Valencia, Saugus, Newhall, Canyon Country and Castaic
Psychiatric Mental Health Services for the Santa Clarita Valley
What psychiatric care looks like from Santa Clarita, an evaluation and medication management by video, with a Long Beach office if you want it.
Video first, office if you like
74.2%
of working-age adults in the Newhall subdivision carry commercial coverage
1 hr 42 min
by car from Santa Clarita City Hall, Monday at 7.41am, a morning with a crash on the roads
96.6%
of households in the same subdivision have broadband at home
In short
Which mental health services we provide in the valley
We offer psychiatric mental health services to the Santa Clarita Valley: a full psychiatric evaluation, a diagnosis where one is clear, and ongoing medication management. Most of it happens over secure video, because our one office is in Long Beach, about an hour and 40 minutes away at 7.41am on a Monday. We do not offer talk therapy.
- Our office
- 3646 Long Beach Blvd # 205, Long Beach, CA 90807
- Hours
- Mon–Fri · 8 AM–6 PM (Pacific)
- Phone
- (818) 286-3862
Telehealth available across California, with new locations coming to Northern California.
Get directions →Where
Across the Santa Clarita Valley
The Census Bureau's Newhall county subdivision held 269,203 residents in its 2020 to 2024 estimates.
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In the Census geocoder, Santa Clarita City Hall on Valencia Boulevard and the Stevenson Ranch Library, in the unincorporated Stevenson Ranch community, both fall inside the Newhall subdivision.
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The county Department of Mental Health lists Santa Clarita, Valencia, Saugus, Newhall, Canyon Country and Castaic-Val Verde among the communities of its Service Area 2.
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The City of Santa Clarita incorporated in 1987, uniting Saugus, Newhall, Valencia and Canyon Country.
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The city counted 230,428 residents as of January 1, 2025.
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The county's Santa Clarita Valley Area Plan covers unincorporated communities including Castaic, Val Verde, Stevenson Ranch, Agua Dulce and Bouquet Canyon, and places the valley about 30 to 40 miles northwest of downtown Los Angeles.
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Valencia
Home to Santa Clarita City Hall on Valencia Boulevard, where we timed a drive from.
Saugus and Canyon Country
Two of the four communities that joined to form the City of Santa Clarita in 1987.
Newhall
Old Town Newhall and the neighborhoods around it, inside the City of Santa Clarita.
Castaic and Val Verde
Unincorporated communities in the county's valley plan, named together in Service Area 2.
Stevenson Ranch
Another unincorporated community in that plan, and inside the Census Newhall subdivision.
Paying for care
Most valley plans are commercial. Check yours.
We are in network with 19 commercial carriers, including Aetna, Anthem, Beacon Health Options, Carelon, Cigna and others, and you can check your own plan below before you book. TRICARE and TriWest are on that list, so service members, veterans and military families are billed like anyone else here.
We do not currently take Medi-Cal managed care. If that is your coverage, we are a self-pay option rather than a covered visit, and it is better to know that now than at the front desk. Self-pay is $250 for a 60-minute initial psychiatric evaluation and $150 for a 30-minute follow-up visit, and there is a sliding scale. Please ask.
Coverage across the Santa Clarita Valley
In the Newhall subdivision, 65.4 percent of adults aged 19 to 64 have employer-based coverage only and 8.8 percent buy their own plan, 74.2 percent on commercial insurance in all.
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In the same group, 10.1 percent rely on Medi-Cal or another means-tested program alone and 6.2 percent have no health coverage.
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In-network with your insurance
We're in-network with most major plans, so care stays affordable. Not sure about yours? Verify your coverage in about a minute, or we'll gladly check it for you.
No card to hand? Leave your name, phone number and email, tick “look it up for me”, and we'll do the checking. Self-pay & sliding-scale options are also available.
Plans we accept
Paying out of pocket?
Self-pay ratesClear, upfront self-pay rates. No surprises, no fine print. You’ll know the cost before your first visit.
Initial psychiatric evaluation
$250/ 1 hour
Follow-up visit
$150/ 30 min
Sliding-scale options are available. Just ask.
Mental health services is a wide phrase
Search for mental health services in Santa Clarita and you will find counselors, group programs, crisis lines, school services and psychiatric practices all listed together. They do different jobs. We are the psychiatric kind. That means a medical evaluation of what is going on, a diagnosis where one is clear, and medication management that continues for as long as it helps you.
If you mainly want someone to talk with every week, a therapist is the better first call, and we will say so. If you have been in therapy and still feel stuck, or your therapist has suggested a medication evaluation, that is exactly the point where we come in.
Why the valley starts on video
The Santa Clarita Valley sits on the far side of the county from our office. In a Monday sample at 7.41am, Google sent the trip from Santa Clarita City Hall by way of the 210, noting that the route avoided a crash and a slowdown, and put it at about 1 hour 42 minutes; from the Stevenson Ranch Library it was about 1 hour 38 minutes. That morning had a crash on the roads, so read it as a slow day rather than a typical one. That is a long round trip for a thirty-minute follow-up, so we run most care for the valley over secure video. The appointment is the same appointment. You just take it from Valencia instead of a waiting room in Long Beach.
The connection side is easy here: Census figures put broadband in more than nineteen of every twenty households in the Newhall subdivision, which covers the city and Stevenson Ranch. A quiet room and a phone or laptop with a camera are all you need.
A city and its unincorporated ring
The City of Santa Clarita is young. It incorporated in 1987, joining Saugus, Newhall, Valencia and Canyon Country into one city that now counts more than 230,000 residents. Around it, the county’s own plan for the valley covers unincorporated communities such as Castaic, Val Verde, Stevenson Ranch and Agua Dulce. The county puts the valley 30 to 40 miles northwest of downtown Los Angeles, and our office is well south of downtown, which is why the drive adds up the way it does.
Starting is allowed to be small
A lot of adults put their own care last for years, behind work, commutes and family. The first step does not have to be big. One evaluation tells you a great deal about what is going on and what might help.
Insurance first, then booking
Commercial coverage is the norm here. About three in four working-age adults in the Newhall subdivision carry it, through work or a plan they buy. Check yours with the coverage tool on this page before you book, and you will know where you stand. For the roughly one in ten on Medi-Cal alone, we do not currently take Medi-Cal managed care and are a self-pay option with a sliding scale. The county Department of Mental Health is the local mental health plan for Medi-Cal, working alongside the Medi-Cal health plans.
When you need help between visits
Psychiatric care is planned care, booked days or weeks ahead. If something feels urgent, the county help line answers at any hour, and 988 answers anywhere in the country. In an emergency, call 911.
Getting care
Between the 5, the 14 and your screen
Drive times are Google's, sampled once at the hour each note names, in that hour's traffic. Peaks that were not sampled will run longer.
Seeing us by video
Broadband of some kind reaches 96.6 percent of households in the Newhall subdivision, and 2.3 percent have no internet access at home.
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The California Board of Registered Nursing certifies nurse practitioners, and a nurse practitioner must first hold a California registered nurse license.
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Driving to the office
From Santa Clarita City Hall at 23920 Valencia Blvd, Google's recommended route ran 62.0 miles via I-210 E and took about 1 hour 42 minutes at 7.41am Pacific on Monday 26 October 2026, in the morning peak. Google's note on that route read "Fastest route now, avoids crash and slowdown". Late-morning and evening traffic were not sampled.
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From Stevenson Ranch Library at 25950 The Old Rd, Google's recommended route ran 58.0 miles via I-210 E and took about 1 hour 38 minutes at 7.41am Pacific on Monday 26 October 2026, in the morning peak. Google's note on that route read "Fastest route now, avoids slowdown on I-405 S". Late-morning and evening traffic were not sampled.
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The care
The psychiatric side of mental health care
This is a psychiatric practice. We diagnose, we manage medication, and we keep seeing you so the plan keeps fitting your life. We do not run therapy groups or weekly talk therapy.
Psychiatry Services
Comprehensive psychiatric care, including diagnosis, treatment planning, and ongoing management led by a board-certified provider.
Medication Management
Careful selection, monitoring, and adjustment of psychiatric medications to maximize benefit and minimize side effects.
Psychiatric Evaluation
A thorough first assessment to understand your history and symptoms and build an accurate diagnosis and plan.
The first appointment
Plan on about an hour. We ask what brought you in, what has and has not helped before, your health and current medications, and what you would like to feel different. You leave with a working diagnosis where one is clear, a plan, and the next visit already on the calendar.
Follow-ups are shorter. They come every few weeks while a plan settles and spread out once it holds, and any medication change is made one step at a time so its effect stays readable.
Video is the whole visit
A video appointment is a full psychiatric visit, not a lesser version. Evaluation, diagnosis and medication follow-up all happen on screen, from anywhere in California.
New patients see Irine Achuamang, a psychiatric-mental health nurse practitioner. Dr. Cho provides collaborating physician oversight.
Santa Clarita Valley questions
What kind of mental health services do you offer in Santa Clarita?
Psychiatric services: a full evaluation, diagnosis, and medication management with regular follow-up. We do not provide talk therapy or counseling. Plenty of people see a therapist and a psychiatric provider at the same time, so you do not have to choose between them.
Do I have to drive to Long Beach?
No. In our Monday 7.41am sample the drive from Santa Clarita City Hall took about 1 hour 42 minutes, so most care for the valley happens by video, with the office there if you want it.
Who will I see on video?
New patients see Irine Achuamang, a psychiatric-mental health nurse practitioner, on video or in the office. In California a nurse practitioner is certified by the Board of Registered Nursing and must first hold a registered nurse license.
Is a video visit covered the same way as an office visit?
That depends on your plan. Run it through the coverage check on this page, or ask your plan's member services line, before you book.
I live in Castaic or Val Verde, outside the city. Does that matter?
No. Castaic and Val Verde are unincorporated, but they sit in the same valley and the same county service area, and a video visit works the same way from there.
How often are follow-up appointments?
Every few weeks while a plan is being set, and further apart once things are steady. Each follow-up is shorter than the first visit, which runs about an hour.
Related
Conditions to read about first
Public resources
County help for Santa Clarita residents
Listed because they are useful. We have no referral arrangement with any of them.
The county Department of Mental Health is Los Angeles County's local Mental Health Plan for Medi-Cal and coordinates with the county's Medi-Cal managed care plans.
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The county's ACCESS Center answers its help line, (800) 854-7771, 24 hours a day, every day, as the entry point for county mental health services.
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Calling or texting 988 reaches a crisis counselor any time, free and confidential.
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Begin with one conversation
Ask for a time online and a person from our office calls to confirm. The first visit runs about an hour, from home if you like.