Comprehensive Autism Center will close two of its three clinics, according to public documents.
Founded in 2008 by Andrea Macken, the autism therapy provider will apparently continue to operate one clinic in Temecula, California, where the company is headquartered. The company has not returned a request for comment.
The permanent closure will impact 62 staffers. Comprehensive Autism Center also provides in-home services in parts of Santa Clara, Monterey, San Benito, Ventura, Los Angeles, Riverside, Orange and San Diego counties.
Comprehensive Autism Center is a part of Unison Therapy Services. Ascend Capital Partners holds the majority stake in Unison, announcing the acquisition in January 2025.
Ridgemont Equity Partners created Unison late in 2021 to better organize Comprehensive Autism Center and other disability-focused services investments under one entity. Ridgemont invested in Speech Pathology Partners, now known as SPG Therapy & Education, in April 2019. Ridgmont, via Speech Pathology Partners, acquired Comprehensive Autism Center later in 2019, announcing the deal in December.
Autism Impact Fund, a venture capital fund focused on autism therapy and sciences related to neurodivergences, also invested in Unison Therapy Services.
Such layoffs appear to be a part of the continued pressure on youth-focused behavioral health organizations, regardless of subsector.
Youth residential care-focused provider Newport Healthcare announced its closure of several facilities in the San Francisco area in February. Earlier that month, digital mental health provider Hazel Health cut a major part of its workforce and halted a key tech initiative as the company works to get a viable financial footing.
Autism therapy is experiencing something of a reckoning as the wider public grapples with the runaway growth of spending on applied behavior analysis (ABA), the industry’s cornerstone intervention.