Severe postpartum depression or anxiety
When symptoms are interfering significantly with daily functioning, sleep, eating, or your ability to care for your baby, and weekly therapy is not providing enough containment.
Our Approach
Higher-acuity perinatal care, when weekly therapy isn't enough.
Some perinatal mental health concerns need more containment than a weekly individual or group session can provide — but do not need inpatient hospitalization. Intensive Outpatient (IOP) is the level of care that sits in between: structured, multi-session-per-week support delivered while you remain home and continue caring for your child.
What it is
A higher-frequency, multi-modality structure for serious presentations.
An Intensive Outpatient Program is a structured form of mental health care that typically involves three to five days per week of programming, running for several weeks, while the patient continues to live at home. For perinatal women, IOP is most often considered when symptoms are moderate-to-severe, when functioning at home is significantly affected, or when a higher level of support is needed during medication adjustments or after a recent hospitalization.
Important: Pasadena Clinical Group is an outpatient psychotherapy practice. We do not run an in-house IOP. We coordinate referrals to vetted, evidence-informed perinatal-specific IOPs across Los Angeles County and remain involved as part of your care team during and after the higher-acuity phase.
When IOP is the right fit
Recognizable patterns that suggest stepping up.
Postpartum OCD with intense intrusive thoughts
When intrusive thoughts have become consuming, are interfering with caregiving, or are accompanied by significant compulsive behavior.
After a psychiatric hospitalization
When a recent inpatient stay has stabilized the immediate situation and a step-down level of care is needed before returning to weekly outpatient therapy.
Severe birth trauma or loss reactions
When postpartum PTSD or perinatal loss has produced a level of acute distress that needs more daily support than weekly sessions provide.
How the referral works
Coordinated, with continuity, not a hand-off.
If we and you decide together that an IOP referral is the right next step, we don't simply pass you a phone number. We coordinate with the IOP intake team, share clinically relevant information with your written consent, remain in close touch with your IOP clinicians during programming, and re-engage your ongoing care with us once IOP completes — so that the work you've done isn't lost in the transition.
This is one of the things our practice is most careful about. Higher-acuity moments are exactly when continuity matters most.
If you are in crisis right now
Pasadena Clinical Group is not an emergency service. If you are thinking about harming yourself or your baby, please call or text 988, call 911, or reach the National Maternal Mental Health Hotline at 1-833-852-6262 (24/7, multilingual).
Related
Other ways we work
Individual Therapy
The level of care most women begin with — and step back into after IOP completes.
Group Therapy
Therapist-led perinatal cohorts that often complement individual therapy after a higher-acuity phase.
Postpartum Psychosis
A separate, urgent presentation that always requires immediate medical evaluation — not IOP first.