The Intensive Outpatient Program (IOP) at The Heights Treatment Center provides structured clinical care several days per week for individuals working through substance use, mental health concerns, or co-occurring diagnoses. IOP offers meaningful therapeutic intensity without requiring full-day attendance, allowing clients to stay engaged with work, school, and family responsibilities while continuing treatment.

Our Houston IOP includes group therapy, individualized clinical planning, optional family involvement, and access to psychiatric services when clinically indicated. Clients typically participate while living at home or in supportive housing and remain connected to a consistent treatment team.

IOP is designed to strengthen stability while clients practice recovery in real-world settings. With consistent clinical touchpoints each week, clients build coping skills, process underlying drivers of use or symptoms, and receive ongoing support as they navigate triggers, relationships, and daily life.

Some clients begin in IOP after an assessment indicates they don’t require daily PHP structure, while others step down from PHP once they’ve stabilized. As progress continues, clients may transition into our Outpatient Program (OP) for ongoing support and accountability.

IOP typically includes 9 to 15 hours of treatment per week, depending on clinical needs and program track. Programming may include:

• Process and skills-based group therapy
• Individual therapy sessions, as clinically indicated
• Trauma-informed treatment options when appropriate
• Psychoeducation, relapse prevention, and recovery planning
• Psychiatric evaluation and medication management, when needed

Each client’s schedule and treatment plan are tailored to clinical presentation, goals, and progress over time.

Intensive Outpatient Programs (IOP) are an effective level of care for sustaining recovery and improving mental health functioning while clients remain engaged in day-to-day life. IOP offers the accountability and structure needed to reduce relapse risk, strengthen coping skills, and support long-term behavior change.

At The Heights Treatment Center, IOP integrates evidence-based therapies such as Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) and Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT), with trauma-informed care and psychiatric support when clinically appropriate.

The ASAM Criteria is the most widely used and comprehensive set of guidelines for placement, continued stay, transfer, or discharge of patients with addiction and co-occurring conditions.

Using the ASAM Criteria in conjunction with our The Heights Treatment clinical staff’s professional judgment enables us to provide outcome-oriented, results-based care in our addiction treatment.

ASAM outlines various levels of care based on the outcome of the 6 ASAM dimensions assessment. These levels of care are on a scale ranging from 0.5 to 4, with 4 being the most intensive.

At The Heights Treatment, when the client has completed the goals on their IIP treatment plan and/or has stabilized in recovery to such an extent that they can complete the treatment process at a less restrictive level of care, such as our Outpatient Program, the client will transition to a lower LOC.

At The Heights Treatment, we strongly believe that there is no “one-size-fits-all” approach to treatment for mental health issues, substance use disorders, or co-occurring diagnoses. 

Every client who undergoes treatment at The Heights Treatment first completes a pre-assessment. Based on this assessment, the Clinical Director and Treatment Team determine the appropriate Level of Care for the client. 

Once the appropriate level of care is determined, the care each client receives is individualized based on:

• The results of the client’s multidimensional biopsychosocial assessment based on ASAM Criteria
• The client’s perceived needs
• The determination of the multidisciplinary treatment team

When the client has completed the goals on their treatment plan and/or has stabilized in recovery to such an extent that they can complete the treatment process at a less restrictive level of care, the client will transition to a lower LOC.