Hillside Horizon for Teens

Hillside Horizon is the perfect place for teens who are struggling with their mental health. Our mission is to help them heal and find their purpose in life. We utilize a variety of treatment modalities to teach them the coping skills they need to find stability and discover their self-awareness. With our help, your teen can look forward to a successful future.

 

The Team

Hillside Horizon Staff PlaceHolder

Erin Bixel
Lead Therapist

Hillside Horizon Staff PlaceHolder

Ariana Cervantes
Therapist

Julie LaPlac

JULIE LaPLACA
BREATHWORK & CERTIFIED REIKI HEALER

Dr. Lawrence V. Tucker, Medical Director

Lawrence V. Tucker, M.D. is a Newport Beach Psychiatrist. He is a Diplomate of the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology, and a Diplomate of the American Board of Addiction Medicine, practicing in the pharmacological management of psychiatric disorders including attention deficit disorder, mood disorders, anxiety disorders, brain SPECT imaging, as well as addictionology. He has also been involved in research involving traumatic brain injuries and Sports Psychiatry. He is a distinguished member of the International Society of Sports Psychiatry.

Dr. Tucker attended UCLA for his undergraduate degree, B.S. in Physiological Sciences. He then attended UCLA School of Medicine, for his Medical Degree, and stayed at UCLA for his internship and residency in Psychiatry and Neurology. In addition, he completed one year in child and adolescent psychiatry. Before Dr. Tucker attended UCLA, he served in the United States Marine Corps, Infantry. He has three combat actions: Panama, and Desert Storm.
Dr. Tucker has worked extensively in the juvenile and adult justice system in Los Angeles and California’s state ran Regional Center. He has also worked in the community with troubled children in foster care and group homes, who struggled with addiction and/or mental illness. In addition, he served as the Medical Director of an intensive outpatient program for adolescents and adults in a private hospital in the South Bay area.

Dr. Tucker also has experience in the private sector managing inpatient and outpatient treatment. He was the Medical Director of Windstone Behavioral Health, which provided behavioral
health management for senior Medicare managed health care plans throughout Southern California.
He also was the Medical Director of the Suboxone Clinic at Long Beach VA Medical Center, in CA.
He is currently the Medical Director of Center For Discovery Newport Beach, Affinity Recovery, Beachside Recovery, and Sobertec.com.
Dr. Tucker’s training in and research in traumatic brain injuries and Sports Psychiatry led him to develop an interest into Single Photon Computed Tomography (SPECT) imaging. He trained under Dr. Amen and was the Medical Director of Mind Matters of Texas, which was an Amen-affiliated SPECT imaging center, before establishing his own private clinic in Plano, Texas. He has contributed and co-authored a book titled, “Failure to launch”.
In addition, Dr. Tucker has also served as an expert witness in numerous court cases, for the defense as well as for the prosecution. He has also been retained by counsel for consultation on cases requiring the need of a forensic psychiatrist.

His paradigm of treatment is that he: “Treats a person Not a Diagnosis!” He uses a holistic model
and incorporates exercise, diet, therapy, supplements, as well as psychopharmacological therapies.
He has an office in Newport Beach, California.

Honors and Awards include:

  • 1998 Ann Bauman Memorial Scholarship
  • 1998 Barry Gordy Foundation Scholarship
  • 1999 Beckwith Memorial Scholarship
  • 2000 Charles R. Drew Medical Society Scholarship
  • 2000 National Health Institute Scholarship
  • 2000 UCLA Medical Alumni Association Scholarship
  • 2000 Nat R. Lazar Medical Scholarship
  • 2000 Giannini Fellowship
  • 2001 Honors in Neuroscience
  • 2001 Stanley Foundation Fellowship
  • 2013 Top Doctor in Texas Award, by the International Association of Healthcare Professionals

Organizations include:

  • Diplomate of American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology
  • Diplomate of American Board of Addiction Medicine
  • American Medical Association & California Medical Association
  • Orange County Medical Society
  • American Psychiatric Association & California Psychiatric Association
  • American Society of Addiction Medicine
  • International Society of Sports Psychiatry
  • Veteran of Foreign War

Brittany Astrom, Clinical Director

Brittany comes to Hillside Horizon with over 18 years of experience in the Mental Health field. Brittany has spent the majority of her career working with adolescents both inpatient and in outpatient settings. Brittany spent 7 years working on an inpatient psychiatric unit where she dealt with families and youth in extreme crisis and helped support them in stabilization and connecting them to services in the outpatient setting. Brittany has worked with youth and adults who struggle with addiction challenges and severe mental health diagnosis. Brittany has been supervising both Associate Marriage and Family Therapists as well as Associates Social Workers for the last 8+ years. Brittany believes that every child has the ability to lead successful, happy, fulfilling lives and that sometimes they just need a little extra guidance from a neutral source and one person to show them there is a possibility for change.

In Brittany’s spare time she enjoys traveling, enjoying new coffee spots, spending time at the beach and spending countless hours at ice hockey rinks to watch her kids play hockey.

Brittany Astrom

Jenn Levin

Jenn is a Certified Hypnotherapist who helps people of all ages walk through the struggles which may be affecting their mental health, walk through fears so they can improve their health, break bad habits, and simply attract more love & positive energy into their lives. As a former TV Producer on The Doctor’s talk show, Jenn brings her interview skills to the table, really digging deep to uncover the root of the problem at hand, then breaking through the barrier with them.

Jenn uses hypnotherapy to help people of all ages release blocks, and old subconscious beliefs, so they can gracefully move forward with confidence, motivation, and a strong belief in themselves. Jenn’s “Adolescent Group Hypnosis Program” was developed so struggling children would know they were not alone, and do not have to go about their journey towards healing alone. This program was developed to help build a sense of community amongst their peers, by challenging the participants to take an honest “deep dive” into the subconscious mind so they can begin healing. 

Jenn guides the group through conversation, journal prompts, and hypnosis journeys to target specific goals that can benefit the group as a whole, while also being deeply personal. Being a mother of two daughters herself, Jenn is passionate about helping adolescents, and people of all ages, build their self esteem, and confidence, & gain clarity about their lives moving forward.

Some of the many areas in which Jenn is certified and has completed include; Hypnosis for Smoking Cessation, Weight Loss, and Therapeutic Imagery. Jenn is also a graduate of HMI College, which is the nation’s first “Federally Accredited”, college for Hypnotherapy and is a member of the American Hypnosis Association.