Our Story
In 2020, a small group of volunteers at a Long Beach faith community started meeting on Thursday evenings with neighbors in early recovery. No clinical credentials, no insurance billing, no building — just a back room, coffee, and the conviction that the people showing up deserved to be seen in their own language and cultural context.
By 2021, that ministry had grown beyond what volunteers could responsibly hold. A licensed clinical social worker who had been attending as a community member proposed formalizing the work: keep the cultural listening that made it different, add the clinical rigor that would make it safe. TMC Rehab opened as a licensed treatment center later that year at 2712 East 4th Street, with 12 beds and a 15-person team.
Five years later, we operate 28 beds with 59 staff and have served more than 1,400 patients. The faith-community roots still shape the culture of the building; the clinical model is entirely evidence-based.
Our Mission
To deliver addiction and mental health treatment that begins and ends with dignity — dignity for the patient in the bed, for the family in the waiting room, and for the cultural and spiritual frameworks each person carries with them. Clinical excellence without dignity is just procedure; dignity without clinical excellence is just kindness. We are committed to both.
Treatment Philosophy
Nutritional psychiatry. Long-term substance use disrupts the gut microbiome, depletes B vitamins and magnesium, and destabilizes the nutrient systems that mood regulation depends on. Our registered dietitian works with every patient; nutritional care is treated as a clinical lever, not a lifestyle add-on.
Neuroscience-based care. Our clinicians are trained in current research on addiction neurocircuitry — reward systems, executive function recovery timelines, the role of cortisol and sleep. Interventions match what the brain is actually doing in each phase of recovery.
Trauma-informed approach. Every staff member, from nursing to housekeeping, is trained in trauma-informed practice. Environments, language, and clinical decisions are chosen to avoid retraumatization — because the research is clear that unaddressed trauma is the single strongest predictor of relapse.
Our Team
Dr. Malika Tesfaye, MD
Medical Director
Board-certified in addiction medicine. Eight years at a Long Beach community hospital before joining TMC. Oversees detox protocols and psychiatric medication management across all levels of care.
Pastor Ezekiel "Zeke" Harrow, LCSW
Co-Founder & Director of Spiritual Care
The ministry leader who started the original Thursday-night recovery meetings, and the licensed clinical social worker who formalized them into a treatment center. Runs optional spiritual-care track for patients who want it.
Dr. Sokha Chhorn, PsyD
Director of Clinical Psychology
Cambodian-American psychologist specializing in trauma-informed care across Southeast Asian cultural contexts. Bilingual Khmer/English; trains the clinical team in cultural humility.
Aracely Delgado-Rivas, LMFT
Family Programming Lead
Bilingual Spanish/English marriage and family therapist. Runs weekly family sessions, multi-family workshops, and parent or partner coaching. Twelve years in Long Beach family systems work.
Kehinde Olusegun, RN
Director of Nursing
Leads the 24/7 nursing team. Ten years of acute-care experience across LA County hospitals before joining TMC. Trains every nursing hire in trauma-informed bedside practice.
Maribel Pagtakhan, RD
Registered Dietitian
Bilingual Tagalog/English. Designs our nutritional psychiatry program and individual meal plans. Teaches the weekly nutrition-and-recovery group for residential patients.
What Our Alumni Say
"What made the difference was being asked what I wanted treatment to honor about my service — not what I needed to leave behind. That question changed everything."
— Reuben C., veteran-finding-peace arc
"My son called me last Sunday after years of silence. That call didn't happen by accident — it came from slow, specific family work here. I earned it, and TMC taught me how."
— Linda M., family-rebuilder arc
"My burnout and my addiction weren't two problems; they were one. TMC was the first place that treated them as one. I'm back at the bedside — sober and, for the first time in years, sustainable."
— Priscilla O., healthcare-worker-burnout arc