Portland Clinic Takes Control Of Motel For Addiction Recovery Help
PORTLAND, Ore. — This place is a room to call her own, for now. Nerrisa Spencer-Green is not taking the space for granted.
"This is where I do most of the cooking," Nerrisa said with a chuckle, as she pointed to an air fryer and hot plate inside the small motel room that couldn't be more than 250 square feet in size.
At the moment, the 6th Avenue Motel in Southwest Portland is a stable roof over her head as she works through her addiction recovery.
"It might not be a lot, but it’s something. It’s something to start from," she told KATU.
It's a start to a very new recovery journey.
Pictured: Nerrisa Spencer-Green, who temporarily lives at the 6th Avenue Motel under the supervision of the Oregon Change Clinic. (KATU)
Nerrisa has been here at the motel a little more than two months with her husband, Cortney. Yet, the married couple has been living here without their 3-month-old daughter.
Nerrisa told KATU that her heavy drinking and drug addiction lost her the custody of her child. She is working through the requirements and guidelines set forth by the Oregon Department of Human Services.
"I’m just trying to do everything that I can so that I can have her with me," she said. "To carry a child and to have it and to not be able to touch it, see it, hold it, be there for your child -- that hurts. It really does. It did something to me."
That "something" was a connection with the Oregon Change Clinic, where she had to be honest with its CEO and founder, Shannon Jones.
"I had to put my big girl panties on, and I had to go an talk to Shannon, and I had to go and tell her that, ‘I’m really serious this time,’ and that ‘I really need the help,’ and that ‘I’m willing to do whatever it is,’ so that I can be sober, get my child back, and be where I need to be," Nerrisa said.
Jones told KATU the clinic focuses on culturally specific services that are tailored to the BIPOC community in the Portland-metro area -- for a reason.
"As people walk in a space like this, and they see people who look like them, it changes things completely. They believe that they are going to get at least some understanding and some shot," Jones said.
They get some help with intensive outpatient services that include therapy, medication-assisted treatment, recovery groups, and peer support from those who are in recovery from a substance use disorder.
On Northeast 6th Avenue in Portland, they get the clinic.
On Southwest 6th Avenue in Portland, they get the home.
Jones, a Marine veteran, runs the site with some serious structure, affectionately calling it "the barracks."
"I’m not used to structure. I’m not used to following rules and listening to what someone else tells me that I have to do. I feel like this is good for me. It helps me start somewhere," said Nerissa. "You’ve got to keep your room clean, maintain your sobriety, maintain your attitude, your levels, and just zero tolerance."
But a place like this almost didn't happen. The Oregon Change Clinic took advantage of new funding to break down that barrier of housing for clients who need help.
In May 2021, more than $10 million was granted for addiction recovery services after Oregon voters passed Measure 110 in November 2020. The landmark law is opening up more money for treatment while also decriminalizing possession for some small amounts of drugs.
The Oregon Health Authority selected 48 organizations to receive more than $10 million in initial funding to provide recovery services through the Measure 110 Access To Care Grant.
RELATED | On anniversary of vote, Measure 110 still work in progress
The Oregon Change Clinic was awarded $228,613 in that initial round of funding.
Oregon Change Clinic founder and CEO Shannon Jones (right) talks to KATU's Evan Schreiber about the services offered at their clinic in Northeast Portland. (KATU)
With some thanks to the new funding, Jones was able to take financial control over every room at the 6th Avenue Motel, not just some. They are currently leasing the site with the option to buy at a later date, Jones said.
"We were housing people in three different motels around town, whenever we could kind of get people to fit in," Jones explained, when asked about the situation prior to the new funding. "It was terrible. It’s upside was that we could house people. But our success rate in doing that was highly challenging."
The money helped renovate the whole space, make rooms more comfortable and livable, and keep the lights on, so to speak.
KATU asked Jones if she's thought about where they would be if they did not get that initial round of grant funding.
"We would still be doing this work in this way. We would not be able to impact as many people at the same time as we are now," she said.
A roof over their heads is helping her clients with addiction recovery and it's rare for outpatient clinics to have a housing component.
"Very much so," Jones said. "Usually there’s inpatient -- also called residential -- and then there’s outpatient. What we found, though, it was such a need."
The Oregon Change Clinic has taken over the 6th Avenue Motel in Southwest Portland to offer safe, clean, supervised housing for their clients who are working through their addiction recovery. (KATU)
These temporary tenants, many of them homeless or struggling with stable housing, get a six-month stay to make a life-long change.
"That means everything. I feel safe. I have my own key to go in," said Kimberly Caston, who has been living in the Oregon Change Clinic motel for a couple months while working through her addiction recovery. "And then I get to know my other peers, too. I was always isolated, so now I'm coming out of that."
"To also be able to give people not only hope but housing, means everything," Jones said.
It will mean everything for Nerrisa's recovery to get her child back.
"Now that I have a daughter, I’m taking my sobriety and my recovery more serious than ever. I have to," she said.