and make appropriate recommendations in an individualized treatment plan with you collaboratively.

In the Adult Intensive Outpatient Program, you receive services primarily through skills group training and your individual therapist with whom you will meet on a weekly basis while in treatment. The program incorporates fifty (50) minutes of mindfulness practice (mindful yoga, art and other mindfulness practice) and two (2) hours of skills group training led by comprehensively trained DBT clinicians. Modules of mindfulness, distress tolerance, emotion regulation, and interpersonal effectiveness are introduced in an experiential and interactive structured framework throughout the eight (8) week curriculum.

Research shows that individuals whose families are involved in treatment have a much better prognosis and higher success rate overall. The DBT Center of Orange County will make a concerted effort to include family members in treatment whenever possible.

Family Members are encouraged to sign-up for our DBT Skills Workshop for Loved Ones, an 8-week workshop where parents and other loved ones of those struggling with emotional regulation and interpersonal challenges are invited to learn DBT skills.

The Family Connections program is another wonderful resource which offers a FREE 12 week curriculum teaching them DBT skills. This group is hosted through NEABPD and can be accessed through this link https://www.borderlinepersonalitydisorder.org/family-connections/family-connections-pre-registration-form/.

We accept cash, checks and all major credit cards. For patients that have current ‘out-of-network’ Insurance coverage, we may be able to work with your insurance carrier to reduce your out of pocket expense. Please contact our office at (949) 480-7767 for further information.