What is the MedStar Health Intensive Outpatient program for young adults?
Our intensive outpatient program for young adults is for patients ages 18-26 who need more support than traditional once-a-week outpatient therapy can provide. Our mission is to inspire a pathway to wellness by teaching healthy coping skills, exploring identity, and building community through diverse, fun, and engaging programming in an open and accepting space.
What is an intensive outpatient program?
An intensive outpatient program (IOP) provides a higher level of care than traditional once-a-week individual therapy but is less intensive than inpatient hospitalization. Our program includes 3 hours of group therapy 3 days a week, with additional psychiatry services and weekly individual therapy. The program curriculum runs on a 12-week cycle. Each patient’s program is 12 weeks or 36 group days (accounting for holidays when the IOP is closed).
Our team includes experienced psychiatrists, therapists, social workers, and care coordinators. Group therapy topics include dialectical behavioral therapy (DBT), cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), mindfulness, executive functioning skills, connection to nature, relationships, nutrition and the mind-body connection, and more.
Who is eligible for the young adult IOP?
If a person is between the ages of 18 and 26 and has been struggling with their mental health, they may be eligible for IOP. Often people are referred to an IOP after discharge from an inpatient hospital or partial hospitalization program, or they are referred by their outpatient psychiatrist or therapist. Sometimes an IOP is the first step in a person’s mental health journey.
Diagnoses our program can help to treat/support include:
- Depression
- Anxiety
- Bipolar disorder
- Mild psychosis
- ADHD and other executive functioning disorders
- Post-traumatic stress disorder
- Social skills difficulties
- High functioning autism spectrum disorders
With substance use disorders or disordered eating, a different service sometimes needs to be the first step before joining a general mental health IOP. If this is the case, our team can provide references to sites that provide those specialized services. If an IOP patient experiences worsening substance use or disordered eating behaviors during their time in IOP, they may be referred out to programs for that specialized treatment.
Patients may also be referred out to specialized services for other symptoms like moderate-to-severe psychosis, violence behaviors, etc. Further detail on eligibility criteria and situations of external referral / early discharge are outlined in the intake paperwork.
How do I get started?
If you believe you may be a good fit for our program, call 202-944-5400 and follow the prompts for scheduling as a new patient, select the intensive outpatient program option, and state that you are interested in the young adult IOP. If operators are on the other line and are unable to answer your call at that time, please leave a voicemail with your first and last name, birthdate, and what contact number to reach you, and operators will call back to complete the phone screen.
Note that IOP patients must be able to attend all weekly group components for the full duration of their enrollment, which occur Mondays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays from 10am - 1pm. These are all in person at our office at 2115 Wisconsin Ave NW, about a 5-minute drive from MedStar Georgetown Hospital’s main campus. Attending the full 9 hours of group therapy weekly is a mandatory component of the program.
You will be asked a few questions for the phone screen, and if eligible, you will be sent the intake paperwork to complete. When our office receives the completed intake paperwork you are then scheduled for an intake session. In that session, you can also discuss care needs, treatment inquiries, and further details about the program, and the clinician can answer any questions.
What can I expect?
Once you have completed the intake paperwork, attended the intake session, and we have received authorization from your insurance, you are accepted into the program and a start date is selected. During your first week of programming, you will be assigned a psychiatrist to conduct a psychiatric evaluation and a therapist to see weekly during the program. If you already have an individual therapist who you would like to continue seeing, you may continue your regular visits.
Groups meet in-person on Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday from 10am – 1pm, and psychiatry and therapy visits are completed outside of these hours, either virtually or in person. Groups will typically have 6 to 10 members at a time. Cell phones are not allowed during group sessions. There are breaks between each group, when members can use the bathroom, check their phones, get water, etc. There is also a daily snack provided during first break.
At the halfway point, you have a midway meeting with the IOP Care Coordinator to go over your preferences and needs for services post-graduation. Options and resources are provided for next steps in care depending on preferences, location, insurance plan, etc.
See a sample schedule below:
| Monday | Wednesday | Thursday | |
| 10 to 10:10am. | Check-in & Intentions | Check-in & Intentions | Check-in & Intentions |
| 10:10 to 11am | Executive Functioning Skills | Narrative & Identity Exploration | Acceptance & Commitment Therapy Group |
| 11 to 11:05am | Break | Break | Break |
| 11:05 to 11:55am | Dialectical Behavioral Therapy Group | Mindfulness Inside | Dialectical Behavioral Therapy Group |
| 11:55 a.m. to 12 p.m. | Break | Break | Break |
| 12 to 12:50 p.m. | Mindfulness Outside | Nutrition | Relationships Process Group |
| 12:50 to 1 p.m. | Check-out & Reflections | Check-out & Reflections | Check-out & Reflections |
Meet our team
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Joanna Pustilnik, RDN, MS, CDCES
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Rachel Neurohr, LPC, NCC
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Travis Spencer, LGPC
Our locations
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MedStar Health: Outpatient Psychiatry at MedStar Georgetown University Hospital
2115 Wisconsin Ave., NW Ste. 200 Washington, DC, 20007
Insurance
The Young Adult Intensive Outpatient Program is currently covered by most Blue Cross Blue Shield plans and DC Medicaid managed care plans including Amerihealth, Amerigroup, MedStar Family Choice DC, and HSCSN. If you have a different insurance than these, please call the office to check on coverage for the Intensive Outpatient Programs.