Sara Lalanne

Sara Lalanne is the Director of Operations at The Recovery Doctor, bringing more than a decade of experience leading growth, operations, and strategic initiatives across behavioral health and addiction treatment organizations.

Sara began her career in psychiatric hospital admissions and social work, where she gained firsthand experience supporting individuals living with mental health and substance use disorders. Working alongside patients, families, clinicians, and community providers gave her a deep understanding of the behavioral healthcare continuum, the importance of seamless transitions between levels of care, and the profound impact that compassionate, coordinated treatment can have on recovery. This experience laid the foundation for her patient-centered approach to leadership and her commitment to improving access to high-quality behavioral healthcare.

After earning her master’s degree in Clinical Psychology, Sara initially planned to become a licensed therapist. Along the way, she discovered her passion for the operational side of behavioral healthcare and realized she could make an even broader impact by strengthening the systems, partnerships, and teams that make exceptional patient care possible. Her clinical background continues to shape her leadership style, allowing her to bridge the gap between compassionate care and operational excellence.

Sara’s career evolved into business development, where she built a reputation for cultivating authentic, long-lasting relationships with referral partners, healthcare providers, hospitals, and community organizations. She believes meaningful growth is earned through trust, collaboration, and consistently delivering exceptional patient outcomes. By developing strategic partnerships and strengthening community engagement, she helped organizations significantly expand access to care while driving sustainable census growth across multiple levels of behavioral health treatment.

Today, Sara brings that same relationship-driven philosophy to operational leadership. She has overseen multi-site behavioral health operations spanning medical detoxification, residential treatment, partial hospitalization (PHP), intensive outpatient (IOP), outpatient, virtual care, and mental health services. Throughout her career, she has successfully led organizations through periods of strategic growth, operational transformation, accreditation, regulatory compliance, and organizational expansion while building high-performing teams and fostering a culture of accountability, innovation, and compassionate care.

Sara is passionate about leveraging technology, data, and operational excellence to improve healthcare delivery, streamline processes, and expand access to quality behavioral health services. She believes the strongest organizations are built through empowered teams, genuine collaboration, and an unwavering commitment to improving the lives of patients and their families.

At The Recovery Doctor, Sara is committed to supporting the organization’s mission of delivering compassionate, evidence-based addiction treatment while driving operational excellence, strategic growth, and exceptional patient experiences.

Outside of work, Sara enjoys surfing, hiking, cooking, and spending time with her husband and their toy poodle, Waffle.