Intensive Treatment Programme (ITP)

ITP is a specialist eating disorder day programme that provides young people and their families with additional support beyond what can be offered in standard outpatient treatment. It is funded by NHS England, and sits under the umbrella of the South London Mental Health and Community Partnership. 

The programme actively works with young people and families in various stages of treatment to build the skills they need to return to a regular life.

The programme

  • ITP operates five days per week, from Monday to Friday. It mirrors the UK school year, with breaks over half-term and a reduced program in the summer.
  • Our highly structured timetable includes psychological therapy, meal support and education. 
  • Every young person and their family who comes to ITP is allocated a dedicated ‘mini-team’, comprised of two staff members from the multi-disciplinary team.

Support for young people

Individual and family therapy

Patients receive one individual and one family therapy session each week with their mini-team.

Therapeutic groups
  • The Therapeutic Group Program targets areas of difficulty that young people with eating disorders have identified as important, such as managing strong emotions, thinking flexibly, building motivation, developing an identity and building self-esteem. 
  • The program is grounded in the principles of Family Therapy for Eating Disorders (FT-ED), Radical Openness DBT (RO-DBT), Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT), and Cognitive Remediation Therapy (CRT).
  • Patients will also take part in activities such as yoga, art therapy, creative projects and even pet therapy! 

Food and eating
    • We provide lunch and two snacks every day, as well as dinner on Mondays and Wednesdays. 
    • We aim to make mealtimes feel as normal as possible and to reflect the real world. We teach young people about healthy portioning and independent eating, and will often go on trips out to eat at restaurants to put what’s being learned into practice.

Education

Daily education is provided at ITP by the Bethlem and Maudsley Hospital School (Ofsted – Outstanding – 2011/2012 and 2016/2017) to ensure that young people stay connected with their school and peers.

Medical and psychiatric support
  • Our team of doctors includes on-site consultant psychiatrists and paediatricians, who closely monitor our patients’ health. Multi-Family Therapy (MFT)
  • As part of the ITP programme, we encourage young people and their families to join one of our Multi-Family Therapy groups. These usually take place during  school holiday periods. 

Supports for families and carers

Family therapy

Everyone at ITP receives weekly family therapy, during which they can explore their familial difficulties and relationships.

Parent skills group

Each week, we provide the opportunity for ITP parents and staff to meet and discuss parenting challenges, caring strategies and personal goals.

Food and eating
  • Families attend one evening meal per week, providing an opportunity to practice meal times with the support of staff. Sessions with a dietician are available to young people and their families as needed.

Multi-Family Therapy (MFT)

During the school holidays, we strongly encourage families to attend our 4-day MFT programme.

Discharge from ITP

  • We work closely with care coordinator and outpatient therapists to ensure a smooth and timely discharge for all young people in ITP.
  • We gradually reduce the intensity of ITP as the discharge date approaches. We always aim to have people part time in ITP and part time at school or doing regular life activities before they leave. Of course, this varies based on the individuals needs of each young person and their family.
  • We keep all referrers informed of progress throughout ITP, with weekly updates and regular Care Pathway Approach (CPA) meetings.
  • Prior to discharge, we expect our young people to have made major strides towards recovery, enabling them to resume outpatient treatment.

Referring your patient to ITP

The ITP program accepts national referrals from CAMHS and specialist eating disorder services. If you would like to refer a patient, please complete NHSE Form 1 and email ITP at ITP@slam.nhs.uk.

Train up your team

We offer bespoke training in selected treatments. Find out how your team can build the skills and knowledge to employ our treatments in your practice.

Explore our treatment options

We offer a number of highly effective treatments for eating disorders. Find out how we help young people and their families to recover from illness.

Resource library

Supplement your research with our in-depth archive of videos, books, publications, training manuals and websites.