In treatment for substance abuse or mental health, inpatient and outpatient are the two primary pillars that most people in recovery journey through. But rehab isn’t limited to two binary, black-and-white choices between living at a facility or attending weekly therapy and returning home.
One approach that bridges this gap between residential and outpatient treatment is called a Partial Hospitalization Program (PHP). It takes the structure and greater intensity of the former with the flexibility of the latter, ideal for people who don’t need round-the-clock care but still some degree of support.
“Partial hospitalization programs represent a midpoint along the treatment intensity continuum between an inpatient and an outpatient service,” asserts a report published by Psychiatry MMC. Another study shows that PHP programs carry a 73% success and retention rate — higher than traditional outpatient services for alcohol, drug or mental health treatment.
Because they include and combine so much from inpatient and outpatient programs, what makes PHPs unique, and how it can it help you, a loved one or family member in seeking recovery?
What Is a Partial Hospitalization Program?
The name “partial hospitalization” needs some clarifying, since you won’t stay in a hospital or live on-site in a PHP like you would in a residential rehab program.
A PHP is sometimes called a day program, where you’ll spend most weekdays — usually no more than 20 hours per week — in intensive therapy, but with the ability to return home at night. It’s a middle ground type of treatment that mixes parts of inpatient with elements of outpatient.
Because there’s no obligation to reside at a treatment center, a PHP is actually considered a form of outpatient therapy.
What To Expect During PHP
In the morning, you’ll arrive at the treatment center from home around 9 a.m. and check in, just like you’d do in an outpatient setting. Here, you’ll briefly sync up and meet with staff to learn where you’re at for the day ahead. How do you feel and what do you look forward to?
The course of the day resembles what you’ll find in residential treatment, which may look and feel familiar if you’re transitioning out of inpatient.
Mid-morning until lunchtime may involve intensive group therapy sessions with other people in treatment. It’s one of the best opportunities to be in a place where you can rally behind and lean on each other in support. You might talk about anything from coping with cravings, how to manage symptoms, or dealing with emotional and psychological challenges as they arise in day-to-day life.
Early afternoon in PHP addiction treatment continues with psychoeducation — a chance to learn more about your condition and gain a better understanding of the ‘why’ behind your symptoms. A period of early p.m. group therapy also aims to make the connection between your thoughts, emotions and behaviors to give you the tools to develop coping skills, regulate how you feel and be in better control of your actions even in the presence of triggers or cravings.
As the afternoon progresses, you might engage in one-to-one, individual therapy with a counselor or take part in alternative group work, like experiential or holistic activities meant to build life skills, boost self-esteem and renew a sense of purpose that depression, anxiety or substance abuse can rob you of.
Finally, in the late afternoon, there’s a chance to wrap up the day with a review session. What did you learn during the day, and what’s your goal for tomorrow? Then, it’s time to return home, where you can spend time with loved ones, sleep in your own bed and prepare for the next day ahead.
PHP Addiction Treatment Services
For many people, PHP for addiction is the next logical progression from a residential program, where you may be familiar with managing withdrawal symptoms in medical detox and living on-site for a duration of time. In other instances, PHP addiction treatment serves as a first entrance into substance abuse treatment for less severe addictions, but with the same services in place:
- You’ll always have an individualized treatment plan that’s customized to your substance use issue, your symptoms and challenges and your personal and medical history
- Medication-assisted treatment remains part of PHP addiction treatment, where certain drugs may be prescribed to reduce cravings, ease your mood and better facilitate therapy
- There is always clinical and medical oversight from the same team of counselors, therapists, doctors, nurses and addiction specialists who make compassion and care a number one priority
- A case manager is your advocate from the start of treatment to the end, making sure your treatment plan stays on track, and connecting you with post-PHP treatment options like sober housing, community support groups, life skills training or employment opportunities
PHP Therapy Services
Days spent in a partial hospitalization treatment program can include a number of different types of therapies:
- Individual therapy sessions enable you, with the help of a therapist, to explore the underlying roots of an addiction or mental health challenge, reframe your mindset and develop more positive, sober and healthy goals, in a safe space.
- Group therapy is an integral part of PHP treatment. Among a group of peers, you can share your experiences, learn from theirs and build up a sense of community, camaraderie and real-life connections that can extend past treatment.
- Family therapy involves sessions for loved ones to help heal relationships and strengthen support systems at home.
- Research-based therapies like cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), dialectical behavioral therapy (DBT) and eye movement desensitization and reprocessing therapy (EMDR) help people get to the heart of their substance use or mental health disorders. Both are proven effective to identify and change negative thought and behavioral patterns and become more emotionally and mentally mindful.
- Holistic therapy is also a special component of PHP therapy. Yoga, meditation, tai chi, sound therapy, neurofeedback therapy and other alternative approaches strive to make a mind-body-spirit connection that can be so impactful in your healing.
Dual Diagnosis Partial Hospitalization Program
Nearly 21.5 million adults have a co-occurring disorder — when a substance abuse problem and mental illness exist at the same time. Clinically, it’s not well known which comes first, since a drinking problem, for example, can lead to mental health issues. A serious mental illness can also lead someone to self-medicate through substance or drug abuse.
In any case, both conditions can exacerbate each other, necessitating what’s called a dual diagnosis: a specialized treatment track that addresses both co-occurring conditions simultaneously instead of separately.
One important part of dual diagnosis treatment in PHP for addiction is the availability of psychiatric medication management. It’s a type of medication-assisted treatment that essentially performs double-duty, in many cases, to ameliorate and alleviate symptoms of a co-occurring disorder.
For instance, your doctor might recommend being prescribed, for a short period, a benzodiazepine to combat both an opioid use disorder and co-occurring, accompanying anxiety.
When Does Someone Need a Partial Hospitalization Program?
According to the American Association for Partial Hospitalization, a PHP is “specifically designed for the diagnosis or active treatment of a serious mental disorder when there is a reasonable expectation of improvement or when it is necessary to maintain a patient’s functional level and prevent relapse or full hospitalization.”
More simply, this means that a PHP can be:
- As a step-down option if you’ve segueing out of a residential program (either for substance abuse or mental illness) and trust that you can manage symptoms or avoid relapsing
- As a step-up from outpatient if you might need more structured clinical attention and care than standard outpatient might provide right now
Is PHP the Right Program for Me or My Loved One?
It can be a difficult question to answer — even if the signs of mental health or substance abuse troubles are evident in oneself or a family member, it’s challenging to know which level of rehab — especially a partial hospitalization program — is right.
Consider some of these questions. Take them to heart and answer as honestly as you can:
Are you progressing through an inpatient treatment program and looking to transition to an initial, progressive outpatient phase?
- Have you been in rehab before but recently relapsed?
- Or, if you’ve stayed sober, do you need extra support in stressful times when you might return to using substances?
- Are signs of mental health problems weighing on you heavily, but not enough to interrupt daily life?
- Are you motivated to attend intensive therapy every day and still be able to tend to family and home obligations in the evening? Is it a balance you look for in a treatment program?
- Have you tried standard outpatient therapy but, at the moment, plateaued? PHP might be a remedial step back before returning to outpatient.
Speaking to a Loved One About a Partial Hospitalization Program
Broaching the issue of partial hospitalization (or any treatment) to a family member, friend, partner or spouse without seeming confrontational or adversarial can be a delicate path to tread.
Choose a private, calm moment to speak with them. The topic of rehab isn’t something that should be sprung on them or surprised with. Don’t assign blame or show condescension. Take accountability for your concern and use “I” statements.
For example: “There’s been something on my mind I’ve been meaning to talk to you about. I’m worried about you, and I’m concerned about your health. We all are,” to reference other family members. Say you’re here for them to talk to about anything, and that you’ll help them research treatment facilities to enable their autonomy in their own recovery.
“I’ve learned about a program that offers support, and I hear you can still live at home while going for treatment. That would be so great for us and the kids. Can we look at it together?”
What Happens After PHP?
The Psychiatry MMC report we referenced higher up on this page mentions a very important word: continuum. Addiction and mental health treatment follows a continuum of care, a type of
trajectory where each segment in the rehab process is followed carefully to ensure that a person’s recovery is being maximized, and their symptoms and challenges, addressed.
PHP is just one outpatient option that comes after residential care in that continuum. But once you’ve completed PHP treatment, you can segue into a less intensive form of treatment:
Intensive Outpatient
Although an intensive outpatient program (IOP) is a type of outpatient treatment, studies show that they are just as effective as an inpatient program, whether it’s for substance abuse or mental health care. That’s because, like a PHP, the similarly structured IOP takes the rigorous foundation of residential care (typically, three 3-hour sessions a week) but places it in the flexible confines of an outpatient setting, where you’re free to live your life on your own terms after the day’s treatment is done.
Outpatient Treatment
At the end of the treatment spectrum is standard outpatient care. Most people committed to their recovery who successfully travel through the phases of detox, inpatient and PHP/IOP will find themselves at the outpatient phase. Look at it like the graduate level of rehab, when you’ve done the internal work on yourself, worked through your issues, explored and understood them and identified new ways to go forward without drugs and alcohol or knowing how to own your mental health challenges with renewed resolve and effective coping skills. Outpatient sees you meet with your therapist up to two times a week, either individually or in a group capacity.
Aftercare and Sober Living
One common question among the recovery community is asking what happens once treatment is over. At Aliya, rehab alumni have access to a host of aftercare services. Your therapist(s) and case manager can connect you with resources for continuing support groups in your area, from 12-Step programs to other peer meetings. If you’re leaving addiction recovery (or enrolled in a PHP) but not ready to live independently, there’s also sober housing, where you’ll room, temporarily, with other people also in recovery and getting back on their feet. Curfews, a strict no-substance rule and shared chores keep everyone accountable, chances to put what you learned in rehab to the test.
FAQ About Partial Hospitalization Treatment
The primary difference you’ll find boils down to the living arrangement. A residential/inpatient program requires you to live at a treatment facility 24/7; this is by design, since it carries a need for constant medical supervision, detox support and a request for your total, unfettered commitment to getting better. By comparison, a PHP seeks to offer the same type of intensity in treatment, only you return either home or to a sober living house at night.
Both programs are outpatient-level, and both are intensive, but a PHP is a bit more so than an IOP. In a PHP, you might find yourself in treatment and therapy for more hours per week than you would in an IOP — one reason why a PHP is considered a step-down from inpatient care, and an IOP a progression down from a PHP.
Yes — because it’s called a day program, PHP and day treatment are sometimes used interchangeably, but they both refer to the same type of care, since you attend treatment in the day and return home at night.
Day programs encompass a variety of treatments we’ve listed on this page — individual and group therapy, medical oversight and the chance to take charge in your own recovery. In a residential program, therapy might extend into the evening, and some rehab centers might offer the same in a PHP to accommodate work or family schedules.
As a step along the care continuum, partial hospitalization is just one more way to help heal addictions or mental health issues. It’s a best-of-both-worlds type of treatment because it maintains the intensive momentum found in residential treatment but begins introducing the flexible autonomy of outpatient, where you can continue building skills in a supportive space and learn to re-enter the world sober and mentally and emotionally clear.
Entering PHP may be a natural progression if you’re already in inpatient treatment. When starting PHP for addiction for the first time, the process is the same as entering rehab for any program, residential or rehab — it starts with an intake assessment with our admissions team and a referral to a counselor who can create a customized treatment plan for you. It’s built around your condition and special needs. Then, PHP treatment begins.
In general, you can expect partial hospitalization treatment to last anywhere from three to four weeks, possibly longer depending on one’s treatment progress and the nature and specifics of their condition.
PHP therapy mimics the frequency of inpatient treatment, where attendance is required generally five days a week (sometimes weekends) for several hours a day before ending for the evening.
Since most of the day is spent in PHP treatment, breakfast and lunch are offered during rehab, and there are recreational and private areas for activities or just for some quiet time.
Aftercare is a component at the conclusion of any substance abuse or mental illness treatment. It’s an exit program to help you facilitate and take charge of your recovery post-rehab. If PHP is the only treatment you partake in, aftercare options, like info on support groups or transitional housing, will follow.
Following PHP treatment, you might move onto an IOP program or standard outpatient as a way of easing into a less rigorous, lower level of treatment aligned with your own schedule.
Yes, as part of our standard PHP offering and our Native American program, sober living opportunities are available. Many people seek out a sober home after they’ve found success in group therapy, where you might room with and share space with some of the same peers, a bonding experience where chores are shared and substances are banned, a testament to your commitment to sobriety.
What Are the Benefits of Partial Hospitalization Program?
PHP is the first link connecting inpatient to outpatient therapy and carries a unique combination of benefits, like:
- Intensive support: PHP treatment delivers the same structure and high level of care carried over from residential treatment.
- Flexibility and independence: PHPs introduce one of the most appealing aspects of outpatient treatment, the chance to maintain valuable connections with family, work or school without having to forego therapy.
- Active skill-building: Because you leave treatment each day back into your life, there’s a chance to apply what you’ve learned in therapy into your day-to-day experiences.
- Cost-effective: Another advantage is that because there’s no need for residential room and board, PHPs become easier on one’s finances and insurance coverage.
How Much Does Partial Hospitalization Cost?
PHP treatment can vary in cost depending on the rehab facility, the program and length of treatment, but typically ranges from $200 to $500 per day (out of pocket without insurance coverage).
Does Insurance Cover PHP?
Most private, employer and state insurance plans do recognize and provide coverage for a partial hospitalization program. Aliya works with groups like Indian Health Services (IHS) and various insurance providers to ensure you get the treatment you need.
Can I Go to PHP Without Insurance?
Yes, you can self-pay for PHP addiction treatment, but we believe that cost should never be a barrier to getting help. When you call the Aliya admissions team, we’re transparent about pricing for all the levels of treatment we offer, and we can help structure a payment plan that works for your budget.
Partial Hospitalization Program at Aliya Native Americans
Inpatient and outpatient take up two ends of rehab, but programs like partial hospitalization are one of the key treatment programs that connect the two. On one hand, you can continue to benefit and heal through a more intensive treatment structure, but without needing to step away from life’s commitments. Aliya’s PHP program takes place in a safe, supportive space with a clinical team who have more than just expertise, but care and reverence for the communities we serve.
Partial Hospitalization Treatment Near Me
Aliya has 21 treatment centers across eight states, so we know that you’ll find the right fit for yourself or a family member in need of treatment. Seeking help is a brave, bold move, taking accountability and responsibility for the health and well-being of you and others. We have countless success stories of people who have emerged from treatment clean, sober and with a renewed lease on life — and we want the same for you.
If you or someone you love is struggling with addiction, compassionate help is available. Our mental health professionals provide comprehensive behavioral healthcare designed to treat both substance abuse and co-occurring mental health concerns. Whether you need the flexibility of an outpatient behavioral health plan or the structure of an intensive outpatient program, our health center and community mental health services offer personalized care every step of the way. Our dedicated team works to ensure that the care provided meets your unique needs, integrating research-based treatments within a supportive behavioral health environment. Take the first step toward recovery—connect with our health care team today to start a path to lasting wellness.
Contact our admissions team with questions. Call us or fill out the secure contact form below. We’re here to meet you where you are.