Exploring Life & Business with Dr. Shari Corbitt of Awakenings Treatment Center

Today we’d like to introduce you to Dr. Shari Corbitt.

Hi Dr. Shari, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
In 2009 I had worked in a variety of clinical contexts for almost 20 years. Hospitals, residential treatment centers, university mental health, and a Native American reservation consortium. I felt it was time for me to enter private practice, and with a tiny amount of savings and a large amount of terror I left the corporate treatment world and launched my private practice in Beverly Hills and Agoura Hills, CA. I was fortunate to quickly build a lucrative practice with clients who were a perfect fit for my areas of expertise and clinical passions: chronic pain, chronic illness, addictive disorders and disordered eating.

However, I would occasionally need to refer a client to a higher level of care for more intensive treatment and containment. Time and again I referred my clients and their loved ones to facilities that promised they could and would address complex clinical presentations – such as active addiction AND an active eating disorder. “Yes”, their marketing person would tell me, “We absolutely address both sets of diagnostics intensively.” I toured these facilities personally and spoke with the administrations of each, hoping to make the right-fit referral for my suffering, but highly motivated, clients. Unfortunately each time a client entered a facility, I invariably received similar feedback – “they’re doing a great job helping me deal with my eating disorder but they really don’t treat addiction” or the reverse. Family members, understandably frustrated and upset, would reach out to me: “But you said…” They weren’t wrong!

One fateful day in July, 2009 I was touring yet another facility, a lovely, intensive outpatient program in Westlake Village, CA when it finally dawned on me – “Why am I not creating the intensive program my clients need? What is preventing me from taking the leap? I have to do this. Now.” I went back to my office that afternoon – no business plan, no financial resources to speak of, and very little office space – and called each of my then 19 clients, all of whom were in enough distress that they were not currently employed, nor were they enrolled in school. I asked each one if they would be open to spending full days in treatment, right at the offices they had been coming to all along. “We’ll be meeting from 12 noon until 6pm, I described, we’ll still do your individual therapy and your neurofeedback, but we’ll also be doing group therapy, DBT Skills training, and 90 minutes of yoga with a certified instructor off-site.” Remarkably, all but two of these clients agreed to begin.

With no program schedule, no paperwork (except for informed consents, of course) and no financial plan, the following Monday I greeted the group of adults who would become the “inaugural class” of Awakenings Treatment Center. They arrived with their depression, anxiety, chronic migraines, fibromyalgia, and all manner of complicated pain and anxiety syndromes. They and their families paid whatever they could afford, and we spent 12-6pm, Monday-Friday, immersed in comprehensive, holistic, neuroscientific and skills based treatment. From this shaky, outlandish beinning, we have been creating sustainable recovery ever since, for these 16 past years.

Eventually I hired the incredible administrator Brigitte Weilert, who would help me spend the next several years building the strong foundation of proper documentation, systems and policies, state licensure and Joint Commission Accreditation. She was extremely young, smart as hell, and energetic, and remained at Awakenings Treatment Center for almost a decade, while we built what would eventually become a national and international destination for adults of all genders with complex clinical issues that had failed to resolve at other facilities, despite sincere attempts to comply with various treatment regimens.

Finally, in 2019 I met and hired the incredible clinician, Lauren Wolff, LMFT, who had been displaced from her previous employment due to the Woolsey Fires. I quickly realized that not only is Lauren a highly skilled and gifted clinician, she also has the business and financial acumen I was sorely lacking! Lauren was promoted over these last six years from primary therapist, to program director, executive director, and ultimately now holds her role as CEO. Awakenings continues to flourish today under her thoughtful management, creative expertise and gifted clinical sophistication.

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
LOL, not even a little bit! It took several years to establish contracts with insurance payors, retain a reputable billing company, enter the paperless era, increase our sophistication regarding business development, and conduct responsible financial stewardship. An important turning point, that which has secured the stability of the organization for both staff and clients, was the hiring of our fractional CFO, who has launched us into a much higher realm of organizational maturity, stability and growth.

As you know, we’re big fans of Awakenings Treatment Center. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about the brand?
Awakenings is an intensive, partial hospitalization program in Agoura Hills, CA. We provide care for adults of all genders struggling with high acuity mental health (schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, cannabis induced psychosis, active suicidality, etc) as well as a separate program for individuals with PTSD, anxiety and depressive disorders. Some of our clientele in both programs have substance use disorders, but this is not a prerequisite to be admitted into the program.

We are a neuroscientific facility – meaning we utilize neuroscientific intervention to create bottom-up, sustainable change by calming the central nervous system, allowing for greater ease with learning new skills, mood regulation activities and improving the ability to navigate the worlds of school, work, or whatever is relevant for each client.

We are in-network with all commercial payors with the exception of Kaiser. These contracts allow Awakenings to admit clinically appropriate individuals, regardless of socioeconomic status. This accessibility, in addition to the degree of clinical sophistication, are the hallmarks of which we are the most proud.

We are a widely diverse, equitable and inclusive organization. We are a female management team and we actively seek out opportunities to maintain a multicultural and intersectional environment, such that adults of all backgrounds, genders and abilities will feel safe and welcomed in our environment. From our very modest beginnings, we now occupy 19,000 square feet in our beautiful office building, still operating from Agoura Hills, CA, albeit with a much more substantial footprint!

Before we let you go, we’ve got to ask if you have any advice for those who are just starting out?
Network, network, network. Be generous with your time, care and attention. Do whatever you can for people you meet along the way without regard for what you’ll receive in return. Complete and total generosity of spirit. Build up your “competitors” who will ultimately become collaborators, and along the way you’ll also make lifelong friends and build a community of people doing their best to help others.

Pricing:

• In Network with:
• Blue Shield
• Magellan
• Anthem Blue Cross
• HealthNet

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.awakeningstreatment.com
• Instagram: awakeningssocal
• Facebook: AwakeningsTreatmentCenter
• Other: https://drsharicorbitt.com

Image Credits
Not Applicable