Maria Dahlman
MA, LCSW · Regional Clinical DirectorMaria is a licensed clinical social worker with more than a decade in practice. She sets and audits the clinical standard across Emend Healthcare’s SoCal West region, which makes her the person accountable for whether what we publish matches what we actually do.
She holds a Master of Arts in psychology from The New School for Social Research and a Master of Social Work from New York University. Before joining Emend she practiced at Yale New Haven Hospital and NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell, and she brings a Dialectical Behavior Therapy background to the residence.
Read her full profile on the team page.
What review actually means.
Medical review is a widely abused phrase in this industry. Here is precisely what it covers on this site, so you can hold us to it.
Reviewed before publication
- Clinical accuracy, checked against current practice rather than against what ranks
- Withdrawal timelines, medication names and dosing language
- Level of care descriptions, and whether we actually provide what the page implies
- Anything describing diagnosis, assessment or criteria
- Safety guidance, including when a reader should call 988 or 911 instead of us
Re-read on a schedule
Clinical guidance moves. A page reviewed two years ago and never reopened is not a reviewed page. Every clinical page carries a last reviewed date, and pages covering detox, medication and levels of care are re-read at least annually, sooner when practice changes.
If a page carries no review date, it has not been through this process, and you should read it as general information rather than clinical guidance.
What we will not publish.
- Success rates or recovery statistics presented as ours. The honest answer is that outcome data in this field is rarely comparable between programs, and a number without a methodology is marketing
- Any promise or guarantee about an individual outcome
- Clinical claims we cannot point to a source for
- Content that reads as a substitute for an assessment by a clinician who has met you
Nothing on this site is a diagnosis, and reading it does not create a clinical relationship. If you are in immediate danger, call 911. If you are in crisis, call or text 988.