As filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on August 3, 2021

Registration No. 333-

UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, D.C. 20549

FORM S-8

REGISTRATION STATEMENT

UNDER

THE SECURITIES ACT OF 1933

ACADIA HEALTHCARE COMPANY, INC.

(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)

Acadia Healthcare Company, Inc. Incentive Compensation Plan

(Full title of the plan)

Christopher L. Howard

Executive Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary

Acadia Healthcare Company, Inc.

6100 Tower Circle, Suite 1000

Franklin, Tennessee 37067

Telephone: (615) 861-6000

(Name, address and telephone number, including area code, of agent for service)

Copy to:

James H. Nixon III

Waller Lansden Dortch & Davis, LLP

511 Union Street, Suite 2700

Nashville, Tennessee 37219

Telephone: (615) 244-6380

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, a smaller reporting company or an emerging growth company. See the definitions of “large accelerated filer,” “accelerated filer,” “smaller reporting company,” and “emerging growth company” in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act.

If an emerging growth company, indicate by check mark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with any new or revised financial accounting standards provided pursuant to Section 7(a)(2)(B) of the Securities Act.  ☐

CALCULATION OF REGISTRATION FEE

EXPLANATORY NOTE

This registration statement is being filed pursuant to General Instruction E to Form S-8 and relates to the registration of an additional 4,500,000 shares of common stock of Acadia Healthcare Company, Inc. (the “Registrant”) issuable pursuant to the Incentive Plan. The contents of the Registrant’s registration statements on Form S-8 previously filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) on November 15, 2011 (Reg. No. 333-177990), July 30, 2013 (Reg. No. 333-190232) and May 20, 2016 (Reg. No. 333-211505), including all exhibits filed therewith or incorporated therein by reference, are incorporated herein by reference and made a part hereof, except as the same may be modified by the information set forth herein.

PART II

INFORMATION REQUIRED IN THE REGISTRATION STATEMENT

The SEC allows us to “incorporate by reference” information into this Registration Statement, which means that we can disclose important information to you by referring you to another document filed separately with the SEC. The following documents, which have been filed by the Registrant with the SEC, are incorporated in this Registration Statement by reference:

(a) The Registrant’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2020;

(b) The Registrant’s Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q for the quarters ended March 31, 2021 and June 30, 2021;

(c) The Registrant’s Current Reports on Form 8-K filed with the SEC on January 7, 2021, January  21, 2021, January  22, 2021, March  22, 2021, and May 7, 2021 (other than information furnished pursuant to Item 2.02 or Item 7.01 of the Current Report on Form 8-K, unless expressly stated otherwise therein); and

(d) The description of the Registrant’s common stock contained in the Registrant’s Registration Statement on Form 8-A , filed with the SEC pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”), on October 31, 2011 (Reg. No. 001-35331), including any amendments or reports filed for the purpose of updating such descriptions.

All reports and other documents subsequently filed by the Registrant pursuant to Sections 13(a), 13(c), 14 and 15(d) of the Exchange Act after the date of this Registration Statement, but prior to the filing of a post-effective amendment which indicates that all securities offered hereby have been sold or which deregisters all securities then remaining unsold, shall be deemed to be incorporated by reference herein and to be a part hereof from the date of filing of such documents.

Any statement contained in a document incorporated or deemed to be incorporated by reference herein shall be deemed to be modified or superseded for purposes of this Registration Statement to the extent that a statement contained herein or in any other subsequently filed document which also is or is deemed to be incorporated by reference herein modifies or supersedes such statement. Any statement so modified or superseded shall not be deemed, except as so modified or superseded, to constitute a part of this Registration Statement.

The validity of the shares of common stock offered hereby will be passed upon by Waller Lansden Dortch & Davis, LLP, Nashville, Tennessee.

The Registrant is incorporated under the laws of the State of Delaware. Section 102(b)(7) of the Delaware General Corporation Law (the “DGCL”) allows a corporation to provide in its certificate of incorporation that a director of the corporation will not be personally liable to the corporation or its stockholders for monetary damages for breach of fiduciary duty as a director, except where the director breached the duty of loyalty, failed to act in good faith, engaged in intentional misconduct or knowingly violated a law, authorized the payment of a dividend or approved a stock repurchase in violation of Delaware corporate law or obtained an improper personal benefit. The Registrant’s amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides for this limitation of liability.

Section 145 of the DGCL (“Section 145”) provides that a Delaware corporation may indemnify any person who was, is or is threatened to be made party to any threatened, pending or completed action, suit or proceeding, whether civil, criminal, administrative or investigative (other than an action by or in the right of such corporation), by reason of the fact that such person is or was an officer, director, employee or agent of such corporation or is or was serving at the request of such corporation as a director, officer, employee or agent of another corporation or enterprise. The indemnity may include expenses (including attorneys’ fees), judgments, fines and amounts paid in settlement actually and reasonably incurred by such person in connection with such action, suit or proceeding, provided such person acted in good faith and in a manner he reasonably believed to be in or not opposed to the corporation’s best interests and, with respect to any criminal action or proceeding, had no reasonable cause to believe that his or her conduct was illegal. A Delaware corporation may indemnify any persons who are, were or are threatened to be made a party to any threatened, pending or completed action or suit by or in the right of the corporation by reason of the fact that such person is or was a director, officer, employee or agent of another corporation or enterprise. The indemnity may include expenses (including attorneys’ fees) actually and reasonably incurred by such person in connection with the defense or settlement of such action or suit, provided such person acted in good faith and in a manner he reasonably believed to be in or not opposed to the corporation’s best interests, provided that no indemnification is permitted without judicial approval if the officer, director, employee or agent is adjudged to be liable to the corporation. Where an officer or director is successful on the merits or otherwise in the defense of any action referred to above, the corporation must indemnify him against the expenses which such officer or director has actually and reasonably incurred.

Section 145 further authorizes a corporation to purchase and maintain insurance on behalf of any person who is or was a director, officer, employee or agent of the corporation or is or was serving at the request of the corporation as a director, officer, employee or agent of another corporation or enterprise, against any liability asserted against him and incurred by him in any such capacity, or arising out of his or her status as such, whether or not the corporation would otherwise have the power to indemnify him under Section 145.

The Registrant’s amended and restated bylaws provide that the Registrant must indemnify its directors and officers to the fullest extent authorized by the DGCL and must also pay expenses incurred in defending any such proceeding in advance of its final disposition; provided, that if and to the extent required by the DGCL, the advancement of expenses shall only be made upon delivery of an undertaking, by or on behalf of an indemnified person, to repay all amounts so advanced if it should be determined ultimately that such person is not entitled to be indemnified.

The Registrant entered into indemnification agreements with each of its directors and executive officers. These agreements require the Registrant to indemnify these individuals to the fullest extent permitted under Delaware law against liabilities that may arise by reason of their service to the Registrant, and to advance expenses incurred as a result of any proceeding against them as to which they could be indemnified.

The indemnification rights set forth above shall not be exclusive of any other right which an indemnified person may have or hereafter acquire under any statute, provision of the Registrant’s certificate of incorporation or bylaws, agreement, vote of stockholders or disinterested directors or otherwise.

The Registrant maintains standard policies of insurance that provide coverage (1) to its directors and officers against loss arising from claims made by reason of breach of duty or other wrongful act and (2) to the Registrant with respect to indemnification payments that it may make to such directors and officers.

(a) The undersigned registrant hereby undertakes:

(1) To file, during any period in which offers or sales are being made, a post-effective amendment to this registration statement:

(i) To include any prospectus required by Section 10(a)(3) of the Securities Act;

(ii) To reflect in the prospectus any facts or events arising after the effective date of the registration statement (or the most recent post-effective amendment thereof) which, individually or in the aggregate, represent a fundamental change in the information set forth in the registration statement. Notwithstanding the foregoing, any increase or decrease in volume of securities offered (if the total dollar value of securities offered would not exceed that which was registered) and any deviation from the low or high end of the estimated maximum offering range may be reflected in the form of prospectus filed with the SEC pursuant to Rule 424(b) if, in the aggregate, the changes in volume and price represent no more than 20 percent change in the maximum aggregate offering price set forth in the “Calculation of Registration Fee” table in the effective registration statement;

(iii) To include any material information with respect to the plan of distribution not previously disclosed in the registration statement or any material change to such information in the registration statement;

provided, however, that paragraphs (a)(l)(i) and (a)(l)(ii) above do not apply if the information required to be included in a post-effective amendment by those paragraphs is contained in reports filed with or furnished to the SEC by the registrant pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d) of the Exchange Act that are incorporated by reference in the registration statement.

(2) That, for the purpose of determining any liability under the Securities Act, each such post-effective amendment shall be deemed to be a new registration statement relating to the securities offered therein, and the offering of such securities at that time shall be deemed to be the initial bona fide offering thereof.

(3) To remove from registration by means of a post-effective amendment any of the securities being registered which remain unsold at the termination of the offering.

(b) The undersigned registrant hereby undertakes that, for purposes of determining any liability under the Securities Act, each filing of the registrant’s annual report pursuant to Section 13(a) or Section 15(d) of the Exchange Act (and, where applicable, each filing of an employee benefit plan’s annual report pursuant to Section 15(d) of the Exchange Act) that is incorporated by reference in this registration statement shall be deemed to be a new registration statement relating to the securities offered therein, and the offering of such securities at that time shall be deemed to be the initial bona fide offering thereof.

(c) Insofar as indemnification for liabilities arising under the Securities Act may be permitted to directors, officers and controlling persons of the registrant pursuant to the foregoing provisions, or otherwise, the registrant has been advised that in the opinion of the SEC such indemnification is against public policy as expressed in the Securities Act and is, therefore, unenforceable. In the event that a claim for indemnification against such liabilities (other than the payment by the registrant of expenses incurred or paid by a director, officer or controlling person of the registrant in the successful defense of any action, suit or proceeding) is asserted by such director, officer or controlling person in connection with the securities being registered, the registrant will, unless in the opinion of its counsel the matter has been settled by controlling precedent, submit to a court of appropriate jurisdiction the question whether such indemnification by it is against public policy as expressed in the Securities Act and will be governed by the final adjudication of such issue.

SIGNATURES

Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Act of 1933, the registrant certifies that it has reasonable grounds to believe that it meets all of the requirements for filing on Form S-8 and has duly caused this registration statement to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned, thereunto duly authorized, in the City of Franklin of Tennessee, on August 3, 2021.

POWER OF ATTORNEY

KNOW ALL PERSONS BY THESE PRESENTS, that each person whose signature appears below hereby constitutes and appoints Christopher L. Howard and David M. Duckworth his or her true and lawful attorney-in-fact and agent, each with full power of substitution and resubstitution, for him or her and in his or her name, place and stead, in any and all capacities, to sign any and all amendments (including post-effective amendments) to this Registration Statement on Form S-8 and to file the same, with all exhibits thereto, and other documents in connection therewith, with the Securities and Exchange Commission, granting unto said attorneys-in-fact and agents, and each of them, full power and authority to do and perform each and every act and thing requisite and necessary to be done, as fully to all intents and purposes as he might or could do in person, hereby ratifying and confirming all that said attorneys-in-fact and agents, or any of them, may lawfully do or cause to be done by virtue hereof.

Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Act of 1933, this registration statement has been signed by the following persons in the capacities and on the dates indicated.

Exhibit 5.1

		511 Union Street, Suite 2700		615.244.6380		main
		P.O. Box 198966		615.244.6804		fax
		Nashville, TN 37219-8966		wallerlaw.com

August 3, 2021

Acadia Healthcare Company, Inc.

6100 Tower Circle, Suite 1000

Franklin, Tennessee 37067

Ladies and Gentlemen:

We have acted as counsel to Acadia Healthcare Company, Inc., a Delaware corporation (the “Company”), in connection with the preparation of a Registration Statement on Form S-8 to be filed by the Company under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “Act”), on August 3, 2021 (the “Registration Statement”) relating to the registration of an aggregate of 4,500,000 additional shares of the Company’s common stock, par value $0.01 per share (the “Shares”), for issuance by the Company pursuant to the Company’s Incentive Compensation Plan (the “Plan”) as set forth in the Registration Statement.

In connection with this opinion, we have examined and relied upon such records, documents and other instruments as in our judgment are necessary or appropriate in order to express the opinions hereinafter set forth and have assumed the genuineness of all signatures, the authenticity of all documents submitted to us as originals, and the conformity to original documents of all documents submitted to us as certified or photostatic copies.

Based upon the foregoing, we are of the opinion that the Shares, when issued in the manner and on the terms described in the Plan, will be validly issued, fully paid and non-assessable.

We hereby consent to the filing of this opinion as an exhibit to the Registration Statement. In giving such consent, we do not hereby admit that we come within the category of persons whose consent is required under Section 7 of the Act or the rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission promulgated thereunder.

Exhibit 23.1

CONSENT OF INDEPENDENT REGISTERED PUBLIC ACCOUNTING FIRM

We consent to the incorporation by reference in the Registration Statement (Form S-8) pertaining to the Acadia Healthcare Company, Inc. Incentive Compensation Plan of our reports dated February 26, 2021, with respect to the consolidated financial statements of Acadia Healthcare Company, Inc. and the effectiveness of internal control over financial reporting of Acadia Healthcare Company, Inc., included in its Annual Report (Form 10-K) for the year ended December 31, 2020, filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

/s/ Ernst & Young LLP

Nashville, Tennessee

August 3, 2021