The Wilmington-based addiction and mental health treatment center Gaudenzia is opening a new facility in Claymont.
Gaudenzia bought the EVRAZ steel company’s former office building and plans to use it for two separate addiction treatment programs.
One is a sober living housing program. It will have 10 residential units for newly sober single mothers with children under the age of 10. The other program will offer 16-beds and residential treatment for men and women with co-occurring mental illness and substance use disorder.
Gaudenzia Intake Specialist Kim Jones says clients in this program will be assigned various tasks to support a community with other residents.
“It’s designed to be community as a method, where individuals are holding one another accountable for their behaviors, and actions, and progress, and treatment, and likewise their peers are holding them accountable as well,” said Jones.
The Claymont area is one of the three top zip codes in the state for heroin-related incidents, according to Delaware State Police in 2015.
Gaudenzia expects to treat 400 or more clients each year from the new facility, which Jones says will be staffed with new hires.
“We’ll look to hire people within the community who have the right credentials and experience for our program. And the nice thing about Gaudenzia is that Gaudenzia often offers jobs to people in recovery,” said Jones.
The new facility will also be a part of Delaware’s electronic Open Beds referral network, taking overdose patients from emergency departments across the state.
It will offer medication-assisted treatment with Vivitrol and will partner with other organizations for clients who need suboxone or methadone.
Gaudenzia’s Claymont facility is the second new private addiction treatment center announced in Delaware this month. Sun Behavioral opened one in Sussex County two weeks ago.
The Gaudenzia location is expected to open sometime next year.
