2024 Children's of Alabama/UAB Annual Report

New Programs

Intensive Outpatient Program Helps Patients Return to Normal Life

A much-needed bridge between inpatient and outpatient care for adolescents facing mental health challenges arrived at Children’s of Alabama in 2020 in the form of the Partial Hospitalization Program (PHP). This program offers more intense treatment than typical outpatient structure provides and encourages success in symptom management and recovery. Following increased demand for the program in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, Children’s has now launched an Intensive Outpatient Program (IOP), an extension of the PHP, designed to better help these young patients adapt to daily life.

Lauren Byrd, MS, LPC

Just as the PHP was created to fill the gap between inpatient and outpatient services, the IOP is meant to help these young patients make another crucial step—back to normal living. “Many times, our parents and families say they wish there was something available between the PHP and outpatient setting,” program manager Lauren Byrd, MS, LPC, said. “This is something our community has been asking about for some time.”

2024 Academic Annual Report

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