Eating disorder IOP in Austin, built to fit around your life.
Our intensive outpatient program is 9 hours a week, plus a weekly individual session with your therapist and dietitian and appointments with our psychiatric provider as needed. Enough structure to change the behaviors; enough room to keep working, studying, and being with your family while you do.
The level where recovery meets real life.
An intensive outpatient program — IOP — provides structured group and individual treatment several times a week while you continue living at home and keeping your commitments. It is more than weekly therapy can offer and less than a full treatment day, and for a lot of people it is where recovery actually consolidates.
That is because the hard part of recovery is rarely what happens inside the treatment room. It is the meal you have to manage on a Tuesday night, the work lunch, the grocery store. IOP is designed so you meet those moments while a team is still holding the structure around you, and bring what happened back to the group two days later.
Our IOP is best for people stepping down from a PHP program, and for people stepping up from seeing outpatient providers on their own when that has not been enough.
Where IOP sits
Living at home is not workable for everyone. Our transitional housing in Hyde Park is available alongside IOP as well as PHP.
IOP tends to be the right fit when these are true.
Weekly therapy is not moving things
You have an outpatient therapist, maybe a dietitian, and the behaviors are still there. More frequency, not different people, is often what is missing.
You are stepping down from PHP
You have made real progress at 30 hours a week and need the structure to loosen gradually rather than disappear.
You need to keep working or studying
Stepping fully out of your life is not possible, or not advisable, and treatment has to fit around real obligations.
You are medically stable
You do not currently need the frequent medical monitoring that PHP or a higher level of care provides.
Isolation is part of the problem
Recovery has been a solitary project. Group is where a lot of people stop feeling like the only one.
You want to protect what you have rebuilt
Relapse prevention, after residential or PHP, with people who know your history.
Not sure whether IOP or PHP is the right starting point? Our team can always help determine the proper level of care for you or your loved one. That conversation is free and there is no obligation attached to it.
What your week looks like.
Nine hours of programming, plus your individual sessions. The shape is consistent so the rest of your week can be planned around it.
Group therapy & process groups
Skills groups build emotional regulation, distress tolerance, and relationship skills; process groups build the community that carries you between sessions.
Weekly individual therapy
One-on-one work with a therapist who specializes in eating disorders and trauma, using the modality that fits you.
Weekly dietitian session
Your own registered dietitian, personalized meal planning, and the ongoing adjustment recovery requires.
Supported meals
Eating together with clinical support present, so the skills get practised rather than only discussed.
Psychiatric provider as needed
Medication management available when it is part of your plan, without needing to find it elsewhere.
Experiential outings
Grocery shopping, restaurants, meal planning — practising in the real settings where the eating disorder usually wins.
How the two levels compare.
| IOP | PHP | |
|---|---|---|
| Hours per week | 9 hours, plus weekly individual sessions | 30 hours |
| Best for | Stepping down from PHP, or stepping up from outpatient providers | More acute symptoms; needing a higher level of support |
| Work & school | Designed to fit alongside work, school, and family life | Usually paused or significantly reduced |
| Meal support | Supported meals within programming hours | Multiple supported meals and snacks each day |
| Medical monitoring | Psychiatric provider appointments as needed | Frequent, built into the program day |
| Housing option | Transitional housing in Hyde Park is available alongside either level | |
Read more about our PHP program, or see the full guide to levels of eating disorder care.
From first call to first day.
You make the call
A confidential conversation with a real member of our team. Tell us what has been going on; we will listen and answer all the questions you have.
Pre-assessment
A comprehensive look at your history with food, medical and psychiatric needs, trauma history if you choose to share it, and your goals. In person or remotely.
Your plan
Your therapist and dietitian build a treatment plan and meal plan with you, and a schedule that works around your commitments.
Your first day
You start with a team that already knows your story and goals, and a community that gets it.
How many hours a week is IOP?
Nine hours of programming a week, plus a weekly individual session with your therapist and dietitian, as well as appointments with our psychiatric provider as needed. It is designed to fit alongside work, school, and family life.
Can I keep working or going to school in IOP?
Yes — that is much of the point of this level. IOP is built so treatment fits around real commitments rather than replacing them. Many people step down from PHP into IOP specifically to return to work or school with support still in place.
What is the difference between IOP and weekly therapy?
Frequency, structure, and the team around you. Weekly therapy is one hour with one clinician. IOP gives you group work several times a week, your own therapist and dietitian, supported meals, psychiatric care as needed, and a community of people in the same work — all coordinated as one plan rather than assembled by you.
What happens after IOP?
Continued-care planning is part of the program, not an afterthought. Before you finish, we work with you to build the right next layer of support: outpatient therapists, dietitians, PCP, psychiatry, support groups, and continued trauma-focused work where appropriate.
Do you take insurance for IOP?
We work with insurance and will verify your benefits before you start. Submit your insurance details and our team will come back to you with what your coverage looks like.
Structure that fits your life. Support that changes it.
Call today and we will talk through whether outpatient treatment is the right level of care for you or someone you love.