The Odyssey Behavioral Healthcare Story
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When Odyssey Behavioral Healthcare’s founder, Scott Kardenetz, was young, his grandmother was institutionalized in a state hospital. He watched someone he loved receive care defined by the limitations of the system rather than the needs of the person inside it. That experience left a lasting impression and shaped a conviction that would eventually become an organization: every person living with a behavioral health condition deserves access to treatment that is built around their recovery, not around what is easiest to provide.
Kardenetz called it doing the right thing. That principle became the foundation for Odyssey Behavioral Healthcare.
In 2015, Kardenetz founded Odyssey to address one of the most persistent problems in behavioral health. Too many people living with mental health conditions, substance use disorders, and eating disorders had no clear path between acute hospitalization and traditional outpatient treatment. The levels of care between those two settings — including residential treatment, partial hospitalization, and intensive outpatient programming — were either inaccessible or unavailable in most parts of the country. Odyssey Behavioral Healthcare was built to bridge that gap.
“Scott’s vision created an organization built on the belief that more people deserve access to specialized behavioral health treatment. That belief still drives every decision we make, from where we open facilities to how we measure our effectiveness.”
— Richard Clark, Chief Executive Officer
Scott Kardenetz
Founder
Our History: Transforming Behavioral Health Care
When Odyssey’s founder, Scott Kardenetz, was young, his grandmother was institutionalized in a state hospital. That terrifying experience profoundly influenced his belief that individuals with mental health conditions deserve better care with more compassion and better resources.
This conviction led to the founding of Odyssey Behavioral Healthcare in 2015, aiming to fill the critical gap in the care continuum between acute hospitalization and general outpatient treatment.
Our commitment to doing the right thing remains steadfast as we continue to expand, providing high-quality, accessible treatment options to as many individuals as possible nationwide.