1
Initial Assessment
You'll begin with a thorough diagnostic assessment to evaluate your readiness and goodness of fit for intensive services.
Intensive Services
One unique aspect of KCCAT’s specialty, team-based approach is our ability to scale up treatment protocols to meet many patients’ needs that go above and beyond standard once-weekly psychotherapy. Our team of specialists is well versed in creating intensive treatment protocols to efficiently deliver maximum treatment benefit in a relatively short period. Each patient evaluated at KCCAT will be given a recommendation regarding the frequency and intensity of their treatment protocol, and not all presentations will be suitable for intensive services.
What does an intensive treatment protocol involve?
Intensive protocols (“intensives” for short, and sometimes called “accelerated” treatment) are tailored to each patient but often involve sessions occurring more frequently (e.g., 3-10 times per week) and at times in a longer format than typical weekly sessions (e.g., 90-120 minutes and beyond). These sessions typically include close collaboration with your treatment team to set goals and use session time to actively learn and apply treatment skills. Time spent between sessions is usually dedicated to the practice of treatment skills through homework assignments, with the ability to have quick access to a treatment team member to help with problem-solving or between-session support. Intensives usually involve a “pre-intensive” period of treatment readiness sessions meant to equip you with foundational treatment skills and make a “game plan” to make the most of the intensive period. Depending on each individual’s needs, the intensive portion of treatment may last anywhere from one to several weeks, with sessions often decreasing in frequency and length over time.
Initial Assessment
Treatment Readiness
2
Treatment Readiness
This phase focuses on building foundational skills and preparing you (and your support system!) for making big changes.
Intensive Treatment
3
Intensive Treatment
This tailored phase can be a few days or a few weeks depending on your individual needs and goals, and focuses on intensive practice of exposure-based treatment skills.
Maintenance
4
Maintenance
After-care designed to help you transition back into life with your new skills and sustain your progress.
What are the benefits of an intensive treatment approach?
Accessing specialty care in a short period if it is not available where you live
Ability to take advantage of breaks in school, work, or other responsibilities to get a greater “dose” of treatment in a relatively short amount of time
Decrease suffering by quickly moving through a treatment protocol and focusing on the “active ingredients” of treatment that lead to rapid symptom change
Increased access to support from your treatment team while tackling challenging parts of treatment
Who is a good fit for an intensive treatment protocol?
Someone who has tried once-weekly treatment for their anxiety or OCD but found that it hasn’t been sufficient to see symptom change
Someone highly motivated to see symptom improvement and ready to dive in
Someone who may not have access to a specialty treatment provider in their geographic region
Someone with moderate to severe symptoms that are interfering with daily functioning
All ages! For children and teens, a family member (or multiple!) willing to be present and support in this process is a must
While many presentations respond very well to intensive treatment protocols, OCD, Panic Disorder, Phobias, Selective Mutism, and PTSD lend themselves particularly well to intensive treatment models.