Poulsbo already expanding city's innovative plan to address addiction, housing

Only six months after opening the North Kitsap Recovery Center – the county’s first no-cost, walk-in treatment center for those with substance use disorders – the city of Poulsbo already has plans for expanding the innovative facility.

It is one of two substance-use treatment projects the city expects to have open by this summer. The city council has separately agreed to lease out a home at Nelson Park to serve as a sober living community.

The two facilities, approved unanimously on May 1, are expected to provide a wrap-around service hub for North Kitsap residents looking to reach sobriety. City officials hope that putting multiple services under the same umbrella will make it easier for patients to stay engaged with treatment and transition to independent living.

Kim Hendrickson, the city’s housing, health and human services director, said the two projects provide a much-needed alternative after years of trying to address substance abuse challenges through the police or fire departments.

“It’s so exciting,” she said. “The fact that our little city is doing recovery and housing is incredibly satisfying.”

North Kitsap Recovery Center

Opened late last year, the North Kitsap Recovery Center provides free treatment and support to anyone who lives, works or is charged with a crime in North Kitsap or Bainbridge Island. The center offers peer support, nursing, Narcan, medical evaluations and counseling out of suite 141 at the Poulsbo Village office building (19351 8th Ave NE).

The idea for the recovery center was first proposed by Police Chief Ron Harding, who witnessed a similar program while working in Redmond. In an interview this week, Harding said since the center opened, officers refer people to it weekly. He called it another “tool in the toolbelt.”

Prior to the center’s opening, there were few social service providers in North Kitsap where officers could refer people.

“Really there was a need for access and having it all in one place makes it simple,” he said.

The center has served more than 50 people in its first six months, Hendrickson said. Nearly two-thirds of patients seek out the center voluntarily, rather than through the court system.

With the expansion of the facility and opening of Nelson House, Hendrickson said the city aims to create a community of people in recovery who can support one another.

Providing social opportunities

The expansion of the recovery center will involve leasing and remodeling Suite 101 at the Poulsbo Village site. That is two doors down from the current recovery center.

The space, expected to open in June, is paid for through a grant from the Washington Association of Sheriffs and Police Chiefs and in part with $250,000 in state funds secured by state Rep. Greg Nance, D-Bainbridge Island. State funds came with the stipulation that a portion be used for “social opportunities for the local recovery community.”

In a phone interview, Nance said there are so few resources available to those facing addiction, that the recovery center has been a blessing for the North Kitsap community and significant achievement for the city.

"Poulsbo is punching well above it's weight," he said. "It's a remarkable success story."

The city is expected to get those funds by July 1 and has agreed to pay a reduced rent on the suite through June. The city expects to pay about $38,000 in rent and utilities for the expansion through the length of the 14-month lease.

State funding will last for a year, through June 2025. The city would need additional funding in place to keep the expanded part of the facility open after that.

The expanded space will be used primarily for recovery groups, social events, vocational training and education. The room could also be made available free of charge to other groups in the community that are not connected to the center, Hendrickson said.

Having the space almost next door will make it easier for the center’s two-person staff to manage and provide a variety of care to its patients, Hendrickson.

“By focusing recovery activities in the same building, we can refer people in groups and classes in one part of the building to counseling and treatment in the other part of the building and vice versa,” she told the city council this month.

Nelson House

In theory, residents farther along in their treatment at the center could then seek out additional support at the Nelson House. The city has agreed to a two-year lease with Gambit Recovery, an Arizona-based nonprofit, to run a structured recovery program out of the single-family home at Nelson Park.

Coffee Oasis previously operated a shelter for young women at risk of homelessness at the home. It will now serve men 21-and-older who are ideally between 30 and 90 days sober and have recently exited a inpatient program or come out of detox. Residents of the house must pass a background check. Rooms will not be offered to individuals with a felony or sex offense.

The city has agreed to lease the home to Gambit for free; In exchange, house residents will perform maintenance work at the park. Residents will also be expected to pay a few hundred dollars monthly rent.

Hendrickson said house residents will also remain involved in treatment and groups at the recovery center, hoping to keep them connected to a group of people with similar experiences.

“The last thing we want to do is place residents in a house and not give them access to the community,” she said.

Conor Wilson is a Murrow News fellow, reporting for the Kitsap Sun and Gig Harbor Now, a nonprofit newsroom based in Gig Harbor, through a program managed by Washington State University.

This article originally appeared on Kitsap Sun: Recovery center in North Kitsap adding housing