Catholic Community Services Recovery Centers opens in Birch Bay Square

A center providing outpatient treatment and other support for people experiencing substance use disorders is set to open in Birch Bay Square in early March.

Catholic Community Services Recovery Centers (CCSRC) will hold an open house of its facility from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Friday, March 1 before opening for patients Monday, March 4. The center is located at 8115 Birch Bay Square Street, building 1, suite 138, across from the Windermere Real Estate office.

“We have, for a long time, wanted to be more central to north county so that people needing treatment services had a closer place to get treatment,” said Donna Wells, director of CCSRC Northwest.

The Birch Bay Square center will be the fifth location for CCSRC, which already has centers in Bellingham, Burlington, Marysville and Everett.

At its Birch Bay location, CCSRC will offer assessments available first-come, first-serve to walk-in patients from 8:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday through Thursday. Upon assessment, center staff will determine whether someone needs treatment and, if so, to what level. The center offers outpatient care one to two times per week, and intensive outpatient care three days per week.

Treatment groups provide education about substance use disorders and behavioral health, Wells said. After outpatient care, the center connects patients with community support, such as 12-step programs.

“Traditionally, the longer a person is engaged, the better their outcomes,” Wells said. “Substance use disorders are not an acute disorder. It’s more of a chronic disorder.”

If center staff determine inpatient care is needed, they would arrange for an inpatient bed and help in the interim. People who aren’t assessed as needing treatment may be referred to alcohol drug information school, an eight-hour class offered at CCSRC’s Bellingham location, among other locations.

CCSRC had plans for several years to open a Birch Bay location that were delayed because of the pandemic, Wells said.

The center takes Medicaid and most insurance, with 85 to 90 percent of its patients on Medicaid. Across all of its clinics, Wells estimates CCSRC serves 4,000 to 5,000 people annually. 

Despite CCSRC being a faith-based organization, Wells said anyone, regardless of faith, can receive services.

The Birch Bay center will focus only on treating adults as it opens, but provides a youth group through telehealth. The center has the ability to expand in order to serve more people, Wells said.

“We really try to tailor what we’re doing to community need,” Wells said. “If there’s a need, we try to respond to that need.”