Eating disorder PHP in Austin, 30 hours a week of real structure.
Partial hospitalization is the most supported level of care we offer without you living on site. You come to our Spicewood Springs center for structured days — therapy, groups, supported meals, medical and psychiatric monitoring — and you go home, or to our transitional housing, at night.
A full treatment day, without leaving your life behind.
A partial hospitalization program — PHP, sometimes called day treatment — sits between residential treatment and intensive outpatient care. It provides the clinical intensity of a residential setting during the day, while you sleep somewhere that is not a hospital and keep some contact with the world you are recovering into.
For eating disorders specifically, that daytime intensity matters. Most of the hardest moments happen around meals, and most of the change happens in what comes right after them. PHP means a clinician is present for those moments, several times a day, for as long as you need that support.
Our PHP runs 30 hours a week. It is designed for people experiencing more acute symptoms and those who need a higher level of support than a few hours a week can hold.
Where PHP sits
If home is far away, or is not a place where recovery can hold, our supportive housing in Hyde Park gives you somewhere to land at the end of a treatment day.
PHP tends to be the right fit when these are true.
None of these are requirements, and none of them are a verdict on how "sick enough" you are. They are the patterns we see most often in people for whom PHP works.
Daily life is being disrupted
Work, school, relationships, or basic functioning are being organized around the eating disorder rather than the other way round.
Meals need support to happen
Eating alone reliably goes badly, and a few supported meals a week has not been enough to change that pattern.
You need medical eyes on you
Vitals, labs, weight restoration, or medication changes need monitoring more often than an outpatient schedule allows.
You are stepping down from residential
You are ready to leave a 24-hour setting but not ready for the drop to a few hours a week.
IOP has not been enough
You have tried intensive outpatient, or weekly therapy, and the behaviors have not shifted.
Co-occurring conditions are in play
Trauma, anxiety, depression, OCD, or substance use are tangled up with the eating disorder and need treating together.
If you are reading this and thinking you do not qualify, that is worth a phone call rather than a decision made alone. People routinely underestimate what they need. Our team helps determine the proper level of care for you or your loved one, and there is no cost or obligation in asking.
What 30 hours a week actually holds.
PHP is not simply more hours of the same thing. The additional time buys repetition around the moments that matter most, and the clinical staffing to be present for them.
Supported meals, several a day
Meals and snacks eaten together with clinical support in the room, and the processing space afterwards where the real work happens.
Daily process and skills groups
Skills groups build emotional regulation and distress tolerance; process groups build the community that makes the rest survivable.
Individual therapy
One-on-one work with therapists who specialize in eating disorders and trauma, using CBT, DBT, EMDR, IFS-informed and somatic approaches.
Dietitian-led nutrition work
Personalized meal plans, food groups, and the ongoing recalibration that weight restoration and nutritional rehabilitation require.
Medical & psychiatric monitoring
Medication management and medical oversight from providers who know how eating disorders present in the body.
Family education
Support and education for the people around you, because what happens outside the program hours matters too.
How the two levels compare.
Most people do not choose between these on their own, and you do not have to. This is what the difference looks like in practice.
| PHP | IOP | |
|---|---|---|
| Hours per week | 30 hours | 9 hours, plus weekly individual sessions |
| Best for | More acute symptoms; needing a higher level of support | Stepping down from PHP, or stepping up from outpatient providers |
| Work & school | Usually paused or significantly reduced | Designed to fit alongside work, school, and family life |
| Meal support | Multiple supported meals and snacks each day | Supported meals within programming hours |
| Medical monitoring | Frequent, built into the program day | Psychiatric provider appointments as needed |
| Housing option | Transitional housing in Hyde Park is available alongside either level | |
Read more about our IOP program, or see the full guide to levels of eating disorder care for how residential and inpatient fit in.
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, including whether housing would help.
Your first day
You start with a team that already knows your story and goals, and a community that gets it.
How long do people stay in PHP?
It varies, because it depends on medical stability, nutritional progress, and how much the behaviors have shifted — not on a fixed number of weeks. What we can tell you is that the plan is reviewed continuously rather than set once, and stepping down to IOP is a normal and planned part of the path rather than an ending.
Is PHP the same as inpatient or residential treatment?
No. In residential and inpatient care you live on site and receive 24-hour supervision. In PHP you attend structured treatment during the day and return home, or to transitional housing, at night. PHP provides much of the clinical intensity of residential care while letting you practise recovery in real life.
Can I work or attend school during PHP?
At 30 hours a week, most people pause or significantly reduce work and school during PHP. Many step down to our IOP program, at 9 hours a week, specifically so they can return to those commitments with support still in place.
Do you take insurance for PHP?
We work with insurance and will verify your benefits before you start, so you know what your coverage looks like rather than guessing. Submit your insurance details and our team will come back to you.
What if I do not live in Austin?
People travel to us for treatment. Our transitional housing in Hyde Park gives out-of-area clients somewhere supportive to live during programming. Call and we will talk through the logistics for your situation.
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.