Raleigh Intensive Outpatient Program (IOP)

An Intensive Outpatient Program (IOP) is designed for people who need more consistent support than weekly care, whether for mental health, substance use, or both.

It’s typically used when symptoms or patterns are becoming harder to manage day to day. It provides a more focused level of care, serving as an option between weekly support and full-day or inpatient programs.

In an IOP, you attend sessions multiple times per week. These sessions focus on understanding patterns, building practical skills, and working through challenges as they show up in real time.

The structure is intentional.

You’re not just addressing issues once a week. You’re working through them several times throughout the week, which makes it easier to catch patterns earlier and adjust before they escalate.

At the same time, you’re still living your life. You’re going to work, maintaining responsibilities, and applying what you’re learning in real situations as they happen.

IOP is often a good fit when:

• Symptoms are interfering with work, relationships, or daily responsibilities
• Substance use is regularly affecting your functioning
• You’ve tried therapy and medications and found little progress
• You’re relying on alcohol or substances to get through the day or manage stress
• It’s hard to follow through on basic routines like sleep, meals, or responsibilities
• Small problems start to feel overwhelming or harder to deal with than they should
• You’re avoiding situations, people, or responsibilities
• You know what you need to do, but have a hard time doing it consistently
• Others have started to notice changes in your behavior or functioning

The goal is to provide enough consistency and stability to create change, while helping you apply it in your day-to-day life.

Substance Use IOP

Our Substance Use IOP is designed for individuals working to reduce or stop alcohol or drug use, often alongside mental health symptoms that make consistency harder to maintain.

This program is commonly used when:

• Cravings or urges make moderating substance use more difficult
• Substance use becomes a default way of managing stress, mood, or daily pressure
• There’s a pattern of cutting back, then returning to the same level of use
• Mental health symptoms like anxiety, depression, or mood shifts are tied to use
• Work, relationships, or responsibilities are being affected

Treatment uses evidence-based, proven therapies to help you understand how substance use and mental health patterns interact, not just in isolation, but in your day-to-day life.

Medication, therapy, and group work are integrated so that reducing use, managing symptoms, and building structure all happen together.

The focus is on helping you build consistency in real time, especially in the situations where use would typically happen.

IOP for Professionals, Students, and Busy Schedules

One of the most common reasons people delay treatment is the assumption that everything else has to stop.

IOP is designed to work around that.

Whether you’re working, in school, or managing other responsibilities, the structure allows you to get support while staying engaged in the parts of your life that matter.

The focus is on making changes in real time, not in isolation from your daily routine.

Morning IOP for Substance Use

Morning IOP runs Monday, Wednesday, and Friday from 10:00 AM to 1:00 PM.

This option is often used for individuals in substance use treatment who benefit from starting their day with structure and support.

It can help stabilize patterns early in the day and reduce the likelihood of returning to use or falling into the same routines.

Evening IOP for Mental Health

Evening IOP for mental health runs Monday through Thursday from 4:00 PM to 6:30 PM.

This program is designed for individuals dealing with anxiety, depression, OCD, bipolar disorder, eating disorders, other mental health conditions, and related concerns that are impacting wellbeing and daily functioning.

It allows you to stay engaged in work or school during the day while receiving consistent support in the evenings, with a focus on managing symptoms and improving stability in daily life.

Our IOP curriculum is built on evidence-based approaches like Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), which are widely used for both substance use and mental health treatment.

You’ll work on:

• Identifying patterns related to substance use and mental health
• Managing cravings, urges, and emotional responses
• Building emotional regulation and coping skills
• Developing response plans so you’re prepared to handle triggers and high-risk situations ahead of time
• Taking action aligned with your values (ACT-based work)
• Strengthening relationships and communication
• Creating structure in your daily routine
• Planning for longer-term stability
• If needed, finding the best medications to support your overall wellness

The focus is on building skills you can use outside of sessions, especially in the situations that tend to be the most challenging.

IOP is often the next step after a higher level of care.

A helpful way to think about it: if you had surgery or a serious injury, you wouldn’t go straight from the hospital back to full activity. You’d step down to physical therapy—still getting support, but now focusing on rebuilding strength and functioning day to day. As you improved, you’d gradually reduce how much therapy you needed.

Mental health and substance use treatment works the same way.

IOP allows you to keep structure and support in place while gradually taking on more independence. Instead of going from full-day care back to weekly therapy all at once, it creates a transition that better matches where you are.

The focus is on maintaining progress while building confidence in your ability to manage daily life.

AIM’s IOP is built as part of a continuous system of care, not a standalone program. This allows you to stay with the same team for therapy and psychiatry as your needs change, rather than starting over after completing treatment.

Progress in mental health and substance use is not always linear. There are periods where things improve, followed by times where more support is needed again. Treatment is designed to expand or contract around that, so you’re not left without support when things shift.

Key differences include:

• Integrated therapy, psychiatry, and program structure in one place
• Medication management that adjusts based on symptoms, cravings, or stress
• Ability to step up or down in care without changing providers
• Morning and evening scheduling options
• In-network access with most major insurance plans

The focus is on maintaining progress over time, not just completing a program.

We work with individuals dealing with both substance use and mental health concerns, including:

• Substance use and relapse patterns
• Anxiety and chronic stress
• Depression and mood-related concerns
• Bipolar disorder and mood instability
• ADHD and attention-related challenges
• Relationship stress and life transitions
• Eating disorders
• Self-harm behaviors
• Psychotic disorders
• And more

Many people are dealing with more than one of these at the same time.

Treatment is built around understanding how these patterns interact, not treating them as separate issues. For example, substance use may be tied to anxiety or mood shifts, or mental health symptoms may make it harder to stay consistent with change.

Our team includes therapists and psychiatrists with different areas of focus who work together to address both at once. This allows treatment to adjust based on what’s actually happening in your day-to-day life, rather than following a fixed approach.

If you’re considering getting help for mental health, substance use, or both, you don’t need to have everything figured out before reaching out.

Some people come in with a clear diagnosis. Others just know something isn’t working the way it should. Both are a starting point.

We offer separate tracks for mental health and substance use, with teams specialized in each. Our team will help you understand which program fits what you’re dealing with, and how to get started.

That process includes reviewing what’s been going on, verifying your insurance, and determining whether IOP makes sense—or if a different level of care would be more appropriate.

From there, we’ll help you take the next step in a way that fits your needs and your schedule.