King County has contributed $1 million in capital funds to help open a new detox facility in Seattle’s Beacon Hill neighborhood that will offer integrated treatment for mental health and substance-use disorder – including opioid addiction – that prioritizes bed space for people who are homeless.
The facility will offer 33 detox beds and 40 intensive inpatient treatment beds. It will welcome residents who are at the city of Seattle’s Navigation Center, a dormitory-style facility for people who are homeless and need treatment for substance-use disorder.
The facility also will provide an alternative to hospital emergency rooms for police and first responders in Seattle, Renton, Tukwila, SeaTac and Kent. The staff will also connect clients to outpatient services to help them succeed once they leave the facility.
“The partnerships we are creating will save lives and connect more people to the effective treatment they need to once again live a healthy, productive, meaningful life,” King County Executive Dow Constantine said in a county media release on Thursday. “We are doing more than providing additional beds. We are connecting entire systems so we can better confront challenges in mental health, addiction, and homelessness throughout our region.”
Recovery Place Seattle at Beacon Hill, which will be operated by Valley Cities Behavioral Health Care, will be the first detox facility in the county to offer treatment for addiction and mental health. That will make it possible for the staff to better address the underlying cause of the client’s behavioral health issue.
“Thousands of people in our county need treatment – especially for heroin addiction – and this facility, along with Valley Cities’ outpatient clinics, have stepped up and delivered,” said Ken Taylor, CEO at Valley Cities. “When we are fully staffed, we will be able to provide treatment to more than 70 people at a time, once people complete detox and or residential treatment Valley Cities outpatient’s clinics will follow people till recovery.”
In addition to prioritizing beds for people who are at the Navigation Center, the staff will coordinate with outreach teams that engage with people who are homeless to help connect them to integrated treatment that helps them transition to safe, permanent housing.
There will soon be 30 full- and part-time employees working at Recovery Place Seattle at Beacon Hill, providing detoxification, medication-assisted treatment, residential treatment, and recovery services for people who are homeless and people who earn a lower income who also face mental-health crisis, substance-use disorder and/or opioid addiction.
Valley Cities is a nonprofit community behavioral health organization that has served South King County for more than 50 years.
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