Adolescent IOP
More Support. More Structure.
A Path Forward.
Your Teen Doesn't Have to Navigate This Alone.
Compassionate, structured mental health care for adolescents who need more support while staying connected to everyday life.
The Refuge Adolescent Intensive Outpatient Program (IOP) in Annapolis provides teens with a supportive space to build coping skills, strengthen relationships, better understand their emotions, and move toward greater stability and confidence.
What Is an Adolescent IOP?
An Adolescent Intensive Outpatient Program, or IOP, provides structured behavioral health treatment several days each week while allowing teens to continue living at home and remain connected to school, family, and their community.
At The Refuge, treatment goes beyond simply talking about what is wrong. Teens learn, practice, experience, and apply skills they can carry into their everyday lives.
Our approach combines evidence-based mental health treatment with experiential, relational, trauma-informed, and mind-body approaches.
Our Approach
Support. Structure. Hope.
Treatment helps your teen understand:
What they’re experiencing
Gain clarity around emotions, symptoms, and mental health experiences without judgment.
Patterns and triggers
Recognize the thoughts, behaviors, relationships, and situations that may contribute to feeling stuck or overwhelmed.
How the nervous system responds
Learn how stress and trauma can show up in both the mind and body, and what helps you feel more grounded and regulated.
What helps them cope and heal
Build practical skills for managing emotions, navigating challenges, and responding differently in everyday life.
What they need moving forward
Develop greater awareness of needs, goals, boundaries, and the kinds of support that can help create lasting change.
When Weekly Support May Not Feel Like Enough
Adolescence can bring intense emotional, social, academic, and family challenges. Sometimes a teen needs more structure, connection, and therapeutic support than traditional outpatient care alone can provide.
Our Adolescent IOP creates a consistent therapeutic environment where teens can slow things down, understand what is happening beneath the surface, and practice new skills alongside peers who are navigating challenges of their own.
Our program focuses on helping teens:
Build emotional regulation skills
Develop healthier coping strategies
Improve communication and relationships
Recognize unhealthy relationship patterns
Strengthen distress tolerance
Challenge unhelpful thought patterns
Better understand trauma and its impact
Increase self-awareness
Develop healthier responses to setbacks
Build motivation for meaningful change
Frequently Asked Questions
-
Our Adolescent Intensive Outpatient Program for teens 13+ provides structured mental health treatment several days each week while allowing teens to continue living at home and participating in their everyday lives.
-
Adolescent IOP currently meets Tuesday through Thursday in person from 4pm-6pm in Annapolis at The Refuge. Our IOP program is 10 weeks (30 sessions).
-
Sessions combine group therapy, psychoeducation, DBT and CBT skills, experiential activities, mindfulness, emotional regulation work, relationship skills, trauma-informed education, and opportunities to practice new coping strategies.
-
Yes. Family therapy is included among the wraparound services available through Lotus Psychotherapy and The Refuge.
-
Yes. Medication management is available as part of the broader continuum of care when appropriate.
-
In many cases, yes. Our team can coordinate with outside providers when clinically appropriate and with your written consent.
-
Yes. Our IOP is insurance-friendly. We currently accept:
Aetna
Blue Cross Blue Shield (BCBS)
UnitedHealthcare (UHC)
Cigna
Maryland Medicaid
Coverage for IOP services can vary by plan. Additionally, some insurance plans may not recognize certain diagnoses as billable diagnoses for IOP treatment, which can affect coverage.
We recommend speaking directly with your insurance company to understand your specific benefits and coverage. You can also reach out to our Billing Manager if you have questions about your benefits or would like help understanding your insurance coverage.
We also offer self-pay pricing for clients who prefer to maintain greater autonomy and privacy in how their care is managed in relation to their insurance plan.
-
The best place to begin is with an assessment. Our team can learn more about your teen's current needs and determine whether IOP or another level of support may be appropriate.
Is Adolescent IOP Right for My Teen?
Adolescent IOP may be a good fit when your teen needs more support than weekly therapy, but does not require inpatient care.
IOP may help if your teen is:
Struggling with anxiety, depression, or intense emotions
Having difficulty coping with stress, conflict, or setbacks
Experiencing challenges with relationships or boundaries
Struggling with impulsive, addictive, or compulsive behaviors
Having trouble using coping skills in everyday situations
Impacted by trauma or difficult life experiences
Needing more structure, support, and connection
Benefiting from peer support and group-based skill building
Our Adolescent IOP helps teens build practical skills through CBT, DBT, emotional regulation, trauma-informed care, mindfulness, and experiential activities.
Not sure if IOP is the right level of care?
Start with an assessment. We’ll help determine what type of support may be the best fit for your teen.
Healing Happens in Community
Adolescence can feel incredibly isolating—especially when a teen believes no one else understands what they are going through.
Group treatment creates an opportunity to connect with peers, practice relationship skills in real time, learn from one another, and discover that difficult experiences do not have to be carried alone.