Aliya Health Group has new leadership, has laid off staff and will shutter facilities — impacting about 80 employees.
The addiction treatment provider is now led by Frank Cid, who is taking on the CEO role following a year-long tenure by David Johnson. Johnson’s LinkedIn profile states that he ended his work there at some point in April. He was named CEO in February 2025.
Behavioral Health Business has made several attempts to reach the company’s representatives. None have been answered. Key leaders related to external communications at the company were laid off.
It’s unclear how many roles were impacted. BHB’s reporting found that there are two different events where roles were eliminated: a round of layoffs among corporate staff impacting about 40 people rolled out about a week after Cid stepped in and pending facility closures that will impact 37 people.
A public notice from the California Employment and Development Department states that the facilities in Costa Mesa and Huntington Beach will close on May 29.
Social media posts show that roles such as executive assistant and department leadership roles that oversee marketing, communication, education and development were impacted.
In one social media post, an impacted employee described the layoffs as “a cost-cutting effort to ‘stop the bleeding.’”
In recent years, Aliya Health Group has added to its leadership corps. In April 2025, it announced the addition of three leaders to help with operations and outreach. It added co-COOs in April 2023. Many of the executives that BHB has tracked as joining the company no longer work there.
Not long after Johnson’s appointment, the company found itself the target of a U.S. Federal Trade Commission lawsuit in June 2025. The FTC accused that a former owner of an addiction treatment center that Aliya acquired, consultant groups and others of engaging in deceptive marketing practices. In its response, Aliya Health Group noted that the suit did not specifically accuse Aliya Health Group of wrongdoing. In turn, the company has sued the former owner of Malibu Recovery. The company has since shut down the Malibu Recovery brand.
The FTC’s lawsuit is still ongoing, and Aliya Health Group is still part of it. Of the 12 originally named defendants, six have seen their involvement resolved. On Feb. 27, the latest action in the case, the court issued an injunction against four defendants that handed down a $14.5 million judgment along with years-long reporting requirements and prohibitions on misrepresentation in marketing. The settling defendants will be required to pay $500,000 of that pending verification of financial documents and compliance with the injunction and settlement order.
Aliya Health Group is a combination of several addiction treatment companies with a widespread footprint. Aliya was formed in 2022 by Michael Milch as a parent organization to Footprints to Recovery, Vogue Recovery Center, South Coast Behavioral Health, and Royal Life Centers.
Cid, the new CEO, founded Royal Life Centers in 2009. Royal Life was acquired by Milch in 2022.