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Carus Recovery Center

Staff

Staff

ABOUT CARUS RECOVERY

CARUS Recovery is one of the most sought after substance abuse and mental health facilities in the country. We have an well-established team of licensed professionals and clinicians dedicated to success in recovery. We believe recovery goes beyond the addiction, recovery is about getting your life back, with an emphasis on both mental health and substance abuse. Depression, anxiety, PTSD, and ADHD can be critical reasons for substance abuse and we believe that treating underlying mental health issues is important.

Medical Team

  • Craig Smith M.D.
    Craig Smith M.D.
    Board certified in Addiction Medicine
  • Lisa Benya D.O.
    Lisa Benya D.O.
    Internal Medicine
  • Wiliam D. Stanley M.D.
    Wiliam D. Stanley M.D.
    Detox Medical Director
  • Aneta Lotakov Prince, MD
    Aneta Lotakov Prince, MD
    Board Certified Psychiatrist, General Adult Psychiatry
  • Darren Lipshitz M.D.
    Darren Lipshitz M.D.
    Addiction Medicine Specialist

Clinical Team

  • Stacy Ana Simone, M.A., M.A., LMFT
    Stacy Ana Simone, M.A., M.A., LMFT
    Clinical Director
  • Naira Chehras, LMFT
    Naira Chehras, LMFT
  • Arpine Varikyan, ACSW
    Arpine Varikyan, ACSW
  • Jahala Wilcox – PN
    Jahala Wilcox – PN
    Nurse
  • Natasha Noghli – CADC-1
    Natasha Noghli – CADC-1
    Case Manager
  • Leslie (Les) Harris, CCAPP
    Leslie (Les) Harris, CCAPP
    Case Manager
  • Kat Mazzucca – RADT-I
    Kat Mazzucca – RADT-I

Management

  • Scott Ward
    Scott Ward
    Chief Operating Officer
  • Bruce Berman
    Bruce Berman
    Vice President
  • Michael Parsons
    Michael Parsons
    Head of Admissions

Now is the best time to begin.

Let’s talk about how you or your loved one can start your recovery. Make an appointment with us now.

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© 2021 Precious Treatment, dba CARUS Recovery — All Rights Reserved.
Craig Smith M.D.
Board certified in Addiction Medicine

Dr. Craig V. Smith, M.D. is a former organ transplant surgeon, who now dedicates his practice to addiction medicine. He received his M.D. degree from the UCLA School of Medicine. Dr. Smith then completed his general surgical residency at Harbor-UCLA medical center and his multi-organ transplant surgical fellowship at the University of Pittsburgh medical center. He returned to UCLA medical center to start his career in academic transplant surgery, performing transplants, teaching students and residents while also conducting research on transplantation for the treatment of diabetes.

Since alcohol and drug use are leading causes of organ damage, Dr. Smith learned about addiction by listening to his patients. More importantly, since a requirement to receive an organ transplant is abstinence from using alcohol and drugs, Dr. Smith learned about recovery from listening to his patients. In 2009 Dr. Smith decided to dedicate his career to addiction medicine.

Dr. Smith is board certified in Addiction Medicine by both the American Board of Preventive Medicine and the American Board of Addiction Medicine.

Lisa Benya D.O.
Internal Medicine

Dr. Lisa Benya is an internal medicine doctor servicing the Malibu community for many years. Her caring and compassionate approach has earned her a great reputation for being one of the area’s favorite doctors.

She is a board-certified physician who as an internist broadened her scope to include more serious and chronic conditions including addiction medicine.

Dr. Benya has been in practice for more than 20 years and affiliated with many hospitals. Her undergraduate work began at the Boston University School of Medicine and attended Medical School at Ohio University College of Osteopathic Medicine.

Wiliam D. Stanley M.D.
Detox Medical Director

Dr. William D. Stanley received his Doctorate of Medicine degree from UMDNJ – Robert Wood Johnson Medical School in Piscataway, NJ. He did his Residency training at Albert Einstein Medical Center in Philadelphia, Pa. He received his Bachelor of Science degree from Morgan State University in Baltimore, Md. He did 1 year of a Master’s program in Anatomy at the University of Maryland Baltimore City campus prior to matriculating to medical school that next year.

He has worked in Internal Medicine for the majority of his professional life both inpatient and outpatient. He started Parkside Medical Assoc, PA in Trenton, NJ. He noticed he had an interest in substance abuse and started involvement with ASAM (American Society of Addiction Medicine) in 1998. He completed his Boards in ASAM in 2000 and by ABAM (American Board of Addiction Medicine) in 2010. Since 2013 he has concentrated his time to the treatment of Substance Abuse Disorders. Prior, he was Medical Director of both an inpatient detox unit and 2 outpatient treatment programs. He has an active license to practice medicine in both New Jersey and California.

Aneta Lotakov Prince, MD
Board Certified Psychiatrist, General Adult Psychiatry

Dr. Prince graduated with honors from the UCLA (University of California, Los Angeles) and completed medical school at the Sackler School of Medicine, NY American Program at Tel Aviv University. She went on to complete her residency training in General Adult Psychiatry at the Beth Israel Medical Center in NYC, where she also acted as Chief Resident for the adult inpatient and dual diagnosis units. Dr. Prince moved back to California shortly after completing her training, and has spent a significant part of her career working with underserved and dually-diagnosed populations.

Dr. Prince has expertise in areas of mood, psychosis, anxiety, addiction, and substance use disorders. She focuses on the whole person, weighing lifestyle variables into treatment planning and utilizing lifestyle modification approaches alongside medication. Dr. Prince feels that “Falling down is still forward motion” and strongly believes in the resiliency of the human mind, body, and spirit.

Darren Lipshitz M.D.
Addiction Medicine Specialist

Dr. Lipshitz attended the University of Nevada Las Vegas where he earned a Bachelors of Science degree in Biology. He then attended the Medical College of Wisconsin in Milwaukee for his degree in Medicine. After four cold winters in the frozen tundra of Wisconsin, he moved to the more appealing climate of Northern California where he continued his medical training and completed a Residency in Family Medicine at the UCSF-affiliated program in Salinas.

He ran a solo, private practice in Sausalito CA in the early part of his career where he was the “town doc” for many families. Eventually, Dr. Darren relocated to Southern California to be closer to family. Looking for new challenges, he became Board Certified and started working in the field of Addiction Medicine. He continues to see patients through primary care eyes and has a “town doc” heart which lends itself well to the specialized field of Addiction Medicine and the complex physical and social issues often encountered.

Stacy Ana Simone, M.A., M.A., LMFT
Clinical Director

Stacy has been working in the behavioral health care industry for over 20 years. Stacy approaches clients from a trauma-informed care perspective and approach, and with the understanding that most individuals need to have the knowledge and tools to be successful. Her practices include a family-centered, trauma informed care approach, prioritizing the need for coordination of care with families of origin and of choice. Prior to BeWell, Stacy worked as a Clinical Director at a variety of adolescent and adult residential treatment facilities. She also worked for Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health and with LA County- contracted agencies, overseeing programs that provided services to specialized populations and individuals involved with DCFS, DMH and LA County Department of Probation.

Stacy’s client and family-centered approach embraces attachment, attunement, mindfulness, and an individual’s ability to be the author of their future in every present moment.

Naira Chehras, LMFT

Naira is a licensed marriage and family therapist and has been in the mental health field for the last 5 years. She received her Master’s Degree in Clinical Psychology, with an emphasis in marriage and family therapy from Pepperdine University in 2018. Shortly after graduation, she began her career providing therapeutic services to children and their families at a DMH contracted agency. She found fulfillment through her work with kids and wanted to expand her experience to include working with individuals who struggle with substance abuse. Soon after, she began working at a treatment facility and acute psychiatric hospital providing services to patients in treatment. There, she realized her passion for helping clients heal from their past experiences and pursue a life aimed towards growth and healing.

Arpine Varikyan, ACSW

Arpine has been working in mental health and substance abuse for 9 years, providing psychoeducation, CBT therapy, group therapy, and family therapy to clients. With Masters’ Degrees in Social Work and Forensics Psychology, she has served as a Supervisor, Counselor, Program Director, Social Worker, and Therapist in substance abuse treatment centers.

Arpine believes that people need compassion and empathy to find the confidence to take their life back and her mission is to provide clients the support they need to begin their journey to recovery. She believes in helping clients create a healthy lifestyle mentally, physically, emotionally, and spiritually.

Leslie (Les) Harris, CCAPP
Case Manager
Kat Mazzucca – RADT-I
Scott Ward
Chief Operating Officer

Scott brings 25 years of well-rounded and diverse executive management experience. He is passionate about helping individuals and families achieve a myriad of personal goals, no matter the scale. He has worked with many senior executives with Miramax Films, DreamWorks Pictures, Universal Pictures, and television network associates. His dedicated work with Sunspire Health and his years with Foundations Recovery Network has ideally positioned him for BeWell’s role as Chief Operating Officer.

He graduated from the Pittsburgh Institute of Art and holds a degree in business. Scott is a Certified Anger Management Facilitator and is a Certified Alcoholism and Drug Addiction Recovery Specialist.

Bruce Berman
Vice President

Bruce is a recognized expert in substance abuse treatment marketing and call center management. With his 30 years’ experience in substance abuse recovery, his knowledge regarding how the treatment process works cannot be overstated. Bruce has assisted thousands of people who were seeking treatment for alcohol, substance abuse, and dual diagnosis. He has maintained continuous recovery from various addictions since September 1989. Besides himself, he has placed his own children, employees, family members, friends and other loved ones into various treatment programs.

Bruce was the Assistant Vice President of Admissions for American Addiction Centers “AAC”, a nationwide dual diagnosis treatment center with over 1,000 beds. Since 2014, he has built and operated many call centers in Nevada and Texas. Prior, Bruce built over 20 years of Direct Response Marketing “DRM” experience, marketing products on the internet, radio, TV, and print. Bruce is considered a pioneer of “direct to web only” marketing. He is also an early pioneer of using numbers in web URLs on those mediums.

Michael Parsons
Head of Admissions

Michael started in the healthcare field as a resident advisor in an industry leading substance use program eventually working his way into admissions. He later served as Director of Admissions for a Los Angeles based outpatient center. Michael is driven by a passion for assisting families and individuals in their efforts to obtain quality treatment with an eye on positive long-term results. Michael brings a unique background to admissions having worked in middle market healthcare investment banking where he was staffed on numerous behavioral health care deal flows and brings a wealth of knowledge in appropriately leveraging data to inform client care and proper admissions processes.

Michael earned his Bachelors in Business Administration with an emphasis in finance with honors from California Lutheran University. In his free time Michael is an avid PC builder and guitar/gear enthusiast.

The safety of our clients and staff is our priority. We are open and following all federal and state protocols.

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