About Beachway: New Jersey’s Trusted Mental Health & Addiction Treatment Center
Beachway New Jersey is an outpatient treatment center specializing in substance use and co-occurring mental health disorders. After years of careful planning, we opened our doors in December 2023. As a proud family-owned organization, we’ve built our reputation on compassionate, client-centered care. Since 2008, we’ve grown Beachway Therapy Center in Florida from a sober living program into a full continuum of care—including outpatient, detoxification, residential treatment, and a specialized trauma and mental health track. Expanding into New Jersey was the natural next step to bring our proven treatment model to the other state we proudly call home.
Our Mission to Support Mental Health & Recovery
Treatment involves the sense of community, commitment, accountability, identification with others, and meaningful relationships formed throughout the journey. One of the many gifts of coming to treatment is the interruption of maladaptive patterns and the process of finding out that you are not alone. It is a tremendous relief to finally find a place where the truth can be told, and people understand. Beachway New Jersey is a place of healing. People shift by taking time to discover who they really are and working to find healthier coping strategies.
Beachway New Jersey’s Experienced Mental Health and Addiction Professionals
When you are going through some of the toughest moments of your life, it is important to feel comfortable and supported by those who are by your side. We understand that no one person’s needs are the same and that each client should feel validated and supported in the therapeutic process.
Dr. Clarissa Mulligan Attara, Ph.D., LPC, LMHC, LCADC, ACS (she/her)
Clarissa is the Clinical Director at Beachway NJ. She also provides counseling services to our clients. Dr. Attara is a Licensed Professional Counselor, Licensed Clinical Alcohol and Drug Counselor, and an Approved Clinical Supervisor in New Jersey. She is a Licensed Mental Health Counselor in New York. Dr. Attara received a Ph.D. in Counselor Education and Supervision from Capella University and a Master of Arts and Sciences in Clinical Mental Health Counseling from Georgian Court University.
She is also a professor in higher education in the Master of Arts in Counseling Psychology (MACP) program at Yorkville University. She has presented ongoing research regarding multicultural issues and LGBTQIA+ topics at the regional, national, and international levels. Dr. Attara works with the client to foster a safe environment to promote healing and personal growth. She understands that no one person’s needs are the same and that each client should feel validated and supported in the therapeutic process.
Dr. Attara helps clients learn to manage the challenges so often experienced during recovery. She is an LGBTQIA+ affirming counselor. Whether increasing coping skills for anxiety or depressive symptoms, exploring identity, navigating careers and education, relationships, life transitions, self-care or gaining confidence in advocating for themselves, Dr. Attara shows up to support and guide each client. Additionally, she is passionate about providing trauma informed counseling and is trained in Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR).
Dr. Attara knows how important our attachment styles are in the healing process and uses this information to aid clients in identifying negative core beliefs and cognitions about themselves developed early on in their lives. She strives to help others increase their self-compassion and identify negative patterns that have been keeping them stuck. For close to a decade Dr. Attara has worked extensively with individuals struggling with substance use issues and addictions, supporting them in their recovery on their path to wellness and self-discovery.
She has experience in every level of care: detox, residential/inpatient, PHP, IOP, OP. Dr. Attara utilizes evidence-based interventions including cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), dialectical behavioral therapy (DBT), motivational interviewing, mindfulness practices, and person-centered therapy approaches. She knows that each client is unique and collaborates with them to develop an individualized treatment plan. She approaches work with clients from a multicultural counseling lens, recognizing the very real differences that inform values, choices, and behaviors.
