Our Approach: How Asana Recovery Does Things Differently
Recovery doesn’t happen in a vacuum, and treatment shouldn’t either. Getting sober is the starting point, not the finish line. The real work is building a life that supports sustained recovery.
Asana Recovery named one of Newsweek’s Best Addiction Treatment Centers in California 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025, 2026!
Most treatment centers will tell you they offer personalized, evidence-based care. Most of them mean it. But the way that care is actually delivered — the structure behind it, the people providing it, the philosophy driving it — varies enormously from one facility to the next.
At Asana Recovery, our approach is shaped by a simple conviction: recovery doesn’t happen in a vacuum, and treatment shouldn’t either. Getting sober is the starting point, not the finish line. The real work is building a life that supports sustained recovery — clinically, professionally, socially, and personally. Every decision we make about programming, staffing, facilities, and patient experience is filtered through that lens.
We’re a family-owned outpatient treatment center in Orange County, California, serving individuals and families affected by addiction and mental health conditions since 2017.
We’re not a corporate chain. We’re not private-equity backed. We’re a team of clinicians, therapists, case managers, and support staff — many with personal recovery experience — who show up every day because this work matters to us.
Outpatient-First: Treatment That Fits Your Life
We believe that for the majority of people seeking recovery, outpatient treatment is not a lesser option — it’s the better option. Here’s why.
Residential treatment removes you from your environment. Outpatient treatment teaches you how to recover inside your environment — the same environment you’ll return to when treatment ends. The coping skills, relapse prevention strategies, and emotional regulation tools you build during outpatient treatment are tested in real time, every day, against real-world stressors. That’s how lasting change is built.
Our outpatient programs are structured to provide the clinical intensity needed for meaningful recovery while allowing you to maintain the parts of your life that support it — your job, your family, your education, your housing.
Partial Hospitalization Program (PHP)
5–6 hours/day, 5 days/week. The highest level of outpatient care, with psychiatric oversight, daily therapy, and group programming.
Intensive Outpatient Program (IOP)
3–4 hours/day, 3–5 days/week. Flexible scheduling including evening options. Designed to fit around work, school, and family.
Virtual IOP
Same evidence-based care delivered through secure telehealth. Ideal for clients with demanding work schedules, transportation barriers, or clients across California needing access to Asana's outpatient programs.
Standard Outpatient (OP)
Ongoing therapy and support for clients stepping down from IOP who need continued structure with greater independence.
Sober Living
Structured, substance-free housing that provides accountability and community while you attend outpatient treatment.
For clients who need medical detox before beginning outpatient treatment, our admissions team coordinates with trusted detox providers across Orange County to ensure a seamless transition into our programs. There’s never a gap between stabilization and structured care.
Evidence-Based Therapies, Not Trends
Every therapeutic approach we use at Asana Recovery is grounded in clinical research and proven effective for the populations we serve. We don’t chase trends or offer unproven modalities because they sound good on a website. We use what works — and we measure whether it’s working for each individual client.
Your treatment plan isn’t pulled from a template. It’s designed around your diagnosis, your history, your goals, and your response to treatment — and it’s adjusted regularly as you progress.
Clinical Leadership You Can Trust
Dr. Joseph DeSanto, M.D.
Medical Director at Asana Recovery. Board Certified in Internal Medicine with a specialty focus in Addiction Medicine, Dr. DeSanto oversees all medical services, medication-assisted treatment, and psychiatric care coordination at Asana Recovery. He brings more than a decade of experience leading addiction treatment programs across Southern California.
Sheida Shavalian, LMFT
Clinical Director at Asana Recovery. Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist with over a decade of clinical experience in mental health and substance use treatment. USC-trained with advanced specialization in psychoanalytic, psychodynamic, and cognitive behavioral therapies. Sheida oversees clinical programming, therapist supervision, and quality of care across all outpatient programs.
Beyond the leadership, our team includes licensed therapists, addiction counselors, psychiatric providers, case managers, and support staff — many of whom have personal experience with recovery. This isn’t a credential we list for marketing purposes. It’s a reality that shapes every interaction a client has at Asana. When your therapist or case manager says “I understand,” they often mean it from lived experience.
Beyond Clinical: Building a Life in Recovery
Getting sober is the foundation. But what you build on that foundation determines whether recovery lasts. That’s why Asana Recovery goes beyond clinical treatment to address the practical realities that make or break long-term recovery.
Career Development
Our career development program helps clients build resumes, practice interviews, connect with local employers, and create work schedules that support recovery. Many clients who complete our program return to work or secure new employment. Career development is built into the treatment model because employment provides structure, purpose, financial stability, and identity — all protective factors against relapse.
Academic Pathways
For clients pursuing education — whether enrolling in community college for the first time or maintaining current enrollment — our academic pathways program provides case management support for academic goal-setting, enrollment, scheduling, and accountability. Our facilities are located minutes from Orange Coast College, Golden West College, Coastline College, and UC Irvine.
Sober Living
Our sober living residences across Orange County provide the structured, substance-free environment that many clients need during the transition from intensive treatment to independent living. Accountability, peer support, and proximity to employment and education opportunities are built into the experience.
Specialty Populations
We’ve developed specialized programming for populations with unique treatment needs:
- Veterans & First Responders — Trauma-informed care designed for the pressures of service-driven careers
- Airline Industry Professionals — Confidential treatment that accounts for regulatory requirements
- Young Adults — Programming for 18–26 year olds navigating early adulthood alongside recovery
- Educators — Flexible scheduling around the school year with confidentiality protections
- Couples — Partners healing together through structured couples treatment
Family-Owned. Not Corporate-Driven.
Asana Recovery was founded in 2017 by Mark Shandrow and Adam Shandrow — not as a portfolio investment, but as a mission rooted in firsthand experience with what addiction does to families. From day one, the goal was to build a treatment center where clinical decisions are made by clinicians, not corporate boards.
In a treatment industry increasingly dominated by private equity firms and corporate consolidation, Asana remains independently owned and operated. There are no shareholder demands driving census targets, no corporate playbook dictating treatment length, and no pressure to prioritize revenue over clinical outcomes. Every decision — from hiring to programming to how long a client stays in treatment — is made by the people who work here, based on what’s clinically appropriate.
That independence extends to how we treat the people who work here. Many of Asana’s senior leaders have worked alongside Mark for 15+ years across multiple treatment programs — long before Asana existed. Every senior staff member has been with the company for 5 or more years.
That kind of tenure is almost unheard of in the behavioral health industry, where burnout and turnover are the norm. We treat our employees like family, the same way we treat our clients.
This ownership structure also means:
- Continuity. The same leadership team that founded Asana still runs it. Clients and families deal with consistent people, not a revolving door of corporate-appointed managers.
- Loyalty. Senior staff with 5–15+ years working together. When your therapist, case manager, and admissions counselor have worked as a team for years, the coordination shows in your care.
- Accountability. When something needs to change, it changes. There’s no corporate approval chain, no waiting for the next budget cycle. If a client’s treatment needs to be adjusted, it happens that day.
- Culture. The close-knit, supportive environment at Asana isn’t manufactured by a branding agency. It’s the natural result of a team that genuinely cares — about the clients and about each other.
Recognized for Excellence
Our approach has been validated by some of the most respected organizations in healthcare:
- Newsweek Best Addiction Treatment Centers in California — 4 consecutive years (2022, 2023, 2024, 2025). One of the only outpatient-focused facilities in Orange County to receive this recognition.
- Joint Commission Accredited — with no Requirements for Improvement. Full compliance with national standards governing patient safety, treatment quality, documentation integrity, emergency preparedness, and leadership accountability.
- LegitScript Certified. Verified compliance with healthcare advertising and regulatory standards.
- NAATP Member. National Association of Addiction Treatment Providers — committed to ethical treatment practices.
These aren’t participation trophies. Joint Commission accreditation with zero RFIs means that an independent review of every aspect of our clinical, operational, and administrative systems found nothing that needed correcting. That’s the standard we hold ourselves to every day.
The Asana Difference, Summarized
- Integrated dual diagnosis treatment — addiction and mental health addressed simultaneously by one clinical team
- Outpatient-first model — PHP, IOP, Virtual IOP, and standard outpatient designed around your real life
- Evidence-based therapies — CBT, DBT, EMDR, trauma-informed care, MAT, and more
- Psychiatric care on-site — medication management by a dual board-certified psychiatrist
- Real-world recovery support — career development, academic pathways, sober living
- Specialty population programs — veterans, first responders, airline, educators, young adults, couples
- Family-owned since 2017 — no corporate chain, no private equity, no census-driven decisions
- Staff with lived recovery experience — authentic understanding, not textbook empathy
- 4x Newsweek recognized, Joint Commission accredited — independently verified excellence
- Orange County footprint — outpatient treatment in Fountain Valley, structured sober living in Costa Mesa and Huntington Beach. Serving OC, LA, and San Diego counties.
This is How We Treat. This Is Who We Are.
If you’re looking for a treatment center that does things differently — where clinical excellence, personal attention, and real-world recovery support come together under one roof — we’d like to talk.
Call (949) 763-3440 for a free, confidential assessment. Our admissions team is available 24/7.
Saving lives. Supporting families. Strengthening communities.
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