Basic Steps Mental Health conducts the Intensive Outpatient Program (IOP) like a graduate school course. Though, it is school the way you always wished it was. In the IOP, not only do the participants learn up to 10 of the top psychological approaches, they get to practice them as both a client and a counselor, giving a person a more full picture of how to heal. The ultimate aim of the IOP program is utilizing our “Self Counseling” format where a person can actually counsel themselves on paper!
Basic Steps has been using this approach since its opening in 2017 and for four years before this in a residential treatment program that Dr. Alpert operated. It is important to understand that the staff at Basic Steps Mental Health can’t fix you but can only support and care about you. We step you through the processes but it is in your efforts and dedication that will help you achieve the results you desire.
Dr’s Ronald and Mary Hulnick – the founders of the University of Santa Monica (USM), gave Dr. Alpert their approval for sharing all the information taught at their university, which presented a Master’s level coursework on Spiritual Psychology. What participants of the Basic Steps Mental Health program are learning is how to be a real counselor to themselves.
The University of Santa Monica is world-renowned. People from all over the world literally fly in one weekend a month, go through the coursework, return home to complete the month long homework, and fly back the subsequent month and repeat the process. Was the university unique? Absolutely.
Spiritual Psychology is not religious. In fact, people from all faiths attended USM. We don’t try to change your faith or recruit you into a cult. We are simply showing people that love heals and when love is applied to our hurt we learn, grow, and become a better person.
“All I can say is that from day one, us students knew that this was something unique and amazing. At the time, I signed up for one course on applied psychology and another on counseling psychology but only was able to give maybe 40% to each subject. I put on hold the counseling psychology course so I could devote all my energy to this unique approach and glad I did. I was healing in leaps and bounds, as well as ever other student, and I didn’t think there was anything wrong with me! Boy was I surprised.
Basic Steps Mental Health presents Spiritual Psychology – which takes into account ever dimension of a person – their physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual levels – and each level has a particular psychological approach that is taught and practiced. This course is not praying the ailment away. In doing that we suffer a “Spiritual Bypass” in which we bypass the healing on the mental and emotional levels. We address each level as we confront long, enduring issues, in order to heal them out completely.
“I’d say our focus at Basic Steps is on emotions. I chuckle when I realized one day I had a group of all women and I was teaching them how to work on their emotions. This just felt bizarre to me at the time. But yes, the emotions have a language of their own, and when you learn how to work with your anger, anxiety, hurt, and shame, we can leave all that baggage in the past and move forward toward our dreams.”
It is not uncommon for people who have gone through treatment before being shocked and amazed with what we are presenting. They may have had one or two counseling sessions in a month, watched films, or went to meetings in which the same stories were told. Basic Steps Mental Health has little time to waste and wants to present enough tools that if one doesn’t work you have another one ready to go.
“I began working at a 12 step facility in Tarzana California. New to the AA approach, I had become sober by simply ceasing my substance use, but here they were putting people through these steps that just didn’t work. I felt badly when literally half of them returned again and again. This spurred me on to study more and find ways to improve the 12-step approach, and then I entered the University of Santa Monica and my life changed forever!”
People who enter the Basic Steps Mental Health IOP program are not followers but unique. When people attend to please their family or are doing so to appease the courts, they quickly learn that the program is active and people are putting in real effort – because they are sick and tired of being sick and tired.
Now it is up to you. Try something that is cheaper where you can ignore what brought you into treatment or actively work on changing it. We aren’t the cheapest and aren’t expensive. This is real therapy that has had incredible success. Or, as all the commercials say, try the rest or try the best!
Schedule
A typical session lasts 3 hours, normally from 9:00 am to noon. There are three sessions a week and a total of 4 weeks or 12 sessions.
Morning Sharing:
Participants talk about what they are dealing with and share their intentions for the day.
Approach:
Approaches are taught, handouts are given to each participant, and then a duo exercise is conducted in which one participant acts like a counselor and the other is a client. Each duo is supervised by the staff, who are very supportive and caring. Once the duo is completed, the participants switch so the counselor is now being counseled. At the end we all talk about the experience.
Options:
After the first duo is conducted we have some options. Another duo can be conducted, or a visualization exercise, or even some drawing or Karaoke singing (if we are doing reparenting exercises). Yes, it is not uncommon to do some fun activities because even play can be extremely healing.
Open Discussion:
We end the group with any comments or questions participants have.
The first week in treatment is basically an adjustment period where we go slowly and teach basic counseling techniques. The most important technique is silence. In letting somebody talk they can find the solution to their own problem.
“I think what is so different about our program is our focus on love. Love heals and it feels wonderful when you are in a state of love. In communicating heart centered our communication improves, our health improves, and our relationships improve. We as a staff don’t tell people what to do or how to it because who are we? What works for one person may not work for somebody else. Each person has the resources within themselves to heal, we just try to get out of their way and love them in the process.”
Now the decision is yours. Payment plans are available. We work with most national insurances – depending on your plan. We also keep our rates at a minimum.
“In the residential treatment facility I was running, we charged people $45,000 a month for this. Granted we housed, fed, and medicated people and they were stuck with us for 28 days. Still it is the same information presented at Basic Steps and you don’t have to be locked away from home, family, and friends for an entire month. Plus you can actually remain at your job, and go through treatment as your regular life continues.”
The University of Santa Monica had a slogan – “School the way you always wanted it to be.” Ours is similar – “Treatment the way you always wanted it to be.”
Please look at our reviews and read what people have been saying about our program. We have seen miracles take place because people learn to break free of the conditioning from their family and society and live a better life filled with love for themselves, others, and what they are doing.
We look forward to supporting you on your healing journey.
