Child and Adolescent OCD and Anxiety Intensive Treatment Program

About Our Child and Adolescent OCD and Anxiety Intensive Treatment Program

Intensive treatment for OCD, school refusal, and other anxiety-related disorders

Our Intensive Treatment Program provides the highest quality treatment for children/adolescents and their families with severe OCD, school refusal, and other anxiety disorders. The goal of intensive treatment is to provide focused, highly-structured, and individualized therapy multiple days per week, giving kids and their parents the support they need to meet their goals and work together as a team. Intensive Treatment is appropriate when someone cannot function optimally in their daily life (i.e., cannot attend school or participate in recreational, social, or family activities), which may look like failure to keep up developmentally with their peers. Intensive Treatment may also be appropriate when standard outpatient therapy (i.e., once or twice weekly) is not working and a higher level of care is needed.

Treatment structure and approach

The core Intensive PHP Treatment Program structure involves visits Monday through Friday. Children and their families can expect to be engaged in therapy (not including transportation time) a minimum of 20 hours per week. The difference between our Intensive Treatment Program and many other IOP and PHP programs is that treatment is highly individualized, such that behavioral interventions, psychoeducation, family scaffolding work and school wraparound services (if applicable) are tailored to maximize the effectiveness of treatment for each client and family. Our highly specialized doctoral-level therapists work 1:1 with our clients and their families. We do not have treatment groups as part of therapy.

Treatment for severe anxiety problems, including obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), almost always includes exposure therapy. Other evidence-based, CBT interventions are also included as needed (e.g., cognitive therapy, behavioral activation, behavioral parent coaching, etc.). All clients begin Intensive Treatment with a comprehensive week of assessment. From there, each treatment plan is designed to individually fit the client’s symptoms and overall treatment needs in order to maximize efficacy and efficiency.

A typical treatment plan might include 2-5 hours per week with the primary individual therapist and 5-15 hours per week with an exposure therapist and/or time spent participating in family therapy/parent coaching. Additionally, clients in the Intensive Treatment Program can also access our in-house psychiatry team for highly coordinated  medication management when indicated based on impairment and symptoms. A typical course of Intensive Treatment is 20 hours per week for 8 weeks.

As functioning improves (e.g., the client is able to attend school and/or participate in preferred activities again), the number of treatment days and hours begins to step down. During the Step-Down Treatment, clients may reduce their days spent in treatment while they practice applying new skills independently. A typical Step-Down may consist of 2-4 weeks of 12-16 hours of treatment per week. Clients have the opportunity to continue to work with their Intensive Treatment team in a standard outpatient capacity for up to 4 weeks following graduation from the program. After successful completion of the Intensive Treatment Program, clients can transfer care to an outpatient therapist outside of EBTCS who is in-network with their insurance.

We are often asked at the outset of treatment how we respond if the Intensive Treatment Program at EBTCS does not provide sufficient intensity of treatment. Early data on progress in treatment would inform the decision about whether a higher level of care (e.g., residential treatment) is warranted. Each week, the treatment team and the family evaluate treatment progress through questionnaires, client self-reflection, and achievement of weekly goals. We strive to keep individuals in outpatient treatment whenever possible so that the treatment course can target reduction in symptoms, as well as generalization of skills to the client’s daily environment to maximize protection against relapse.

If you are interested in learning more about our OCD and Anxiety Intensive Treatment Program, please contact our Anxiety Intensive Treatment Program Coordinator at 206-374-0109.