MEET THE
TEAM
Orange County Drug & Alcohol Rehab
OUR DEDICATED STAFF
Dr. Sanjai Thankachen
Medical Director
Dr. Sanjai Thankachen graduated from Adichunchanagiri Institute of Medicine in 2000. He completed his residency in psychiatry in 2008 from Creedmoor Psychiatric Center in New York, where fifty percent of his rotations were at Columbia Presbyterian Hospital. After his residency he worked at Ventura County Medical Centers in an adult out-patient setting and now lives in Orange County, California.
Lisa Merry
Clinical Director
Lisa is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, she graduated from Azusa Pacific University with a Master of Arts in Clinical Psychology. Lisa has over 20 years of experience in Substance Abuse and Mental Health Treatment. She has expertise as a Clinical Director, Clinical Supervisor, and creating high quality, client centered services in treatment. She has been a leader with Celebrate Recovery, a Christ Centered 12 step program, for over 25 years.
Andrew Sutherland
Program Director
Andrew was born and raised in southern California and graduated from California State University, Fullerton, with a bachelor’s degree in Psychology. He has been with Sober Partners for 7 years and has worked in varying roles with the company. Currently, Andrew is the Program Director at Sober Partners and tries to instill two goals in each client he interacts with: to consistently make progress and to have fun in their recovery. Being in recovery himself, Andrew has made it his purpose in life to help others regain their lives and achieve their greatest ambitions.
Dr. Angela McMahon
Cosultant
Angela has over ten years’ experience in behavioral health with a wealth of knowledge in many components of the industry. She graduated with her Master of Arts Degree in Counseling Psychology for Marriage and Family Therapy in 2011 and obtained her Doctorate in Educational Counseling Psychology in February 2017. She has worked as a clinician in addiction treatment, successfully ran Utilization Review Departments, has been a National Clinical Outreach Business Development Marketer, developed Continuing Education Departments for upstanding treatment centers, and has had a great reputation as a Behavioral Health Compliance and Implementation Consultant for several years.
Gabriel Rodriguez
Operations Director
Dr. Sanjai Thankachen graduated from Adichunchanagiri Institute of Medicine in 2000. He completed his residency in psychiatry in 2008 from Creedmoor Psychiatric Center in New York, where fifty percent of his rotations were at Columbia Presbyterian Hospital. After his residency he worked at Ventura County Medical Centers in an adult out-patient setting and now lives in Orange County, California.
Hailey Grimble
Treatment Cooridnator
Originally from Oklahoma, Hailey moved to California in 2009. After traveling all of the U.S. and settling in San Jose, Hailey found her heart in Orange County.Although she is not in recovery herself she has experienced the rough battles of addiction throughout close family members. What she enjoys most about working in the field of addiction is being able to see the lasting impact that we make in the lives of our clients.
Jayna Zimmelman
Case Manager
Robert Alvarez
Case Manager
Jason Cervantes
Case Manager
Marcus Yertich
Case Manager
Heather Letho
Program Technician
Margo Griffin
Program Technician
Melanie Paniagua
Therapist
Amy Field
Therapist
Mark Galyean
Therapist
Deaidra Benison
Registered Nurse
