Steps to Success FAQs

Frequently Asked Questions

• What exactly is "experiential" day treatment, and how does it differ from traditional talk therapy?
  Traditional outpatient therapy typically relies on a youth sitting in an office for 50 minutes talking about their challenges. An experiential day treatment model goes beyond talk therapy by actively engaging youth in hands-on activities, real-time social scenarios, and community-based projects. Adolescents learn and practice coping tools, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), and Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) skills in the moment while interacting with peers. At Steps, this also includes therapeutic outdoor activities like making use of Madison’s lakes and local bike paths, going fishing, and utilizing area parks.
• What is the difference between an Intensive Outpatient Program (IOP) and Day Treatment?
  In the state of Wisconsin, the terms "Day Treatment" and "Intensive Outpatient Programming (IOP)" are frequently used interchangeably to describe the same level of clinical care. Both designations describe a highly structured, intensive clinical intervention that acts as a bridge between inpatient psychiatric hospitalization and traditional weekly outpatient therapy.
• How does a community-based program differ from a hospital-based program?
  Hospital-based day treatment takes place inside an institutional, restrictive medical facility, which is often necessary for short-term acute crises or medical stabilization. Steps To Success is a fully community-based program. This environment allows youth to receive an intensive, medical-necessity level of care while continuing to live at home, maintaining their family connections, and learning to manage their symptoms in their natural, real-world environments.
• Why is the ability to participate in group therapy a requirement for admission?
  Peer group interaction is central to the day treatment model. Because our therapeutic framework relies heavily on group cohesion, shared skill-building, and live peer feedback, a youth must have the baseline behavioral and emotional capacity to safely exist and process within a group setting. If a youth's dysregulation requires constant, individual crisis management or isolates them from the group, a peer-based environment may not be a safe or effective fit for them.
• How do youth handle their school schedules while attending Steps?
  Because our youth attend day treatment for up to four hours a day, Monday through Friday, they operate on a legally excused, reduced academic schedule during the school year. In accordance with Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction (DPI) guidelines, day treatment does not replace a school district's obligation to provide a Free Appropriate Public Education (FAPE). We collaborate extensively with the youth's school team and IEP coordinators to ensure a unified approach, with the ultimate goal of successfully transitioning the student back into full-time school day programming.
• What services are included in the program besides group therapy?
  Steps provides a comprehensive, multidisciplinary team approach. In addition to daily group therapy, youth receive:
  • Individual Therapy: Meeting one-on-one with a licensed therapist at least once per week.
  • Medical Wellness Checks: Weekly individual meetings with our program's Mental Health Nurse to monitor sleep hygiene, physical health, and support medication management.
  • Case Management: Ongoing coordination of care, school integration, and resource navigation.
  • Psychiatric Consultation: Access to medical and medication consultation as needed.
  • Aftercare Planning: To support sustainable change, the multidisciplinary team collaboratively creates a plan for aftercare services (such as home/school case management and resource navigation). This often includes on-going support through our Family Forward program or other community based services.
• What are the specific requirements for parent and caregiver involvement?
  Active caregiver partnership is a strict, mandatory requirement for a youth's admission and ongoing enrollment. Because lasting behavioral change requires consistency between our program room and your home, parents/guardians must
  commit to:
  • Proactive communication with the program case manager (including daily/weekly updates on behavior outside of program hours).
  • Attending STS Parent Group at a minimum of once per month.
  • Participating fully in Family Therapy sessions as outlined in the youth's treatment plan.
  • Maintaining availability for prompt response (within 15 minutes) to staff calls, including being available for early therapeutic pick-ups if a youth becomes severely dysregulated.
• How long do youth typically stay in the program, and how is graduation determined?
  Most youth are enrolled in the program for 4 to 6 months. Successful completion is completely individualized and occurs when a youth successfully meets the clinical treatment goals established in their treatment plan. These plans are developed in collaboration with the youth, parents, case manager, and school support staff, and progress is reviewed by the entire multidisciplinary team at mandatory monthly meetings. Typically, youth who are progressing towards completion begin to transition back into school and attend Steps on an abbreviated schedule.
• What types of insurance or funding streams do you accept?
  We accept a wide range of funding sources to make treatment accessible, though individual policies vary. Accepted options include:
  • All commercial/private health insurances.
  • Wisconsin Medicaid, Medicare, and BadgerCare.
  • County waiver programs, specifically Comprehensive Community Services (CCS) and Children’s Long-Term Support (CLTS).
  • School district funding (when established as part of an alternative educational placement framework).
  • School district funding (when established as part of an alternative educational placement framework).
• What criteria and traits make an adolescent a "good fit" for the Steps To Success Day Treatment Program?
  Identifying the right level of care is critical for a youth's therapeutic success. A young person is considered an ideal candidate for Steps To Success when they meet both the structural criteria for an Intensive Outpatient Program (IOP) and demonstrate a specific psychological readiness:
  • Demonstrated Clinical Necessity: A good fit requires that the youth has already actively utilized and exhausted lower levels of care. This typically includes consistent, documented engagement in interventions such as traditional individual therapy, outpatient weekly group therapy, school-based support groups, occupational therapy, or psychiatric medication management. Because day treatment is a high-intensity medical necessity, it is designed for youth whose symptoms persist despite these standard outpatient efforts.
  • Insight and Self-Awareness: While clients entering Steps are often experiencing significant behavioral or emotional challenges, a key indicator of readiness is the youth's baseline ability to acknowledge—even in a limited capacity—what is currently not working well in their life. A good fit is a young person who can identify that their actions or emotional struggles are causing disruptions at home, in school, or with their peers.
  • Motivation to Change: The experiential model relies heavily on active participation. Therefore, an ideal client demonstrates an underlying motivation or willingness to learn how to overcome their specific challenges. They do not need to have all the answers, but they must possess a readiness to try new coping tools, engage in CBT and DBT skill-building, and collaborate with their care team to change uncomfortable or disruptive behavioral patterns.
  • Capacity for Peer Interaction: Because group therapy is central to the day treatment model, a good fit is an adolescent who can safely exist and communicate within a peer milieu. They must have the capacity to process therapeutic activities alongside other youth without their dysregulation completely overriding the group or requiring constant, continuous individual crisis containment.
• When might a youth not be a good fit for Steps To Success?
  Steps may not be a good fit during the initial assessment process—or may cease to be a fit after enrollment—if a youth's needs fall outside our structured group environment. This includes:
  • An inability to maintain consistent daily attendance, as chronic or unexcused absences disrupt treatment momentum and peer group cohesion.
  • Active, acute psychiatric crises that require immediate inpatient medical containment.
  • Persistent, severe behavioral dysregulation that prevents the youth from safely processing activities alongside peers without requiring constant, individual 1:1 crisis intervention.