Dual diagnosis · Orange County
Dual diagnosis treatmentin Orange County
Mental health and substance use in one PHP/IOP plan in Laguna Beach. Trauma and personality in the same week — not a later handoff.
Located in Laguna Beach, California
(949) 670-9345- PlanOne week
- PHPFull day
- IOPHalf day
What dual diagnosis is
Both conditions. One room.
Dual diagnosis treatment in Orange County, at Exist, means co-occurring mental health and substance use disorders in the same PHP or IOP week. Not a detox dump and a later call. Not a mood track that ignores the drinking. The clinical team reads trauma, personality, and use as one history — then the plan moves.
The use made sense. The trauma is still in the body. We treat them together.
A week of both
Integrated on purpose.
PHP or IOP, the week holds both conditions. Group for the pattern. 1:1 for the history. Somatic work for the body that found the relief. Psychiatry when medication is part of the plan.
The overlap
Co-occurring disorders are not two charts. The drinking, the panic, the favorite person, the night — one clinical picture.
The body
Relief started in the nervous system. Yoga, breath, and the skills that make a hard night survivable without the old way.
The mind
Cognitive work that can stand the dual diagnosis: the thought, the use, the story you tell about both.
The team
Licensed clinicians, a somatic practitioner, and medical directors for psychiatry and addiction medicine. Not a rotating locum desk.
Who holds the week
One plan. Not two programs taped together.
Dr. Courtney Tracy · Founder and chief clinical officer
Courtney built Exist so mental health and substance use sit in the same PHP or IOP week. Dual diagnosis is the default, not an add-on we refer out.
Founder
Dr. Courtney Tracy
In the room
LCSW · PsyD · CCTP
Clinic
Joint Commission PHP / IOP
What we treat
The pair, not the hallway.
Dual diagnosis here usually means more than one of these in the same week.
All we treatSubstance use
Alcohol, prescriptions, stimulants, opioids, cannabis — with the history under them.
- Alcohol
- Prescriptions
Truth House
A night that isn’t the old kitchen.
Truth House is in Laguna Canyon, for people already in Exist PHP or IOP. Dual diagnosis does not get a separate house. Insurance does not cover the house.
- Single or shared rooms
- Co-ed environment
- On-site night staff
- Food in the house
- Fitness and yoga studio
- Two miles from the beach
- Free trolley to downtown
- House bikes
Who’s in the room.
The team
Mikaela Karpinski
Executive Director
LCSW · trauma and personality
Maggie Scotto
Somatic practitioner
RADT · RYT-500 · yoga and breath
Dr. Randall Turner
Medical director
DO · psychiatry
Dr. Nathan Ngo
Medical director
Psychiatry · dual diagnosis
Integrated, or two programs.
Exist
The week
Both conditions, one PHP or IOP plan.
Psych this building. Use that campus.
The team
Same clinicians. Psychiatry in the room.
A referral when the other side shows up.
The night
Home or Truth House.
Often no housing next to the clinic.
The model
Body, mind, brain — dual diagnosis default.
12-step hallway, or mood-only track.
How you pay.
We verify PHP and IOP benefits and write back within one business day. Verification is free and is not a guarantee of coverage. Benefits vary by plan.
In-network
Aetna, Cigna, Blue Shield of California, UnitedHealthcare, Optum, Magellan.
Out-of-network
Many other plans still reimburse part of dual diagnosis PHP/IOP. We map that before you start.
Private pay
If insurance isn’t the path, admissions will talk through a plan. No invented copays on this page.
Starting is one conversation.
- 01
Reach out
Call or send the form. You talk to the clinic — not a call center.
- 02
We verify
We contact your insurance and map PHP, IOP, and outpatient for both conditions.
- 03
A start date
We recommend an intensity — and a room at Truth House if you’re coming from out of town.
Questions we actually get.
Care for co-occurring mental health and substance use disorders in one plan. At Exist that is PHP or IOP in Laguna Beach — trauma, personality, mood, and use in the same week.
Something we didn’t cover? Call (949) 670-9345 — you talk to the clinic, not a call center.
Treat both. This week.
Call Exist. Dual diagnosis treatment in Orange County is PHP or IOP in Laguna Beach — or we will tell you honestly if a referral is the better next hour.
Clinically reviewed by Dr. Courtney Tracy, LCSW, PsyD · Reviewed September 2026