Comprehensive care models are becoming a key focus for behavioral health providers.
Workforce behavioral health provider Lyra is expanding its substance use disorder (SUD) offerings by launching treatment programs for cannabis, opioids, stimulants and nicotine. The company announced the expansion on Monday.
“Oftentimes, [treatment options for SUD] lack integrated, evidence-based care that addresses mental health conditions and substance use, as well as transitional support, which is critical for breaking the cycle of relapse and achieving long-term recovery,” Dr. Smita Das, vice president of psychiatry and complex care at Lyra Health, said in a statement. “Our programs address these gaps by providing comprehensive, personalized mental health care that meets the needs of both the individual and their family, ensuring faster clinical improvement and a smoother transition to lasting recovery.”
Burlingame, California-based Lyra provides mental health services through employers and is available to over 17 million people globally. The company has raised over $910 million, according to Crunchbase. Its most recent funding round was a $235 million raise in 2022.
The provider previously operated a treatment program for alcohol use disorder, called Lyra Renew.
The Lyra Renew program will now treat a full spectrum of SUDs, using evidence-based virtual therapy, digital tools and medications, delivered by a multidisciplinary team consisting of therapists, peer recovery specialists and physicians.
Lyra’s new SUD offerings include a nicotine “quitline,” which offers patients who use tobacco a personalized quit plan and coping strategies for cravings.
For SUD patients with more acute needs, Lyra providers can refer out to brick-and-mortar facility partners in over 400 locations. Nonprofit SUD treatment provider Hazelden Betty Ford, virtual mental health provider Charlie Health and Mount Sinai Health System have all partnered with the provider.
Earlier this month, Lyra also announced that it had expanded its severe mental health program, Lyra Complex Care, with a dialectical behavioral therapy offering (DBT).
Launched in February, Lyra’s acute care offering is a relative rarity in the behavioral health industry. Providers often focus on more mild or moderate conditions, making the severe mental health space ripe for innovation.
“For those of you who like to zig when the market zags, severe mental illness is an open window right now,” Dexter Braff, president of The Braff Group, previously said.
Other behavioral health providers have also prioritized treating a full spectrum of SUDs.
Digital SUD treatment provider Pelago launched a cannabis use disorder (CUD) treatment program in April and also operates a tobacco cessation program.
In February, employer mental health solution Spring Health introduced a smoking cessation program through a partnership with Kirkland, Washington-based 2Morrow Health.
