01
In sessions
Group, individual, and family sessions over secure video — CBT, DBT, the same methods as the house, at IOP dose.
Virtual IOP for teens in California
Intensive outpatient over secure video — group, individual, and family therapy on school-night evenings, for teens anywhere in California who can safely sleep at home.
- 9–12
- Ages 12–17
- Evenings
What this is
Intensive care, logged in from their own room
IOP means the dose, not the building: nine to twelve hours a week of group, individual, and family therapy. Virtual means your teen does it from a room at home, on a secure line, on evenings that leave the school day alone. It is the right door for the teen leaving our house who still needs the week held, for the family too far away to drive here, and for the teen weekly therapy was never going to reach. It is not a lighter promise. If home cannot hold the night, we will say so.
When this level fits
- 01
Weekly therapy is not enough
One hour a week has been tried. The slide continues. They need a team and a schedule — not a bigger wait between sessions.
- 02
A step-down after a stay
Residential did the floor. The next months are practice at home, with clinicians who already know your teen's file.
- 03
The drive is the barrier
You are hours from the house. Virtual puts the same program on a screen in your kitchen instead of a commute.
- 04
Home can hold the night
You are not afraid to sleep. A parent is in the house during sessions. If the night is the crisis, this is the wrong level.
- 05
School stays their school
They sit the day at their own campus. Sessions run on school-night evenings. We do not take the year to do the work.
- 06
We will say when it is not enough
If the week unravels on video, we name residential. We do not stretch a level until someone gets hurt.
The day
What the week holds
Sessions on screen, family in the frame, and the room at home — the same work, at IOP dose, without the drive.
02
With family
Parents are in the plan from week one — family sessions on video, coaching between, a home plan we actually review.
03
In the house
Their room becomes the treatment room. We write the plan for the phone, the door, and Sunday — and check whether it is holding.
The work
What is in the plan
Chosen for this teen and this intensity — not a stack of every method we know.
- Core of the plan
A real group, not a webinar
Small groups of teens their age, on camera, with a clinician running the room. Cameras on is the expectation — presence is the treatment.
The same methods, a different room
CBT, DBT skills, family systems. Not a lighter philosophy than residential. Fewer hours, their own bed.
Evenings that leave school alone
Sessions after the school day. They keep their campus, their credits, their seat — treatment does not cost them the year.
Family in the frame
Family therapy is part of the week, not an add-on. The pattern lives in your house — the work has to happen there too.
- When needed
An honest step-up
If video is not holding them, we say residential and mean it. A level is a tool, not a loyalty program.
Your part
You are in the room — literally
Virtual IOP has no building to hand them to. A parent is home during sessions, and family work is scheduled into the week — because the house at home is the milieu now.
They're logged in, so we're covered.
Be home for session hours
A responsible adult in the house while they are in group. Privacy for them, presence from you — both are the plan.
Therapy is their business.
Take the family sessions
The dance is still between you. We will not do a stay's worth of change in a teen-only video call.
They can do it from their bed.
Set the room up
A private space, a door that closes, a charged device, a real connection. We will walk you through the setup before week one.
Academics
School stays their school
Virtual IOP is built to sit beside the campus they already have — evenings and a plan, not a parallel school.
Their campus
They stay enrolled and sit the day. We coordinate with counselors only when the plan needs the school in the room.
Evening blocks
Sessions run after the school day, on school nights. Homework still has to fit — we schedule like it does.
IEP or 504
Send it. We work with what they already have — the school plan and the treatment plan should know each other.
Send the current schedule and any IEP or 504.
Length of stay
8
weeks at IOP dose, by progress
Most courses land between two and three months. We do not pick an end date before the work is ready.
12
A course, not a stay
A typical course is eight to twelve weeks — longer after a residential step-down, shorter when the target is narrow. Hours taper as the work holds. We do not pick an end date before the work is ready, and we do not stretch a level that is not holding.
- The first week is fit, setup, and a written home plan — not a forced breakthrough over a new screen.
- Most teens finish in eight to twelve weeks. Hours step down as the week holds.
- Aftercare is a local therapist and a family that already knows the language — not a logout.
When to call
Do not wait for a cliff.
If weekly therapy is not reaching them, if they are leaving residential and need the next chapter, or if the drive to our house is the thing stopping treatment — call. If home cannot hold the night, ask about residential. We will be honest which door it is.