Our Mission Viejo treatment center offers a warm, home-like space with 24/7 support from caring, trained mental health professionals guiding your program during the week. Whatever your symptoms or motivation levels, we’re here. Our CARF-accredited program focuses solely on primary mental health needs, not addiction.
We begin with a comfortable intake process where we check logistics, chat about recent happenings, and see if there’s any immediate support needed. Our main goal is to help you feel more stable by creating a predictable routine, improving sleep and self-care habits, and ensuring safety at home.
Once stabilized, active treatment starts with our residential mental health program, which includes individual and group sessions as well as practical exercises outside of treatment. These help you manage your thoughts, emotions, and social relationships in a way that feels doable outside of treatment.
As you pursue your goals, we focus on helping you feel prepared for aftercare by supporting coping skills, nurturing responsibility, and planning a smooth transition. Small houses for up to 6 clients ensure you feel valued, with space to breathe, reflect, and heal at your own pace.
We genuinely care about those facing any mental health and mood issues, including suicidal thoughts, obsessive-compulsive symptoms, thought disorders, and personality disorders that can leave you feeling alone, frustrated, and without options. Our purpose is to offer kindness and support that truly makes a positive difference.
Residential treatment can be a helpful option if you’re noticing changes in your sleep, appetite, hygiene, or how you’re functioning at work or school, especially if outpatient care hasn’t been enough.
If your symptoms are milder and you have good daily support, starting with outpatient treatment might be a great first step. Our caring admissions team is here to work with you, helping you find the best level of care and guiding you through the next steps to support your well-being.
Our Mission Viejo facility offers a warm and nurturing environment where evidence-based therapy is thoughtfully combined with practical, real-life applications. We understand that the skills you develop are most meaningful when they extend beyond the workbook, so your week will be filled with engaging individual and group sessions.
These sessions focus on emotional regulation, building strong interpersonal communication skills, setting healthy boundaries, and enhancing daily functioning—all within a supportive, structured setting. Your personalized treatment plan may include options like Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT), group therapy, and family therapy, tailored to your unique needs, ensuring you feel cared for and understood every step of the way.
Since First Light Recovery adopts a caring social rehab approach, the home becomes vital to healing. You can learn coping skills during meals, free time, outings, and daily tasks, with caring staff ready to support you. This approach helps those who’ve had outpatient therapy or a short hospital stay but still seek guidance and reassurance.
Your stay length varies, usually 30 to 90 days, enough to settle and make lasting changes. When ready to leave, we’ll plan ongoing support, often transitioning to outpatient therapy or self-care at home, so progress continues.
Since First Light Recovery employs a social rehabilitation approach, the home atmosphere is part of the treatment. You learn coping skills at meals, during free time, on outings, and in daily responsibilities, as the staff is always nearby to support you whenever challenges arise. This approach is best for those who have been in outpatient therapy or have completed a short hospitalization but still feel lost at sea.
Stay length is determined on an individual basis, but most clients stay for 30 to 90 days, enough time to stabilize and implement changes that stick. When you’re ready for discharge, we’ll collaborate on a care plan for continued care. Most often, this means a step-down approach to outpatient therapy or at-home care, so your recovery plan will continue to help over time.
Healing is a personal journey, and you don’t have to face it on your own. Many of our clients and their families find comfort in our residential homes, which provide supportive, structured care that feels more compassionate and welcoming than typical residential treatment options.
Our Mission Viejo location is another option for clients who live nearby. We also take out-of-state patients when clinically appropriate and covered by insurance. Many out-of-state patients, from Oregon to Washington, Colorado, and Texas, work with our admissions team to arrange travel.
Address: 24642 Argus Dr, Mission Viejo, CA 92691
Phone: (949) 619-6490
Hours: Open 24 hours
24/7 Expert Mental Health Care
Accepts Most Insurance Providers
5-Star Rated, CARF Certified
5-Star Rated, CARF Certified
If you’re considering First Light Recovery in Mission Viejo, we’ve put together some FAQs to answer the most common questions families have about our MV residential home.
For local clients or families traveling from nearby, you can begin your trek to Mission Viejo on I-5 (Santa Ana Freeway) or I-405 (San Diego Freeway). Once in the vicinity, GPS will get you to Argus Drive, where you’ll find yourself near local spots like The Shops at Mission Viejo and Mission Hospital.
We certainly do accept out-of-state clients. The admissions department can assist with travel arrangements and your arrival at our houses. The closest airport for flying in would be John Wayne Airport (SNA), but San Diego (SAN) or LAX are also available, depending on where you’re coming from.
All of our homes are small, intimate houses with up to six residents each for privacy and more personalized services. This limit ensures clients receive individualized attention and enough interaction to put into practice the strategies they learn during their treatment.
If you’re struggling with your mental health, you don’t have to face it alone. First Light Recovery offers compassionate care, expert treatment, and a real-world approach to empower you.
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