Casa Serena Highlights What Sets Its Santa Barbara Women's Rehab Apart

The Santa Barbara nonprofit serves only women from detox through lifetime aftercare, with family programming and career training alongside clinical care.

SANTA BARBARA, CA, UNITED STATES, September 23, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ -- Casa Serena Treatment Programs for Women is highlighting the parts of its program that separate it from other addiction and mental health treatment options in California. The Santa Barbara nonprofit serves women only at every level of care, from sub-acute and medical detox through women's residential treatment, partial hospitalization, intensive outpatient, transitional living and lifetime aftercare.

Mildred Pinheiro opened Casa Serena as a home for women in 1959. Its clinical team today considers a women-only setting the foundation for trauma work, since many women find it hard to speak openly about trauma in mixed-gender groups. Clinicians treat addiction and co-occurring conditions together, including depression, bipolar disorder, PTSD, anxiety and eating disorders.

Psychiatrist Marjorie Gies, M.D., serves as medical director. Residential clients receive a complete psychiatric evaluation at admission, and every client has a collaborative treatment plan within 24 hours. Therapy includes DBT, CBT, ACT, EMDR and trauma-informed care. Stays run from 30 to 90 days. Casa Serena accepts pregnant women at any stage of pregnancy, and women veterans can enter a dedicated track for PTSD, military sexual trauma, readjustment and substance use.

Casa Serena also stands apart in how much of its program focuses on life outside therapy. Mothers have access to a dedicated parenting program. At Millie's House, the organization's transitional living home, women reunifying with their children can live with them as they rebuild the family unit.

Career support starts during treatment. A community job trainer leads group sessions on resume writing, interview techniques, professional etiquette and social skills. Clients without a high school diploma can work toward a GED through a partnership with the Schott Continuing Education Center. Casa Serena also works with Santa Barbara City College on adult continuing education and vocational assessments.

Families take part through Casa Serena's family programming, which includes multi-family groups, family therapy sessions, education on addiction as a chronic disease and an alumni family network that connects newer families with those further along.

Casa Serena's programs operate out of two historic Victorian homes one block apart in downtown Santa Barbara, minutes from the beach. Clients spend two hours a week in a garden therapy group led by a horticulture therapist. Dinner is homemade every evening with herbs and vegetables from that garden, and a chef runs a weekly culinary class.

Graduates of any Casa Serena program can attend weekly alumni and multi-family groups through the Lifetime Aftercare Program at no cost to them or their families.

As a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, Casa Serena puts its funding into treatment services and offers financial aid to women with limited resources. It accepts many major PPO plans along with TRICARE and TriWest, and the admissions team verifies benefits confidentially.

About Casa Serena

Casa Serena Treatment Programs for Women is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit in Santa Barbara, California, treating women for substance use disorders, co-occurring mental health conditions, trauma and eating disorders. Founded in 1959, it is Santa Barbara's only licensed and Joint Commission accredited nonprofit residential treatment program for women. Services include sub-acute and medical detox, residential treatment, PHP, IOP, outpatient care, transitional living and lifetime aftercare. For more information, call (866) 936-9740 or visit www.casaserena.org.

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