Wouldn’t it be nice if you could take a real break from work—not a vacation, but dedicated time to focus on your mental health—without losing your job or income? Well, maybe you can.

Many employees are eligible for the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) and Short-Term Disability (STD) benefits, which together provide job protection and partial income while you engage in treatment such as an intensive outpatient program (IOP).

Family Medical and Leave Act (FMLA)

FMLA allows eligible employees to take unpaid, job-protected leave for up to 12 weeks per year (or 26 weeks for active duty military) to treat mental health conditions that prevent them from doing their jobs.

FMLA applies to employees who meet these criteria:

• You’ve worked for your employer for at least one year, and
• You’ve logged at least 1,250 hours in the past year (about 25 hours per week), and
• Your employer has 50 or more employees within a 75-mile radius.

FMLA also covers most government and educational jobs regardless of size. While FMLA itself is unpaid, it protects your position and allows you to continue your employer-sponsored health insurance during your leave—making it possible to step away without losing essential medical coverage or job security. If you have additional questions about FMLA, the U.S. Department of Labor provides a detailed FAQ.

Short-Term Disability (STD)

While FMLA keeps your job secure, Short-term Disability (STD) helps stabilize your finances. STD is an insurance benefit that pays a portion—usually 40% to 70%—of your regular income while you are unable to work. This is called an “income replacement” benefit. In some policies, you may even be eligible to work part-time and, with the income replacement of the time you’re not working, receive 100% of your pre-disability earnings.

Unlike FMLA, STD isn’t federally mandated—it’s an employer-provided insurance plan, and the details vary widely. Check with your HR department or insurance provider about:

• The percentage of income you’ll receive,
• How long benefits last (typically a few months to a year), and
• Whether partial work is allowed.

Many employers outsource STD management to insurance companies like Sedgwick or other disability administrators. This is actually helpful, since it allows you to discuss your situation with someone outside your workplace, offering a bit more privacy.

How to Access These Benefits

If you have a supportive HR department, start there. Let them know you’d like to explore FMLA and Short-term Disability. You shouldn’t have to explain why. They’ll give you the necessary forms for both programs, which you pass on to your healthcare provider. If your employer doesn’t offer FMLA or STD—perhaps because you work for a smaller organization—then it is worth asking whether they have any similar policies to support employees on leave.

At IOP Services, we manage FMLA and STD paperwork for no additional fee. Typically, we complete all required forms during your first week in the program and then submit them, as directed, to your HR department and STD administrator.

Once processed, your first STD payment usually arrives retroactively, covering the time you’ve already missed, minus a “waiting period” of 1-2 weeks, for which many employees use PTO. After that, your only responsibility is to forward any new documentation requests to your group leader at IOP Services. We will send requested clinical documentation to your HR department or STD case manager, as directed, allowing you to focus on your mental health.

Transitioning Back to Work

When you’re ready to return to work, your IOP group leader will complete a return-to-work plan confirming your readiness. Typically, discharge from IOP coincides with your return to full-time work.

If you’d prefer a gradual transition, you may be able to return part-time while continuing IOP or individual therapy. To make this happen, tell your provider that you’d like to change your FMLA status to “reduced schedule leave” or “intermittent leave” (which permits you to leave for irregular blocks of time for needed treatment) and clarify with your STD case manager at what rate your income replacement would continue if you were to return to work under these conditions. Usually there’s no problem: your employer will make it easy for you to come back.

Before returning, consider requesting reasonable accommodations (like flexible scheduling or extra breaks) to support your ongoing mental health. Employers aren’t required to grant every request, but many are willing to meet you halfway.

If you transition from IOP to individual therapy while still receiving STD, your new provider will need to handle the ongoing paperwork—usually for a small fee—to confirm that you’re continuing your healing process.

The Bottom Line

Taking time off for mental health isn’t a sign of weakness—it’s a sign of wisdom. The FMLA and Short-Term Disability system exists to give you space to recover, rebuild, and return stronger. At IOP Services, we’ve seen hundreds of clients use these benefits to take a meaningful pause, focus on treatment, and step back into work and life with renewed clarity and stability.

It may take a few forms and a little patience, but for once, bureaucracy works in your favor.