Clinician's Guide to Partial Hospitalization and Intensive Outpatient Practice

As inpatient psychiatric facilities face bed shortages and increasingly limited insurance coverage for their programs, partial hospitalization and intensive outpatient programs are growing within the mental health treatment community. This book provides clinicians (including social workers, counselors, therapists, and psychiatric nurses) new to partial hospitalization and intensive outpatient practice settings with a conceptual framework and practical skills for effective and efficient practice. It helps clinicians to develop realistic expectations for treatment in a managed care environment with limited time and funding. Partial hospitalization and intensive outpatient treatment programs (PHP/IOP) can present particularly stressful environments in which clinicians are typically engaged in multiple treatment processes with groups of diverse patients, all at different points in the treatment process. This book borrows from the ecology of games concept from political theory to assist clinicians in managing their time to the greatest advantage and providing professional treatment to all patients simultaneously. It describes the key elements of a PHP/IOP program including treatment planning, discharge planning, group therapy, psycho-education, and safety and confidentiality issues. It then addresses challenges unique to specific patient populations in the program-children, adults, older adults, the chronically mentally ill, the chemical dependent, individuals with co-occurring disorders-and offers strategies for coping with the multitude of issues they present. Key Features:: Provides practical strategies for handling a variety of clinical issues in the PHP/IOP setting Covers specific problems and treatment planning goals for varied populations Guides clinicians in developing realistic expectations for treatment in a managed care environment with limited time and funding Includes chapters dedicated to coping with a death in the program, the personality-disordered patient, and conflicts among staff