Young man hiking in California, sitting on the top of the cliff watching down on the Golden Gate bridge in San Francisco.

To Our Graduates, We are a Recovery Community Bringing Real Solutions for Substance Use Disorder & Mental Illness to the Bay Area

Since 1996, Options Recovery Services has been helping graduates heal and break free of broken family, crime, and homelessness cycles that are caused or intensified by mental illness or substance use disorder. Our identity is evident in our graduates’ success.

Discover Success Stories
Mike Thomas, Senior Director of Programs, Suzoni Camp, Chief of Operations, and Justin Phillips, Executive Director

The Leadership That Directs Our Success

The Options’ Board of Directors is rich in experience, accountability, leadership, and passion for making a difference in the Bay Area.

Meet Our Directors
Dr. Davida Coady
Dr. Coady

Our Founder: Dr. Davida Coady

Dr. Coady’s motto, “The Greatest Good for the Greatest Number of People,” is alive and well today at Options Recovery Services.

More About The Founder
2024 candid

Our Achievements Tell Our Story

Options has effectively built a Recovery Community throughout California. Options’ graduates bring the message to their peers, with solutions to the problems of substance use disorder and mental illness. Our accomplishments tell the story:

  • Options has served clients through Early Intervention and Treatment Programs for over 25 years.
  • Hundreds of homeless clients were placed in emergency shelter, transitional, or permanent housing beds.
  • All qualifying clients are provided with employment development activities that prepare them to find jobs.
  • Nearly 100% of our graduates remain clear of both crime and courts.
  • We’ve earned a Candid Platinum Seal of Transparency on GuideStar! 

The History of Options Recovery Services

Options Recovery Services was founded in 1996...

Options Recovery Services was founded in 1996 by a visionary group led by Davida Coady, M.D., a physician with international experience in public health. Dr. Coady served as Options’ Executive Director until 2014, and served as Options’ Medical Director until her death in 2018.

Options began as a diversion treatment program for the Berkeley courts. A small group met each week for drug involved offenders who agreed to accept treatment. Finding success and an increase in demand, Options expanded its collaboration with the criminal justice system — courts, district attorneys, police, jails, prisons, and probation departments to promote an alternative approach to address the root causes of crime, homelessness, and broken families.

With limited financial resources, Options developed into a model program serving more than a thousand clients annually and has been a catalyst for changing the way we deal with drug offenders in our state. Options has developed collaborative relationships with area providers, social services, and institutions to promote state-of-the-art treatment and recovery, in a person-centered holistic model of care.

In 2002, Options responded to the need for sober housing...

In 2002, Options responded to the need for sober housing for its clients by purchasing a home in West Oakland. Today, Options’ housing stock is extensive. In 2004, the Options Mental Health Clinic opened with funding from the California Endowment. In 2006, a group of clinicians led by Tom Gorham, Options’ former Executive Director, began work inside San Quentin, developing the Substance Use Disorder Counselor Training Program — this innovative program has expanded to California State Prisons around the state to provide inmates with peer-led Substance Abuse Treatment and certification as peer mentors.

Options now provides an Occupational Mentor Certification Program (OMCP) in prisons throughout the state. Inmates are trained as certified substance use disorder counselors and deployed at prisons statewide. Upon release, reentry OMCP clients may intern to become employed as counselors at Options and other partnering organizations.

In 2018, Options received its first perinatal clients...

In 2018, Options received its first perinatal clients at its Alice Street recovery residence. Options contracts with Alameda County Behavioral Health Care Services to provide recovery residence services for up to twelve pregnant and/or newly delivered women in recovery from drug and/or alcohol abuse. Options property on Alice Street in Oakland has been remodeled and outfitted with beds, cribs, furnishings, and utensils to provide a safe and drug-alcohol-tobacco-free home for these clients and their infant children.

Options currently provides substance use disorder treatment, recovery support, and co-occurring mental health treatment at clinics in Berkeley, Concord, Oakland, and San Leandro – serving nearly 1,000 adult clients each year. In addition, Options provides safe and drug free recovery housing for up to 150 clients each night, where in addition to a place to live, the houses provide each resident with peer support and mentoring services. Options provides in-custody treatment and substance abuse counselor training for over 100 inmates at nine state prisons and one county jail. Options is partnering with the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to establish a reentry program – featuring a safe and sober residence and individualized services and case support – for former inmates returning to the community. Options also operates an outreach program in Berkeley that provides services and needed support for homeless adults. Options annual budget has grown to over $8 million, and Options now has over $10 million in real property assets.