Call (855) 627-3422Verify my coverage
Private · No cost to call · Day or night
In danger right now? Call 911. Thinking about suicide? Call or text 988.
Private · No cost to call · Day or night
In danger right now? Call 911. Thinking about suicide? Call or text 988.
Dual diagnosis treatment cares for addiction and a mental health condition at the same time, in one plan. Here, our doctor manages your mental health medicine. Our licensed therapist leads your therapy. And it all happens in a six-bed home with staff on site day and night.
Can't talk right now? Request a callback · Conditions we treat
Licensed by the State Department of Health Care Services · License 191315AP · Expires 4/30/2028
The 30-second version
Jump to: Signs check Conditions Safety Insurance Questions
A dual diagnosis means you have a substance use problem and a mental health condition at the same time. Doctors also call these co-occurring disorders. Anxiety, depression and trauma are some of the most common.
The two tend to feed each other. Someone may drink to quiet panic, and the drinking makes the panic worse the next day. That loop is why dual diagnosis treatment looks at both conditions together instead of one at a time.
Some people have more than one mental health condition along with substance use. Dual diagnosis treatment covers that too.
Definition: MedlinePlus, dual diagnosis (National Library of Medicine).
Tap anything that sounds familiar, for yourself or someone you love. Nothing you choose is saved or sent.
Substance use
Mental health
What it may mean
Tap what fits.
Your result updates as you go.
Both columns
Worth a dual diagnosis evaluation.
When signs show up on both sides, treating only one usually isn't enough. Call and we'll talk through what you're noticing.
Call (855) 627-3422One column so far
Keep an eye on the other side.
It's common for one to hide the other. Using can mask anxiety, and low mood can drive using. A short call can help sort it out.
Call (855) 627-3422Not a diagnosis. If someone is in danger right now, call 911. For thoughts of suicide, call or text 988.
Why it's easy to miss
Withdrawal can look a lot like anxiety, and heavy drinking can look like depression. So good dual diagnosis treatment watches how symptoms change once alcohol and drugs leave the body, before naming a diagnosis. Some symptoms fade with sobriety. Others stay, and those need their own care.
Pick a condition to see how it often ties into drinking or drug use, and what care looks like here. We treat each one together with a substance use disorder.
How it ties in
Alcohol, benzos or cannabis can quiet worry for a few hours. Then the worry comes back stronger, often with a hangover or withdrawal on top. Over time, using becomes the main way to cope.
Care here
Therapy teaches new ways to handle worry and panic. You learn to spot anxious thoughts and calm your body. Our doctor decides if medicine can help, and picks it with your substance use in mind.
How it ties in
Drinking or using can feel like relief from a heavy, empty mood. But alcohol and many drugs deepen depression, disturb sleep and drain energy, so the mood gets worse.
Care here
Therapy works on the thoughts and habits that keep a low mood going. It also helps you rebuild a daily rhythm. Our doctor reviews any antidepressant you take and adjusts it as needed.
How it ties in
After something painful, substances can numb memories, nightmares and the feeling of always being on guard. When the numbness wears off, the symptoms are still there.
Care here
Therapy is trauma-informed: you set the pace and stay in control of what you share. You build skills for strong feelings and triggers first. Our medical director can treat sleep and anxiety symptoms that come with trauma.
How it ties in
Some people drink to slow down during a high, or use stimulants to escape a low. Alcohol and drugs can also set off new mood episodes and make mood medicine work less well.
Care here
Our doctor manages mood medicine and watches closely for changes. Therapy and a steady routine, with regular sleep and meals, help keep your mood more even.
How it ties in
Restlessness, impulsive choices and trouble focusing can make substance use start earlier and harder to stop. Some people try to manage ADHD symptoms on their own with alcohol or drugs.
Care here
Some ADHD medicines are stimulants, and stimulants can be misused. So our doctor looks closely at your substance use before choosing any medicine. Therapy adds simple tools for focus and planning.
How it ties in
Personality disorders, like borderline personality disorder, often bring intense feelings, rocky relationships and acting on impulse. Alcohol or drugs can become a fast way to escape feelings that seem too big.
Care here
DBT, short for dialectical behavior therapy, was first built for this condition. It teaches skills for big feelings, hard moments and relationships, along with the rest of your care.
For years, many people were told to get sober first and deal with their mental health later, or the other way around. Federal treatment guidance recommends integrated care, where one team treats both conditions in one plan.
One at a time
Together, in one plan
Here, integrated dual diagnosis treatment means your therapist and our medical director work from the same treatment plan. Groups can cover mood and cravings in the same conversation. You don't need a month of sobriety, or to have your mental health sorted out, before you come. If something needs emergency care first, we'll tell you plainly and help plan your next step.
Dual diagnosis: myth or fact?
Tap a card to check your guess. 0 of 4 checked
Sources: SAMHSA TIP 42, Substance Use Treatment for Persons With Co-Occurring Disorders · NIMH: substance use and co-occurring mental disorders · NIAAA: alcohol and mental health · SAMHSA: co-occurring disorders
From the first call to the day you leave, here is what happens, in order.
The first call
Admissions asks about your substance use and your mental health, plus any diagnoses and medicines you already have. We check fit, an open bed and your PPO benefits.
Arrival
If stopping would cause withdrawal, medical detox comes first in the same house. Your mental health is part of the plan from day one, not something saved for later.
First days
Our doctor looks at your health, your mental health and every medicine you take. He prescribes and adjusts your mental health medicine as needed.
Residential treatment
One-on-one sessions with our licensed therapist on scheduled days, plus groups, structure and rest. Checks continue every hour, day and night.
Before you leave
We work out with you what care you'll need after you leave, for both conditions, and refer you to it.
Some programs send people elsewhere for mental health medicine. Here, Bret Bellard, MD, prescribes and manages it himself, so it fits with your detox and your recovery.
With your written consent, we can share information with your outside doctors so your care stays connected.
A safety note for anyone reading at home: alcohol and many drugs can interact with psychiatric medicine, sometimes dangerously. Don't stop, start or mix a medicine on your own. Talk to the doctor who prescribed it, or call us and we'll help you figure out next steps.
Bret Bellard, MD
Medical Director
Oversees medical detox and prescribes and manages psychiatric medicine for residents.
Mehrnaz Ravanbakhsh leads therapy. She's our clinical director and a licensed marriage and family therapist (LMFT 149472). Each method below helps with mental health and substance use at once.
When worry or dark thoughts set off cravings
Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT)You learn to catch the thought, question it and pick a different response, before it turns into using.
When feelings get too big to handle
Dialectical behavior therapy (DBT)Real skills to get through a crisis, calm strong feelings and handle conflict without using.
When part of you isn't sure about changing
Motivational interviewing (MI)A conversation that helps you sort out what you want, so the reasons to change are your own.
When stress or symptoms flare up later
Relapse preventionYou map your warning signs, from both your mental health and your use, and plan what to do for each one.
How therapy works in residential treatment →
Both conditions need care after you leave. Before discharge, we sit down with you and work out the next steps in your continuum of care, then refer you to them. Dual diagnosis treatment doesn't end at the front door. Mental health symptoms and cravings can both come back under stress, so the plan covers what to do when they do.
Your plan covers
When a loved one has both, it can be hard to tell where the illness ends and the person begins. These steps help, whatever stage they're in.
What helps
What usually backfires
Support for families: NAMI Family-to-Family (free classes for families of people with mental illness) and Al-Anon. Updates on a loved one in treatment are shared only with their written consent, under 42 CFR Part 2.
A six-bed home is the right place for most people with a dual diagnosis, but not during a psychiatric or medical emergency. In these situations, emergency care comes first. Once you're stable, we can help you plan to come here.
Every admission decision is made person by person by our team. Crisis help is free and open 24/7: 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline.
We work with PPO plans only. We're out of network with every insurance company, so treatment here runs through your PPO's out-of-network benefits. Our admissions team verifies your benefits for free and goes over them with you by phone.
We don't accept HMO plans or Medi-Cal. Have Medi-Cal in Los Angeles County? Call the county's 24/7 line at 1-844-804-7500.
Free benefits check
Share your PPO details. We verify your out-of-network benefits and call you to go over them.
Check my coveragePPO plans we've worked with
PPO plans only, all billed out of network. Every plan is different, so we verify your benefits before admission. Insurer names are trademarks of their owners.
No answer matches that yet. Call (855) 627-3422 and ask us directly.
The basics
It's care for addiction and a mental health condition at the same time, in one plan with one team. Here, our doctor manages your mental health medicine and our licensed therapist leads therapy. It happens during detox and residential treatment in a six-bed home in Sylmar.
Only a clinician can diagnose it, but some signs point that way. Maybe you drink or use to calm anxiety, lift a low mood or sleep after something painful. Or mood, panic or focus problems keep going even when you're not using. Call us and we'll talk it through, free and private.
It can go either way, and often both grow together. Some people use to cope with symptoms. For others, alcohol or drugs set off or deepen anxiety and depression. The National Institute on Drug Abuse notes that both share risk factors like genes, trauma and stress. Treatment works on both, whichever came first.
Anxiety and depression are common alongside substance use, the National Institute on Drug Abuse says, and so are PTSD, ADHD and personality disorders. The National Institute of Mental Health adds bipolar disorder. Heavy drinking with depression is a pairing many families know well.
It can be either. At New Beginnings, it happens in live-in care: medical detox if you need it, then residential treatment in the same house. You get daily structure and staff on site around the clock. If outpatient care fits you better, we'll help you find a good program.
We treat anxiety, depression, PTSD and trauma, bipolar disorder, ADHD and personality disorders. Each one is treated together with substance use. We don't treat a mental health condition alone. If that's the need, we'll help you find the right program.
Medicine & care
Yes. Our medical director, Bret Bellard, MD, prescribes and manages mental health medicine for residents. He looks at what you already take and decides what to keep or change. He picks medicine with your recovery in mind.
Bring every medicine you take in its original bottle. Our team logs each one when you arrive, and our doctor reviews it and decides whether to keep it, adjust it or change it. Please don't stop a mental health medicine on your own before you come in.
Only if your body depends on alcohol or a drug. If stopping would bring withdrawal, medical detox comes first in this same house. Your mental health is part of the plan from the first day either way.
Residential care often lasts a few weeks to a few months, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse. Your length depends on your needs and your progress. Care for both conditions usually continues after you leave, at a lower level.
There's no one-time cure. But both conditions can be treated and managed, and many people live well in long-term recovery. Like other long-term health problems, they need care after a program ends. Dual diagnosis treatment gives you the tools, the medicine plan and the next steps.
Families & next steps
Safety comes first. For an overdose or immediate danger, call 911. For thoughts of suicide, call or text 988. Someone with active psychosis needs a hospital or crisis team first. Once they're stable, we can help plan the next step.
Talk when they're sober and you're calm, and say what you see without labels. Learn about both conditions, and don't wait for a crisis. You can call us before they agree to anything. Classes like NAMI Family-to-Family can help you too.
We work with PPO plans only, through their out-of-network benefits. Our team verifies your benefits for free and goes over them with you by phone. We don't accept HMO plans or Medi-Cal.
Before you leave, we work out with you what care you'll need next for both conditions, like outpatient treatment, a therapist and a prescriber. Then we refer you so your care keeps going.
Keep reading
Treat one, and the other pulls you back.Treat both, and recovery has room to hold.