Programs · Outpatient

Outpatient therapyin plain terms.

Outpatient therapy is weekly 1:1 in Laguna Beach or on video, when a program day is more than you need.

Located in Laguna Beach, California

(949) 670-9345
Talk to admissionsVerify insurance
  • WeekBy appointment
  • The hourOne clinician
  • FormatIn person or virtual

What outpatient is

Outpatient is a standing 1:1.

Outpatient therapy at Exist is a standing 1:1 with one clinician, in person or on a secure video call. It is the hour, not a program day: no group block, no lunch in the house, no Truth House night. Trauma, personality, and substance use can still sit in one plan. If the week starts running you, PHP and IOP are the same clinic, not a referral out.

The hour is yours. The rest of the week stays yours.

Call (949) 670-9345

A week in outpatient

What the hour — and the week around it — look like.

A week of outpatient therapy is one session and the life you walk back into. The same clinical model as PHP and IOP — body, mind, and brain — at the pace of a single hour. If the week starts to run you, we map a program day. We do not sell a package.

  1. Hands resting on linen in dusk light — the somatic start of a session.

    Body

    Breath, the chair, the nervous system that will not stand down. The hour can start in the body when the mind can’t.

  2. An empty chair and a closed notebook beside a window at Laguna dusk.

    Mind

    The automatic thought, the decision, the story. We work on the reaction before asking you to change the life.

  3. A misted profile in pale dusk light, eyes closed, wind at the window.

    Brain

    What sits under the pattern — trauma, personality, and use read as one history, in a safe room.

  4. A person standing in the wind on a Laguna cliff path, back to camera.

    The week

    Between sessions the week is the rehearsal. We hear it in the next hour. If it is not holding, IOP is the next intensity — not a different clinic.

Who holds the hour

The hour is still her model. Not a 12-step hallway.

Dr. Courtney Tracy · Founder and chief clinical officer

A standing 1:1 still reads trauma, personality, and use as one history. PHP and IOP stay in the same clinic if the week starts running you.

  • Founder

    Dr. Courtney Tracy

  • In the room

    LCSW · PsyD · CCTP

  • Clinic

    Joint Commission PHP / IOP

The clinical model

What outpatient treats

Whatever is underneath, treated in the same plan.

Most people arrive with more than one of these. Outpatient mental health treatment here has to hold the overlap — one clinician, one plan, not a hallway per diagnosis. DBT, EMDR, and somatic work live in the hour when they fit, not as a separate clinic.

All we treat

  1. Trauma

    What happened is still in the body. Safety first, then the story — at a weekly pace.

    • PTSD
    • C-PTSD
    • Self-harm

  2. Personality

    Skills for the hard hour first. Then relationships, then identity.

    • Borderline
    • Other patterns

  3. Depression

    When the bed wins some mornings, a standing hour can hold. Same plan as trauma and use.

    • Depression
    • Bipolar II
    • Grief

  4. Anxiety

    Breath first, then the thought that will not stop.

    • GAD
    • Panic
    • OCD

  5. Substance use

    Alcohol, prescriptions, stimulants — treated with the trauma underneath, not as a standalone track.

    • Alcohol
    • Prescriptions
    • Stimulants

  6. Dual diagnosis

    The overlap is the default here — mental health and substance use in one plan.

    • Co-occurring
    • One plan

Outpatient is the weekly hour. IOP is the half day.

The week

Outpatient

One 1:1, by appointment.

IOP

Three to five half days.

The work

Outpatient

Individual. Same model.

IOP

Groups, 1:1, the same team.

Nights

Outpatient

Home.

IOP

Home or Truth House.

When it fits

Outpatient

Weekly is holding.

IOP

The week needs more structure.

Paying for outpatient therapy.

Many commercial plans cover outpatient therapy as a behavioral-health benefit. We verify your benefits and write back within one business day. Benefits vary by plan, and verification is not a guarantee of coverage or payment.

Verify insurance
  • Aetna
  • Blue Shield of California
  • UnitedHealthcare
  • Optum
  • Magellan Health
  • Cigna
  • Anthem Blue Cross
  • Kaiser Permanente

  • In-network

    Aetna, Cigna, Blue Shield of California, UnitedHealthcare, Optum, Magellan.

  • Out-of-network

    Other plans often reimburse part of outpatient. We map that before you start.

  • Private pay

    If insurance isn’t the path, admissions will talk through a plan. No invented numbers on this page.

Three steps to a first hour.

  1. 01

    Reach out

    Call (949) 670-9345 or send the form. You talk to the clinic — not a call center.

  2. 02

    We verify

    We check your benefits and map outpatient against IOP and PHP — honest about which fits.

  3. 03

    A start date

    We recommend a level of care and set a first hour — in person in Laguna Beach or virtual when that is the honest fit.

(949) 670-9345

Questions about outpatient therapy, answered plainly.

No. Intensive outpatient is a program week — groups and 1:1 across half days. Outpatient therapy is a standing hour with one clinician. Same clinic, same model, a different clock. If the week is not holding, IOP or PHP is the next intensity.

Something we didn’t cover? Call (949) 670-9345 — you talk to the clinic, not a call center.

A weekly hour can hold — when it can.

Call Exist at (949) 670-9345 or send the admissions form. We’ll say honestly whether outpatient therapy, IOP, PHP, or a referral is the right level — and what your benefits actually cover.

Clinically reviewed by Dr. Courtney Tracy, LCSW, PsyD · Reviewed September 2026

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