by Ben Botkin, Oregon Capital Chronicle
October 14, 2024
GRESHAM – A new treatment center is opening in Gresham to treat young people for drug addiction and mental health issues and try to keep them out of the criminal justice system.
4D Recovery, a nonprofit that serves the Portland area, is operating the center, its first outpatient treatment clinic. 4D Recovery has more than 100 employees in the Portland area and runs three recovery houses as well as social centers. The organization also has outreach specialists who work with various programs, including Multnomah County’s deflection program that aims to steer people snagged with drugs toward treatment and away from jail.
4D Recovery’s expansion comes in response to the fentanyl crisis, which stretches beyond the streets of Portland into suburban communities and has killed hundreds of people a year across the state, with nearly 1,400 fatal overdoses last year. The center will give police in this eastern Multnomah County community a nearby place to drop off young people arrested for drug possession instead of taking them to the county’s center in Portland. Both are opening on Monday.
The center will serve anyone provided they’re 18 to 35 years old. The center will welcome people with few resources, including those on Medicaid, its clinical director said.
“We want to provide low-barrier services so the people that are out there that really need services, we want to make sure they get in the door and they’re able to get services right away,” said Nick Crapser, clinical director for 4D Recovery.
Including Crapser, the clinic will have six workers specialized in alcohol and drug treatment and support services. They’ll offer counseling, group sessions and mentors.
On the main floor, the center has three group rooms for therapy, where patients can talk sitting in a circle. They’ll also have an opportunity to bond and relax, with air hockey and a kitchen for clients to dish up snacks. The clinic has more group rooms in the basement for expansion, and a pool table and foosball table to play games.
The clinic will not prescribe addiction medications but will refer patients who need them to another provider, Fora Health, previously known as De Paul Treatment Centers. Fora Health has a relatively new facility in southeast Portland and is licensed to prescribe opioid treatment medications like buprenorphine.
Community effort required
Tony Vezina, executive director of 4D Recovery, said the organization will be part of Multnomah County’s field-based deflection program and will work with police when they’re dispatched to various settings, including homeless camps, over drugs and other issues. Being in the field gives treatment specialists easier access to people, and having a clinic in the area will make it easier for clients to get treatment.
Vezina expects the clinic to be able to quickly assess people, a first required step, and help them get treatment more quickly.
The center will also be a plus for police, according to Gresham Police Chief Travis Gullberg. Without it, police who want to help people with drug problems access treatment would only have the option of transporting them to Multnomah County’s Coordinated Care Pathway Center, its deflection center in inner southeast Portland, which is farther away and takes them out of the community. The closer location will save officers transport time and allow people to be treated closer to homes, he said.
“It saves time,” he said. “It saves effort. It makes it more efficient and connects them quicker.”
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