The care we offer

Three levels, so you can step down instead of stopping

Getting better is rarely a straight line, and it should never be a cliff. The trouble with a lot of mental health care is that it comes in two sizes: an hour a week, or a hospital. Most of real life happens somewhere in between.

Nexa is built for the in-between. Three levels of care in one place, so that when you need less, you move down a step instead of being discharged into thin air — and if a hard month arrives, you can move back up without starting again somewhere new.

At every level you sleep in your own bed. Nobody stays overnight.

Partial Hospitalization Program (PHP)

The name does it no favors. "Partial hospitalization" sounds like being a little bit admitted. It is not. There are no beds and no overnight stays. It is a full day of structured care — and then you go home and have dinner in your own kitchen.

Who it tends to fit. Someone for whom a weekly appointment has stopped being enough: the days have become hard to get through, work or school is slipping or already on hold, but home is still a safe place to be at night. It is also a common next step for someone leaving a hospital, who is not ready to go from round-the-clock care to one hour a week.

What a week feels like. Closer to a demanding class schedule than to a medical stay. You show up, you do real work with a group and with a clinician, and then you go home and try it out on real life. The next day you come back and talk about how that went. The going home is not a gap in the treatment. It is half of it.

• Days: Call (805) 210-2288 for the current days.
• Hours: 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
• How long: It depends on you. Call (805) 210-2288 to ask what to expect.
• A day: A check-in group to start, a therapy group on the topic of the day, something creative such as art, lunch, movement such as yoga, and a check-out group before you go home.
• Alongside the groups: Individual time with a clinician.

Intensive Outpatient Program (IOP)

Intensive outpatient is for the person whose life cannot stop — and for the person who has done the heavier work of a day program and is ready to carry more of the week alone. It is a few hours at a time, a few times a week, which leaves room for a job, a class schedule or the school run.

Nexa runs it as two tracks: morning or evening.

The Mental Health Track, mornings

For mental health care on its own.

• Days: Call (805) 210-2288 for the current days.
• Hours: 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.

The Dual Diagnosis Track, evenings

For mental health and substance use together. It runs in the evening on purpose: asking a manager for afternoons off every week is a conversation most people would rather not have. An evening group asks nobody's permission.

• Days: Call (805) 210-2288 for the current evenings.
• Hours: 6:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.

On either track:

• How long: It depends on you. Call (805) 210-2288 to ask what to expect.
• A session: One three-hour group, which may be a process group, an educational group or an activity group.

Outpatient care

The long game. Once the intensive work is done, this is how you keep what you built: regular sessions, less often, for as long as they are useful. Some people step down into it from PHP or IOP. Some people start here and never need more. Both are fine.

• How often: Set with your clinician, and it can change as you do.
• What it looks like: Individual sessions with a clinician.

What group is actually like

Most of the care in PHP and IOP happens in groups, and nearly everyone walks in carrying the same three worries. Here they are.

Will I have to talk?

Not before you are ready. Plenty of people spend their first sessions mostly listening, and listening counts.

Will I have to tell strangers everything?

No. Group is not a confessional and it is not a talk show. You decide what you bring. What people often find is that the thing they were certain only they felt is the thing half the room nods at.

What if it is not for me?

Then say so, to the group or to your clinician. A good program wants to hear that and adjusts. Nothing here is a locked door: you are an outpatient, and the decision to keep coming stays yours.

To ask about group size, bringing someone with you on the first day, or groups in a language other than English, call (805) 210-2288.

How people move between levels

Nobody picks a level off a menu. A clinician recommends one after an assessment, based on how things are right now, and the recommendation is supposed to change as you do. Stepping down is not being dropped. Stepping back up is not failing. They are the same staircase, used in both directions.

If you are using insurance, your plan has a say as well. Most plans approve these levels of care a stretch at a time, which is one more reason the level gets reviewed often. How the money side works is here.

What Nexa is not

Nexa is not a hospital and not a residential program. Nobody stays overnight. It is not an emergency service — if this is an emergency, call or text 988, and call 911 if this is a medical emergency, or anyone is in immediate danger.