Online IOP for College Students and Emerging Adults in MA & VT
Six-Week Residential Evaluation and Treatment
Treatment at Riggs begins with six weeks of intensive residential evaluation and treatment. This is not a passive assessment period. From the first day, you are in treatment.
The six-week residential evaluation and treatment is a complete clinical process in itself—not a deposit on a longer stay.
During these first six weeks, patients engage in intensive psychotherapy, therapeutic community life, psychological testing, family work, medical and medication assessment, and a broad multidisciplinary evaluation designed to clarify what has been driving the difficulty—and what conditions may now make change possible.
At Austen Riggs, the goal is not simply symptom reduction. The six-week evaluation is designed to help patients, families, and clinicians better understand the emotional, relational, developmental, and psychiatric factors contributing to suffering and to identify what kind of treatment is most likely to help.
By the end of the six weeks, patients leave with:
- A clearer understanding of the patterns that have kept them stuck
- A fuller picture of what contributes to their current difficulties
- Direct experience of intensive psychodynamic treatment in an open residential setting
- A comprehensive psychological and psychiatric assessment
- Recommendations for next steps in treatment
The question guiding the work is: What has been driving the difficulty—and what would need to change?
The Six-Week Process Includes Seven Domains
During the six weeks, the team comes to know the patient through several connected settings.
1. Individual Psychotherapy
Four sessions each week with the same psychiatrist or psychologist. This is the central place where the patient’s history, symptoms, relationships, conflicts, and repeated patterns are examined.
Psychodynamic psychotherapy forms the core of treatment at Austen Riggs and is integrated with all other aspects of the residential evaluation process. Learn more about individual psychotherapy.
2. Therapeutic Community
Daily life in the community is where learning and engagement happen beyond the therapy room—in meetings, relationships, shared responsibilities, conflict, and repair. What emerges in community life can be brought directly into the work. Learn more about the Therapeutic Community Program.
3. Activities and Life Beyond the Patient Role
Patients participate in settings where they are not seen primarily through diagnosis or treatment history. They are encountered as capable adults doing real work. This often reveals strengths and difficulties that may not appear in the therapy room. Learn more about the Activities Program.
4. Psychological Testing
Every patient receives psychological testing. It helps clarify aspects of personality, thinking, affect regulation, trauma, diagnosis, and capacities that conversation alone may not fully reveal. Learn more about psychological testing.
5. Medical and Medication Review
A full medical and psychiatric assessment, including review of current medications. Most patients at Riggs take some psychiatric medications, and these are often adjusted during the evaluation. Close attention is paid to the meaning of medications, which can profoundly influence their effectiveness. Learn more about our approach to medication.
6. Family Meetings
When appropriate, family meetings help place the patient’s difficulties in developmental and relational context. The purpose is not to blame families, but to understand the patterns in which everyone has been living and to support the family in supporting the patient. Learn more about family work.
7. The Case Conference
At the end of six weeks, the full clinical team meets in a formal case conference—psychiatrists, psychologists, social workers, nurses, and activities staff. The concentration of clinical expertise in that room is unusual in American psychiatry. You are invited to attend and speak directly—not to receive a verdict, but to share your account and help shape what comes next.
What Happens After the Six-Week Evaluation?
The team produces a clinical formulation: a shared account of what appears to be driving the difficulty, what strengths and capacities are available, and what treatment is most likely to help.
There are usually three possible recommendations:
1. Return to Outpatient Treatment
Some patients leave with greater clarity, a stronger formulation, and a more useful outpatient plan.
2. Referral to Another Setting
Some patients need a different kind of care—specialized treatment for substance use, eating disorders, or another primary condition.
3. Continue at Riggs
Some patients choose to continue treatment at Riggs after the six-week period, with the same clinical team and a clearer account of what the work requires. Our full longer-term residential treatment continuum is designed to support patients every step of the way.
What comes next is the patient’s and family’s decision—made with the full picture in front of them for the first time.
How Riggs Worked for Me
It was a 180-degree change from the girl who was lying on the couch in the same clothes for two weeks because the thought of walking three feet to go take a shower was exhausting. I am not that person anymore.