Programs / PHP
Partial Hospitalization Program.
PHP program mental health care at High Tide — the most structured outpatient behavioral health level we offer, with full clinical days, five days a week, and evenings at home or nearby. Hospital-level rigor, without the hospital.
Admissions answers when you call.
A real person — never a call center.
Hours per day
9 AM – 4 PM
Days per week
5 days
Length
Clinical need
Groups
Small cohorts
What a partial hospitalization program is
A full clinical day, then your own front door.
The question isn’t whether you need support. It’s whether the support you have matches the weight you’re carrying.
A partial hospitalization program for mental health is the most intensive outpatient care that doesn’t require an overnight stay. You spend the day — 9 AM to 4 PM — inside a structured environment: individual therapy, psychiatry, group therapy, and skills training. Then you return home, cook dinner, sleep in your own bed, and come back in the morning.
That daily return home isn’t a compromise. It’s the clinical point. Every evening becomes a rehearsal for life after treatment — you practice coping strategies from that afternoon’s group in your real kitchen, with your real family, against your real stressors. Your therapist hears about it the next morning, and the plan adjusts.
At High Tide, PHP runs in small cohorts out of our Laguna Beach facility. Groups stay small enough that your clinicians know what happened in your week — not just your chart.
Who it's for
For when weekly therapy isn’t enough — but a hospital is too much.
This level of care sits between inpatient treatment and traditional outpatient therapy. It’s built for people who need daily clinical support and structure while still sleeping in their own bed.
This level of care fits when
- You’re stepping down from inpatient treatment or residential treatment and need a structured bridge back to daily life.
- Your symptoms — depression, anxiety disorders, trauma, bipolar disorder, mood instability — have escalated beyond what weekly outpatient therapy can hold.
- You need daily psychiatric oversight and medication management while a new plan stabilizes.
- You’re safe at home overnight, but the days feel unmanageable alone.
- You want intensive mental health care without pressing pause on your whole life.
A different level may fit better when
- You’re in immediate crisis or at active risk — inpatient psychiatric stabilization comes first, and we’ll help you find it fast.
- Your symptoms are steady and weekly therapy is holding — stepping up may add structure you don’t need.
- Work or school can’t flex around full days — our intensive outpatient program delivers the same clinical quality in part-day sessions.
- You need 24/7 supervision or medical detox — we’ll refer you to trusted residential treatment partners and help plan outpatient step-down when you’re ready.
What we treat here
Built for the hard middle of mental health.
PHP is a primary mental health program — not an addiction program with therapy attached. Our clinical team treats the full picture, including the substance use that often rides along with it. Most people arrive carrying more than one of these at once — the program is built for that overlap, not around a single diagnosis.
01
Mood disorders
When the baseline itself has shifted — persistent low mood, cycling highs and lows, or a flatness that medication alone has not moved.
- Major depression
- Bipolar I & II
- Persistent depressive disorder
- Grief & adjustment disorders
02
Anxiety & trauma
For nervous systems stuck in alarm — panic that arrives without warning, intrusive memories, or vigilance that never fully powers down.
- Generalized & panic anxiety
- PTSD & complex trauma
- OCD
- Burnout & acute stress
03
Personality & self-harm
Patterns that touch every relationship — emotional intensity, identity instability, and behaviors that hurt even when they briefly help.
- Borderline personality disorder
- Self-harm behaviors
- Suicidal ideation (non-acute)
- Emotion dysregulation
04
Co-occurring concerns
The complications that ride alongside a primary diagnosis — treated inside the same plan, by the same team, at the same time.
- Co-occurring substance use
- Life transitions
- Relationship & family strain
- Work & academic collapse
Not sure where you fit? Most people don’t map neatly onto one column — and an exact diagnosis isn’t a prerequisite for calling. Our clinical team completes a full assessment in your first days and builds the plan around what they actually find.
See everything we treatWhat to expect
Programming hours and weekly groups.
Here is how PHP and IOP are structured — plus the group types offered every week. PHP is full-day programming (9 AM – 4 PM, five days a week). Individual therapy and psychiatry are scheduled inside those hours — not a fixed minute-by-minute sample day.
Our groups aim for a holistic, clinically excellent, and human approach to healing. Programs address the whole self — brain, mind, and body — with a wide range of perspectives and ways to engage in treatment. Individual therapy and psychiatry are scheduled inside PHP or IOP; the weekly mix shifts with your plan.
PHP
9 AM – 4 PM
Full-day programming five days a week — individual therapy, group work, psychiatry, and holistic practices in one integrated day.
IOP
Morning & afternoon tracks
Part-day sessions several days per week. Morning and afternoon tracks are offered so you can keep work, school, or family routines while staying anchored in treatment.
Group
Dialectical behavior therapy (DBT focus)
Dialectical behavior therapy skills for emotion regulation, distress tolerance, and interpersonal effectiveness.
Group
Therapeutic Process Groups
Small-group therapy where emotional triggers, relationship patterns, and recovery challenges surface and get worked in real time.
Group
Relationships / Family Based Groups (IFS/ACT Focus)
Internal Family Systems and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy lenses on attachment, family dynamics, and values-aligned connection — including family therapy themes when clinically useful.
Group
Physical Movement Groups
Body-based sessions that support regulation, energy, and the physical side of recovery — part of the clinical week, not optional fluff.
Group
Recovery (SUD & MH track focus)
Integrated recovery groups with substance use and mental health tracks — cravings, relapse prevention, and the mental health drivers underneath both.
Group
Somatic Healing Groups
Breathwork, sound bowls, and mindfulness exploration for nervous-system regulation and trauma-informed body awareness.
Group
Art-Based Expression / Music-Based Process Groups
Creative process groups for clients who access emotion and insight more readily through art and music than talk alone.
Group
Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT focus)
Cognitive behavioral therapy for thought patterns, behaviors, and the loops that keep depression, anxiety, and related symptoms going.
Group
Aftercare Planning Groups
Discharge and aftercare planning so outpatient therapy, medication, recovery support, and home structure are mapped before you leave.
Group
Adventure
Experiential outdoor and adventure-based groups that practice regulation, trust, and peer connection outside the therapy room.
What's included
Everything your treatment plan may draw on.
Your plan is built by your clinical team in the first days of the program — these are the tools they build it from.
01
Individual therapy
Multiple one-on-one sessions weekly with a licensed primary therapist who carries a deliberately small caseload — often drawing on cognitive behavioral therapy and related approaches.
02
Psychiatry & medication management
On-staff psychiatric care with unhurried appointments — evaluation, prescribing, and medication management throughout PHP.
03
Group therapy
Daily process and skills groups small enough that there is nowhere to hide — and no need to.
04
EMDR & trauma work
Trauma reprocessing woven into the daily structure, paced by clinicians trained to move only as fast as you can integrate.
05
Somatic & holistic practice
Breathwork, movement, and mindfulness by the ocean — regulation skills the body keeps after discharge.
06
Family therapy & involvement
Structured family therapy sessions and communication coaching, because recovery lands better when the people around you understand it.
What changes
What structured clinical days actually do.
PHP isn’t designed to fix everything. It’s designed to stabilize the acute phase, build a working set of skills, and hand you off — to our intensive outpatient program, to outpatient therapy, or back to your life — with a plan that holds.
PHP
Full clinical days, five days a week — far more contact than weekly outpatient therapy.
Team
Individual therapy and psychiatry scheduled inside the week, adjusted as your plan evolves.
Planned
Discharge planning with next level of care, medications, and follow-ups mapped before you leave.
Day 1
Psychiatric evaluation happens in your first days, not your first weeks — medication questions get answered early.
Not sure PHP is the right level?
PHP and IOP, side by side.
IOP offers the same clinical quality in part-day sessions a few days a week — often the next step after PHP, or the right starting point when life can’t pause. Here’s how the two levels actually differ.
PHP
This program- Time commitment
- 9 AM – 4 PM, 5 days a week
- Best for
- Acute symptoms, stepping down from inpatient, medication changes
- Psychiatry
- Multiple check-ins weekly with close monitoring
- Work & school
- Usually paused or reduced during the program
- Length
- Follows clinical need
IOP
The step down- Time commitment
- Part-day sessions, several days a week
- Best for
- Moderate symptoms, stepping down from PHP, working or in school
- Psychiatry
- Weekly or as-needed appointments
- Work & school
- Designed to run alongside your regular schedule
- Length
- Follows clinical need
How to start
From first call to first day — usually within a week.
Admissions is one phone call, not a paperwork gauntlet. Here’s the whole process.
01
Call or verify online
A confidential conversation with our admissions team — what’s going on, what you’re looking for, and whether PHP is the right fit. We verify your insurance the same day, usually while you’re still on the phone.
02
Clinical assessment
A licensed clinician conducts a full biopsychosocial assessment — history, symptoms, safety, and level-of-care fit. If PHP, IOP, or outpatient is not the right match, we’ll say so and help you get there instead.
03
Start within days
Clients often begin within a few days of assessment when clinical fit and insurance align. Your first days include psychiatric evaluation, meeting your primary therapist, and building the treatment plan everything else draws from.
Most PPO plans cover this program. Verification is free, confidential, and usually same-day.
Common questions
Answers before you have to ask.
Can't find your question? Call us — a real person answers, and there's never pressure to commit.
Will insurance cover a partial hospitalization program for mental health?
Most PPO plans cover partial hospitalization for mental health, and California parity law requires insurers to cover mental health care at the same level as physical health care. We verify your exact benefits before you commit — free, confidential, and usually same-day. Start at /insurance or read /mental-health-guides/does-insurance-cover-php-iop.
Can I keep working during PHP?
Most clients pause or significantly reduce work during PHP — the program runs 9 AM to 4 PM, five days a week. If stepping away isn’t possible, our intensive outpatient program is built to run alongside a work schedule.
How long will I be in the program?
Length follows clinical need, not a fixed package. Your team reviews progress weekly, and you step down when your symptoms — not the calendar — say you’re ready. Many clients transition to IOP for a gradual return to full independence. Compare levels in /mental-health-guides/php-vs-iop.
What if I’m coming from out of town?
Many of our clients travel to Laguna Beach for treatment. We can help arrange optional supportive housing within a few minutes of the facility. Evenings and weekends are yours — housing is optional, not required for PHP or IOP. Local families often start on our Orange County PHP page.
Is PHP the same as inpatient hospitalization?
No. There is no overnight stay, no locked unit, and no hospital setting. A partial hospitalization program delivers hospital-level clinical intensity — daily psychiatry access, a structured full-day schedule — inside a calm outpatient facility you leave every afternoon. See /mental-health-guides/what-is-php-mental-health for a fuller definition.
What happens after I finish?
Nobody leaves without a plan. Before discharge, your team builds a written aftercare plan: step-down to our intensive outpatient program if appropriate, referrals to outpatient mental health treatment, medication management scheduled, and follow-up check-ins from our team in the weeks after you leave.