Addiction clinic in NE Portland says Measure 110 funds allow them to help more people

PORTLAND Ore. (KPTV) - The Oregon Change Clinic in Northeast Portland held a graduation ceremony Friday to recognize the completion of a six-month intensive program.

OCC is a culturally specific outpatient treatment facility for substance use recovery and mental health disorders. On average, they have about 25 people a month in their six-month intensive outpatient program, and say they’ve been able to help more people thanks to Measure 110.

CEO Shannon Jones says Measure 110 helped extend their program from three months to six months.

“Three months just wasn’t enough for people to get stabilized and find a long-term housing, find employment, go to school, and those kinds of things, to really get prepared. We realized early on that people needed more time we’re working with people who are considered intensive outpatient treatment,” says Jones. “We individualize the treatment plan so that everyone’s journey is just a little bit different.

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Mark Poor Bear is one of two who graduated Friday morning and says he wouldn’t be the person he is today without OCC.

“Drugs held me down,” says Bear. “I didn’t have a direction, and they gave me self-confidence taught me gratitude, and made me believe in myself, when I never really believed in myself.”

He once worked as a wildland firefighter for Warm Springs Fire. He says he plans to go back and misses working with other people.

“The camaraderie and the way the communities that we help they appreciate us and we get gratitude back and it feels good.”

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William Pinckney says he’s proud to look back at the last six months of his treatment and hopes to one day become a mentor and help others.

“I see a person that persevered through it all because there were times where I didn’t feel like coming so for me to stick with it day by day and taking one day at a time that’s huge feat,” says Pinckney. “I’ve been through some dark stuff and so I started this and I completed it and so that’s just a milestone in itself.”

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