History of Cornerstone
Cornerstone of Southern California is one of the longest-running treatment centers in Southern California.
Cornerstone was founded in 1984 by our current Medical Director Michael Stone, MD.
Since November 1984, Cornerstone and its expert staff have been committed to providing the highest level of quality, and ethical care management for individuals suffering from a wide range of substance use disorders, mental health disorders, and addictions.
Founder and Medical Director, Michael Stone, has been working in the field of addiction and mental health since 1969. In 1983 he was working in a hospital called Care Unit where people were being discharged early due to insurance companies refusing to pay for further treatment.
Dr. Stone began to notice that although these people were deemed medically fit and able to leave the hospital, they had not received the level of care necessary in order to maintain a long-lasting recovery. Many of the discharged patients would return to the hospital after only weeks of having been released, often in a worse state than they had been previously. Realizing that these patients needed a continuum of care upon leaving the hospital, Dr. Stone decided to set up a sober home to do just that. Thus Cornerstone of Southern California was born.
The first recovery home was designed to help clients abstain from drugs and alcohol while educating them about their disease and the triggers that could lead them back into substance abuse. Since its very inception, Dr. Stone realized the importance of relapse prevention and it has been a successful focal point for Cornerstone ever since.
Our Team
Addiction Professionals in OC
Our Alumni
Our Creed
Our Levels of Care
Community, Connection & Family
Cornerstone is a family run treatment center, which prides itself on its ethical treatment. Being family run, Cornerstone understands how important community, connection and family are, in order to maintain long lasting recovery.
From humble beginnings, Cornerstone has grown from a single residential recovery home into a 20 home system including 4 residential detox homes, extended care, monitored residential and sober living homes. Cornerstone also boasts an outpatient day treatment facility in Santa Ana. As community is vital to recovery, Michael has made sure that all homes and offices are within a 3 mile radius of one another, ensuring that each resident is able to feel connected and part of the Cornerstone community.
Accredited by the Joint Commission and Licensed and Certified by the California Department of Health Care Services (DHCS) we are a leader in the treatment community in California.
Michael Stone, is triple board-certified in addiction medicine, family practice and pain management. He is passionate about the journey of recovery and continues to be involved, and maintain the exceptional clinical quality of the program we offer.
Throughout his career, Michael Stone, MD has been involved in treating and helping over 80,000 addicts on their journey to recovery.
"I have worked in the addictions field since 1969. Working in drug and alcohol treatment centers and psychiatric hospitals prior to opening Cornerstone, allowed me to see exactly how not to run a treatment center. My biggest motivator for opening Cornerstone was seeing patients in the hospital where I had previously been employed, having to let patients go before I believed they were ready to go. Addiction impacts the mind, body as well as the spirit, so although the body may present itself as physically fit, the mind and spirit will take much longer to heal." ~ Dr Michael Stone, MD