Mental health intensive outpatient programming: An outcome and satisfaction evaluation of a private practice model

The current economic climate of mental health care requires an adaptation o f traditional treatment paradigms for practitioners to succeed in the marke tplace. Psychologists have not really capitalized on their training and exp ertise in developing outpatient treatment models for acute care. A private practice outpatient program, based in crisis intervention and group therapy , is described. The effectiveness of a mental health intensive outpatient p rogram (TOP) in a private practice setting is demonstrated. IOPs represent an opportunity for private practice groups to collaborate with larger syste ms of care while providing clinically effective, consumer friendly, and saf e treatment for acute patients in traditional outpatient settings.