New office of ‘2nd chances,’ healing and recovery opens in Tri-Cities

A newly-opened office for Benton County’s drug court aims to make it easier for participants to succeed.

Benton County Adult Drug Court operated out of a conference room in the law and justice building until recently. The room was designed for an attorney to meet with a client.

But employees helping guide the about 40 people through the 18-month program got new digs on Auburn Street last month, Therapeutic Coordinator Kim Stanhope told the Tri-City Herald.

“This is a beginning for our community and for our participants, having the ability to have a dedicated place for healing, accountability and restoration in our community,” Stanhope told a crowd gathered for a Friday ribbon-cutting ceremony. “The Columbia Valley Center for Recovery opening just across the street is only going to widen what our community can do.”

Stanhope explained the new office creates a one-stop recovery campus. It puts the case managers working with people in drug court next door to Washington Monitoring Behavioral Health, which handles housing, close to drug testing and in the same block as the recovery cafe.

It also eliminates the need to travel across the city, navigate bus schedules and security to reach case managers in the law and justice building on the other side of Kennewick.

“Just the other day, we had a client that was on a phone call, and she was upset. She came, walked into our office and was in tears, and she was able to have access to her probation officer to be able to work through some of those things,” Stanhope said.

Superior Court Judge Joe Burrowes, who oversees the program, said the space represents more than a new office.

“It reflects a shared commitment to recovery, accountability and second chances for individuals in our community,” Burrowes said to the crowd.

Place for 2nd chances

The Benton County Adult Drug Court is the oldest therapeutic court operating in the Tri-Cities. Starting in 2003, the court brings adults charged with non-violent felony crimes into treatment.

The idea is to treat the drug addiction that feeds their criminal activity. Participants receive treatment and education while being intensively supervised.

While it’s existed for more than 20 years, the program has never had a permanent home. It’s mostly been run out of the Benton County Law and Justice building on Okanogan Place.

Not only did it provide difficulties for case managers to meet with their clients, it was uncomfortable for people who associated the building with punishment.

“This brought it away from the courthouse, and gives them the opportunity to feel comfortable,” Burrowes told the Tri-City Herald.

Washington Monitoring Behavioral Health helps with the program by providing housing. They also own the building that the new drug court office moved into.

Owner Jason Bliss said they allowed the drug court to move in for free.

“We had an extra space here, and it was just an ideal fit for the work that the people do at the drug court,” he said. “I had no use for it at the time. It was sitting empty.”

Bliss said recovery resources are needed in the community and having everything in a central location will make people more successful.

He also serves on the Benton-Franklin Behavioral Health Advisory Committee, which helped Benton County turn the idea of a recovery center into reality.

“Just down here right now, we got adult drug court, we have case management, we have mental health (treatment), and at the end here, we have our recovery cafe,” Bliss said. “It will truly be a no wrong door approach.”

With the Columbia Valley Center for Recovery opening in early May, Burrowes hopes drug court is able to move into the facility in the future. The facility, which is owned by Benton County, is expecting to offer drug and mental health treatment for people in crisis.

“There are opportunities within the space available over there, and our drug court wants to be part of that,” he said. “That really is something we’re looking forward to in the future.”

The first phase of the recovery center will take up about one-quarter of the facility’s total 198,000 square feet. Funding has also been secured to build recovery housing on one corner of the campus.