Old West Ogden church now offers new life to drug addicts as rehab center
Ryan West, executive director at North Wasatch Recovery, talks about how he first became involved with the center Friday, Sept. 29, 2017, at their location in West Ogden.
Delaney Colvell, administrative director at North Wasatch Recovery, gives a tour of their center Friday, Sept. 29, 2017, at their location in West Ogden. The space was formerly a Catholic church.
Delaney Colvell, administrative director at North Wasatch Recovery, talks about her own early struggles with addiction and helping the center’s clients Friday, Sept. 29, 2017, at their location in West Ogden.
WEST OGDEN — Individuals battling drug and alcohol addiction may find new life in a former Catholic church on Pennsylvania Avenue in West Ogden.
Open for about one year, North Wasatch Recovery occupies the old St. Mary’s church nestled next door to United Parcel Service and other nearby employers in the area such as Autoliv Inc. and Harris Stone. Ryan West owns and operates the treatment center, which he believes can provide the continuity of care needed to help addicts recover and reintegrate into the fabric of society.
“Ninety-seven percent of people that just detox will relapse within three months,” West said. “What we’re looking for are clients who will come here, immerse themselves in day treatment, and at the end of that, step down to a night program and we’ll help them find a job. They can live here and work nearby. We’ve made incredible relationships with our neighbors who will hire our clients.”
In addition to day and night treatment programs, North Wasatch also offers onsite sober living.
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SARAH WELLIVER/Standard-Examiner
Pictured here is the living room of the men’s sober living facility Friday, Sept. 29, 2017, at North Wasatch Recovery in West Ogden. It can accommodate up to 28 men.
“To us, that’s important. Too often we see people who spend $45,000 per month to go to a nice (rehab) place, but that’s not real life,” West said. “That’s a bubble, and once you’re done with your 30-, 60- or 90-day treatment you’re thrust back into your old environment, and its too easy to relapse.”
North Wasatch employs 12 to 15 staff members and currently serves about two dozen clients in outpatient programs, and about six reside in the 43-bed sober living facilities — the men’s portion can house up to 28, the women’s up to 15.
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SARAH WELLIVER/Standard-Examiner
Pictured here is the living room of the women’s sober living facility Friday, Sept. 29, 2017, at North Wasatch Recovery in West Ogden. The women’s facility can accommodate up to 15 clients.
For West, the business is close to his heart because he lost a cousin to a drug overdose about two years ago. And for Delaney Colvell, administrative director for North Wasatch Recovery, her work is absolutely personal.
“I was raised by a great family, but I had addiction in my family and was never told about it,” Delaney said. “So I played loose and fast with drugs and alcohol — and it spirals out. I always call it the gremlin you don’t feed after midnight. It just lives inside you and if you feed it, it grows and grows and grows and takes over your body.”
Her hard-fought journey back to recovery now serves to inform the way she treats incoming addicts who might be down to their last chance.
“I don’t think I could do this job and help people get treatment without my dark past. It helps me understand what they’re going through and what accommodations we can make for them,” Colvell said.
North Wasatch Recovery offers a 12-step program option and also SMART Recovery, a brand of therapy that stands for Self-Management and Recovery Training, But both West and Colvell agree that even the best of treatments falls short without client buy-in.
“I’m willing to do anything, to move mountains for any addict that’s ready to get the help,” Colvell said. “But they’re not going to get the help until they actually want it. That was hard for me to learn.”
Work and nature also factor heavily into the recovery process at North Wasatch.
Having a job means “you’re not sitting around on your butt all day and isolating,” Colvell said. “You’re out doing something and it helps your recovery.”
To West, recovery means replacing bad behaviors with good ones.
“We really want clients to take advantage of all we have to offer, both clinically and outside,” West said. “So we do skiing, hikes, day trips to Pineview — we’re avid in the outdoors.”
His favorite claim is their offer of “white-collar treatment for blue-collar people.”
“We’re several thousand of dollars per month” as opposed to $45,000, West said. “We don’t ever want to deny service to someone who wants it and is willing to make an effort, just because of price. What we have found, though, is that you have to have some skin in the game. We don’t let people just come for free.”
In addition to outpatient and sober-living services, North Wasatch Recovery also hosts a Narcotics Anonymous meeting each Thursday that West said draws a consistent crowd of recovering addicts.
And even though the old church still houses a confessional closet, West said their rehab programs are not religious, nor do they have an overt spiritual component.
“We’re a diverse group,” West said.
But for recovery in general, “everyone finds their own higher power,” Colvell said.
To learn more about North Wasatch Recovery, call 855-957-3422 or go to northwasatch.com. You can also find them on Facebook.
Contact reporter Cathy McKitrick at 801-625-4214 or cmckitrick@standard.net. Follow her on Twitter at @catmck.