The Petoskey IOP Is Designed to:
- Educate patients about their illness
- Improve patients’ coping skills, emotional awareness, and effectiveness in interpersonal situations
- Increase patients’ awareness of themselves and the issues that led to the development and/or intensification of their difficulties
Our morning program includes approximately 9 hours of group programming per week (3 hours a day — Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday mornings) plus a weekly individual treatment review meeting with the patient’s IOP team leader.

Our IOP emphasizes the importance of:
Patient Involvement
Individualized and continuous evaluation
Strong, supportive community milieu
Well-rounded group programming
Experienced and skillful treatment team
Our patients are highly capable individuals who are having difficulty making their way in the world at this stage in their lives.

Individual Meetings
Once weekly, patients meet with their team leader to assess their progress and to help tailor the program to each patient’s unique treatment needs. The patient’s team leader serves as a link between each patient, the IOP treatment team, and the patient’s individual therapist.
The team leader is not a replacement for the patient’s individual therapist. Instead, we strongly encourage patients to continue working with their individual therapist while they are in our program. This allows for a smoother transition upon completion of our program.
If patients do not have an individual therapist, we will help them find a good match.
Length of Treatment
Patients are required to commit to the program in 6-week cycles. Patients often benefit from participating in multiple 6-week cycles to allow for:
- the solidification of goals,
- opportunities to practice integrating new skills and insights in a safe environment, and
- continued support as they integrate their new skills and self-awareness into their daily lives — outside the context of therapy.
The treatment team works with each patient to determine the optimal length of stay. Currently, the average length of stay is 18 to 36 weeks.
Program Schedule
Mondays
(10am to 1:20pm)
Mentalizing
Chain Analysis (DBT Skills I)
Interpersonal Process I
Wednesdays
(10am to 1:20pm)
Emotion Regulation (DBT Skills II)
Family Dynamics
Interpersonal Process II
Thursdays
(10am to 1:10pm)
Legacy, Identity, and the Stories We Tell Ourselves
Distress Tolerance/Mindfulness (DBT Skills III)
Topics in Treatment
IOP level of care can serve as a catalyst for change
when change is desperately needed
Areas of Treatment Focus
Building Skills and
Reducing Symptoms
Using Dialectical Behavior Therapy-informed curricula, we work with patients to build skills for managing and preventing the exacerbation of their emotional distress and behavioral dysregulation.
Groups that address this area:
Chain Analysis
Distress Tolerance/Mindfulness
Emotion Regulation
Topics in Treatment
Finding Meaning and
a Path Forward
Using mentalizing as our core therapeutic foundation, we work with patients to help them understand their minds and the minds of others. With this increased awareness, patients are able to improve their communication skills and clarify what they want in their lives.
Groups that address this area:
Mentalizing
Family Dynamics
Topics in Treatment
Legacy, Identity, and the Stories We Tell Ourselves
Exploring Ourselves
in our Relationships
Using psychodynamic and mentalizing approaches, we work with patients to 1) explore attachment and relationship patterns that may contribute to their symptoms and 2) practice new ways of engaging with others to build trust and form healthier relationships.
Groups that address this area:
Interpersonal Process Group I & II
Family Dynamics
Mentalizing
Legacy, Identity, and the Stories We Tell Ourselves