Our Mission and Guiding Principles

Our mission is to empower individuals to find their unique path to recovery from co-occurring addiction and mental health disorders so they can achieve lasting connection and stability in a recovery-focused life.

Our guiding principles are:

• Empathy and Compassion
• Acceptance and Inclusivity
• Encouragement and Empowerment
• Clinical Excellence and Ongoing Research
• Education and Awareness
• Connection and Community

Our History

In the 1980s and ‘90s, mental health and addiction treatment were largely separate industries that were not equipped to address a patient’s need for simultaneous mental illness and addiction treatment. People who needed treatment for co-occurring conditions were bounced back and forth between providers. This frustration with the system of incomplete care available to dually diagnosed individuals led to Foundations Associates (FA) opening in 1995 as a nonprofit organization treating men who were homeless, addicted, schizophrenic in an eight-bed group home in Nashville, Tennessee.

As academics and industry experts, as well as organizations like the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) began to talk about solutions to fill the gaps in care for the dually diagnosed, grant funding became available to help Foundations Associates develop best practices in dual diagnosis care.

In 1996 Foundations Associates gained momentum as the Center for Substance Abuse Treatment funded a three-year evaluation of its methods and outcomes. Shortly after, Foundations Associates was included in SAMHSA’s resource-publication for treating persons with co-occurring disorders, Treatment Improvement Protocol (TIP) 42. Foundations Associates quickly became an authority in addiction treatment in its own right as the organization also participated in 11 federally-funded research studies that provided opportunities to implement innovative and effective treatment methods for co-occurring disorders during that time period.

In 2000, the original founder of FA formed a small for-profit entity, Dual Diagnosis Management (DDM) which later purchased The Canyon at Peace Park in Malibu, California as its first for-profit treatment facility. Seven years later, Foundations Associates became Foundations Recovery Network.

Also in 2007, Foundations’ system of care was referred to as the “gold standard” in dual diagnosis treatment by Mark McGovern, Ph.D., of Dartmouth Psychiatric Research Center who helped develop the Dual Diagnosis Capability in Addiction Treatment (DDCAT) assessment. In his independent review, he found that Foundations exceeded the highest industry standards, achieving classification as “Dual Diagnosis Enhanced,” a designation only achieved by the top five percent of treatment providers.

Keeping true to the foundational belief that everyone has a story to tell without shame, Foundations Recovery Network sparked a grassroots movement in 2011 called Heroes in Recovery, aimed at eliminating the stigma that keeps millions of people from seeking treatment for addiction and mental health issues. That same year, Foundations was awarded the James W. West Quality Award from the National Association of Addiction Treatment Providers for its dedication to patient-centered care.

In 2015, the Pennsylvania-based Universal Health Services, Inc. purchased Foundations Recovery Network to serve as the foundation of their Addiction Services Division. And in 2016, Foundations launched The Life Challenge, a national alumni community created to engage and encourage people in recovery as part of their continuum of care.

Today, Foundations operates residential, partial hospitalization and outpatient facilities across the United States and continues to produce statistically valid and reliable research outcomes, which are frequently published in peer-reviewed journals.

Through the years, our philosophies have demonstrated Foundations’ commitment to patient-centered care. The core of our story is meeting and accepting people exactly where they are with the belief that everyone has the ability to recover. We believe the changes people make are internal and that they come in stages. We’ll continue to help guide and motivate individuals in their long-term recovery. Patient-centered care has been our story and our devotion from the beginning and will continue to be the catalyst in everything we do in the future.