About 195 miles from Dallas-Fort WorthAdults 18+In person in Austin
An eating disorder IOP for Dallas-Fort Worth adults, the bridge between PHP in Austin and life back in the metroplex.
Empowered Treatment offers an eating disorder intensive outpatient program for adults in Austin, about 195 miles from Dallas-Fort Worth: IOP is 9 hours a week of groups, plus weekly individual and dietitian sessions. From the metroplex, IOP is the bridge between PHP and home, and it works from a room in our Hyde Park house or a temporary move, never from a daily drive.
about195miles
About 3 to 3.5 hours each way by car. I-35E from Dallas or I-35W from Fort Worth, joining I-35 at Hillsboro.
Other Texas cities we serve, by distance
- 30 hrsa week in partial hospitalization: supported meals, groups, therapy, dietitian, medical and psychiatric care
- 9 hrsa week of group programming in IOP, plus weekly individual and dietitian sessions
- 1 housein Hyde Park, alongside PHP or IOP, with shared meals and a room of your own
- 18+adults only, with every hour of care in person at our Austin center
IOP is where recovery meets an ordinary week again.
An intensive outpatient program keeps a team around you for part of the week and hands the rest back to you. Our IOP at our Austin center runs 9 hours a week of groups, with one session each week with your therapist and one with your dietitian, and psychiatric care when you need it.
For someone from Dallas or Fort Worth, IOP fits most naturally as the step after PHP. You keep the same team and the same city, often the same room in the house, while the days loosen and you start practicing the parts of life you will take home: a workday, a grocery run, a dinner out. It can also be a starting point when outpatient care in Dallas or Fort Worth has stalled and you are able to stay in Austin for a stretch.
Compare it with eating disorder PHP for Dallas-Fort Worth adults, or read our guide to levels of care to see how the two connect.
Signs IOP fits, if you can be in Austin for it.
IOP from the metroplex depends on staying in Austin, so fit has two parts: what you need clinically, and whether you can be here.
- PHP has done its job.Meals are steadier and medical concerns have eased, but dropping straight to weekly therapy at home feels too steep.
- You are medically stable.Your team no longer needs to see your vitals and labs every day.
- Real life is the next test.Grocery stores, restaurants, and a working week are coming, and you want a team holding the structure while you try them.
- Your work can come with you.You can work remotely from Austin for a while, or arrange reduced hours, during your weeks here.
- Group keeps you going.Sitting with other adults in recovery makes it easier to keep at it than going it alone.
If a stay in Austin is not possible right now, we will help you think through other options, including stronger outpatient care in the metroplex.
Groups, individual sessions, and the team that already knows you.
IOP at Empowered is in person at our center on Spicewood Springs Road. When you step down from PHP, your plan and your history come with you, so nothing has to be explained twice and the structure simply loosens.
Groups that build skills
Skills groups for emotional regulation and distress tolerance, and process groups where the work of a hard week gets said out loud.
Individual and dietitian sessions
A weekly session with your therapist and another with your dietitian keep your plan moving between groups.
Practice outside the building
Supported meals and outings to grocery stores and restaurants let you rehearse the settings you will face again at home.
Psychiatric care as needed
Medication management continues inside the program when it is part of your plan, so you are not hunting for a prescriber in the middle of treatment.
On an ARFID plan, IOP is where the restaurant outing finally happens: you order in Austin with your group at the table, long before the same order back in Dallas. ARFID treatment for Dallas-Fort Worth adults explains how that ladder is built.
IOP from the metroplex means staying in Austin a while longer.
The center is about 195 miles from Dallas-Fort Worth, roughly 3 to 3.5 hours each way on I-35, which rules out driving in for IOP. IOP from the metroplex works with a room in our transitional housing in Hyde Park or a temporary place of your own in Austin. Because IOP leaves more of the week open, those weeks can include some work, if your job allows it, alongside groups and sessions.
- Decide where you will stayIf you are already in the house for PHP, staying on is the simplest path. Ask us directly about cost and availability.
- Check benefits for IOPWe can check your benefits before you decide. If we already looked at your plan for PHP, we look again for IOP, because a new level of care can change what you owe.
- Talk to workYour HR office can explain reduced hours or leave. Our page on confidentiality in eating disorder treatment explains what stays private.
- Rehearse an ordinary weekIOP sessions include planning the meals, workdays, and evenings of a normal week, so you can try them in Austin before trying them at home.
- Hand off to homeAs IOP ends, we help you book your own therapist and dietitian in Dallas or Fort Worth and, with your permission, share your plan with them.
The transitional house in Hyde Park. See transitional housing in Hyde Park
When IOP ends, the metroplex should already be ready for you.
The point of IOP is that coming home feels like the next step rather than a cliff. By the time you drive back up I-35, you should have first appointments booked with an outpatient therapist and dietitian in Dallas, Fort Worth, or wherever you live in the metroplex, and they should already have your plan, shared with your written permission.
Family can help most in this stretch. Our family’s guide to IOP explains what the program asks and how partners and parents can support it without hovering.
Support in North Texas:
- My Health My Resources of Tarrant CountyCommunity behavioral health care and crisis services across Tarrant County once IOP ends.
- NAMI TexasSupport groups and family education across Texas, a steady place for the people at home to learn alongside you.
Related care for Dallas-Fort Worth adults, in one place.
Everything for Dallas-Fort Worth: every service, the drive, the house →Or find your Texas city →
- Eating disorder IOP for Dallas-Fort Worth adultsNine hours a week of groups, plus weekly individual and dietitian sessions.This page
- Eating disorder treatment for Dallas-Fort Worth adultsThe full picture: levels of care, the team, and how adults decide what fits.→
- Eating disorder PHP for Dallas-Fort Worth adultsThirty hours a week of structured care at our Austin center.→
- Binge eating disorder treatment for Dallas-Fort Worth adultsBinge eating treated as an eating disorder, not a failure of willpower.→
- ARFID treatment for Dallas-Fort Worth adultsAdult care for food avoidance driven by fear, texture, or low appetite.→
What adults across Dallas-Fort Worth ask before they call.
Straight answers to the questions we hear most. If yours is not here, call and ask it.
IOP leaves a lot of the week open. What do metroplex adults staying in Austin do with their evenings?
Evenings are yours, with structure if you want it. The house has shared dinners, and the evening is a good time to practice what came up in group: cooking, a meal out in Austin, a walk your team has cleared, a call home to North Texas. If your job allows it, part of that open time can go to work. Your therapist helps you plan the week so the open time supports recovery instead of filling with old habits.
If I came down from Dallas for PHP, do I keep the same therapist and dietitian in IOP?
Yes. IOP runs at the same center with the same therapists, dietitians, and psychiatric providers, so when you step down from PHP in Austin, your plan and history carry straight over. You will not be retelling your story from the beginning. What changes is how much of the week you spend at the center.
How is progress reviewed in IOP?
Your team looks at it together: how meals are going, what your dietitian and therapist are seeing, any medical or psychiatric changes, and what you report about the days outside the center. You are part of that conversation, not its subject. When the work holds with less support, you start planning the step home to Dallas or Fort Worth, and if things slip, the plan can add structure again, including a return to PHP.
Will my Dallas coworkers know I am in IOP if I take a reduced schedule?
Not unless you tell them. Your treatment is confidential, and what you share with your employer is your choice. You can say only that you are working a reduced schedule for health reasons. Your HR office can explain what paperwork your job requires and who sees it. Our page on confidentiality covers what stays private, and we can rehearse the conversation with you before you have it.
IOP is where the metroplex starts to feel reachable again, with a team still beside you in Austin.
Call to talk through IOP, a longer stay in the house, and the handoff to your providers in the metroplex.