My Mental Health Journey Through an Intensive Outpatient Program – Part 28

I got some good news at my IOP this morning. I’m stepping down to three days a week. I thought I’ve been making progress, and this is confirmation that the IOP thinks so, too. Yay me. I woke up with a nervous feeling this morning. It was like butterflies in my stomach. I brought that…

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My Mental Health Journey Through an Intensive Outpatient Program – Part 26

Week five of my IOP is in the books. The name doesn’t lie. It’s an outpatient program that’s intense. I’m exhausted. Today was a pretty normal session, but we had a big group. Check-ins took the whole first hour and about half of the second hour. When it came to my turn, I talked about…

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My Mental Health Journey Through an Intensive Outpatient Program – Part 25

The regular clinician was back today at my IOP. Yesterday’s clinician was perfectly good, but it felt like getting back to normal today. It’s amazing how much I like my routines in an IOP setting. I sit in the same chair every day. I’m the first one there every day. I even prefer it when…

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My Mental Health Journey Through an Intensive Outpatient Program – Part 24

I really don’t feel like writing this today. I’m tired and have a definite lack of energy (there is a difference). But, after 23 installments, I feel like I’ve committed. I have an obligation to keep posting. So, I’m going to use one of my tools, opposite action, and power through. We had a different…

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My Mental Health Journey Through an Intensive Outpatient Program – Part 21

We started IOP a little differently today. Instead of just diving into the check-ins, we did a mindfulness exercise. The clinician put some music on. I didn’t recognize it. I think it was Indian. Then, we closed our eyes and just listened. If any thoughts came into our heads, we let them pass and stayed…

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