Editor’s note (Feb. 13, 2025): This story was updated after publishing with additional details.

Embark Behavioral Health plans to expand its service offerings, increasing the severity of conditions it can treat and adding technology support.

The Chandler, Arizona-based youth and family behavioral health provider said on Feb. 11 that it would roll out an integrative mental health care offering, expand care services for complex diagnoses, athlete-focused mental health services and new tech tools such as virtual reality, biofeedback and artificial intelligence.

“This evolution is about strengthening our foundation and healing the whole person, ensuring that every young person and family we serve receives the personalized care they need,” Scott Filion, CEO of Embark Behavioral Health, said in a statement.

Embark Behavioral Health already offers in-person intensive outpatient programs (IOP), virtual IOP, partial hospitalization programs (PHP), residential treatment and specialized mental health treatment programs for young people and their families. It operates 34 locations and has offerings in 18 states. Embark offers only virtual services in five of those states.

Sharnell Myles, chief clinical officer for Embark Behavioral Health, will lead the service expansion. She was named to that role in February 2024 after working as an executive at the company, including the role of senior vice president of operations, starting in 2020.

The company will make a sizable expansion in the scope of its clinical services. At a to-be-determined date, the company will eventually establish medical care that can support “conditions like uncontrolled diabetes, mobility challenges, and childhood cancer,” a representative of the company told BHB.

Presently, Embark Behavioral Health does not offer these kinds of medical services. They partner with other primary care and specialist providers to at least give access to necessary elements of care. While the company builds out a medical team that includes nurses, physicians, and other specialists, Embark will maintain its partnership with external care providers.

On the technology front, Embark Behavioral Health is taking a “careful approach” to developing an AI-powered tool for clients that will “offering clients immediate therapist support between sessions to boost program completion, strengthen therapeutic relationships, and reduce crises,” the representative told BHB.

This development marks another change for Embark Behavioral Health early in the year.

In January, Behavioral Health Business reported that its chief financial officer, chief operating officer and chief people officer would be leaving Embark Behavioral Health. At that time, Filion said that the company would flatten its management structure. In November, it thinned out its middle management through a layoff that impacted about 60 people.

Filion himself is a newcomer to the company, which has legacy entities that were founded in 1995. He took on the CEO role in September 2024. He arrived at a time when Embark Behavioral Health was evolving its focus to be more centered on outpatient, digital and otherwise more accessible services. Its legacy includes on-location residential and wilderness therapy programs.

The company is backed by Consonance Capital Partners, which secured a controlling stake in Embark Behavioral Health in September 2022.

“With this leadership team at the helm of Embark’s clinical expansion, we are deepening our commitment and reach to healing through evidence-based treatments, ensuring our care is both accessible and impactful for families and clients with varied life experiences to ensure lasting well-being,” Myles said.