XChange Recovery expanding services, partnerships to help combat addiction, homelessness across Clark County

Living Hope provides services to help feed, clothe and shelter people experiencing homelessness. XChange provides supportive housing, addiction recovery support, behavioral health, supportive employment and more.

Together, the two organizations hope to combine their services to provide comprehensive support for people exiting homelessness in Clark County.

Additionally, XChange will soon have a Naloxone vending machine at its Ridgefield location thanks to a partnership with Beacon Health Options and Southwest Washington Accountable Community of Health. Naloxone is a medicine that rapidly reverses an opioid overdose.

“Naloxone is an important aspect of harm reduction for individuals with substance use disorder,” Smith said. “XChange & SWACH are committed to making sure individuals have the proper care they need, including tools to reduce overdoses.”

The vending machine, which will arrive this fall, will be open to all, and Smith hopes that as people begin to use it, XChange will be able to build connections with more people in the community, whether they themselves or someone they know are struggling with addiction.

Later this year, SWACH, along with partners like XChange, will be rolling out five Naloxone vending machines in Clark, Klickitat and Skamania counties.

XChange is also adding some programs to its long list of services. For example, the Foundational Community Support program, which will provide housing and employment support for XChange’s residents, launched this year.

“We’re supporting people and walking them through the process of finding employment and housing,” said Katie Gayton, executive assistant and Foundational Community Support program coordinator. Gayton is also a former XChange resident. “We’ll be helping to guide them through everything: application fees, background checks, finding jobs that fit for them and appropriate housing.”

Recovery Café Clark County, another organization that provides recovery services in Clark County, conducted the training for XChange’s Foundational Community Support program.

“Partnerships are the key to this work,” Smith said. “Nobody can do this by themselves.”

In 2020, XChange began hiring peers — or people who have gone through XChange’s housing program — to staff its programs in addition to volunteers.

“Our peers have that lived experience, and they can help those that are coming in,” Smith said. “Now, we have a great team that’s made up of peers in long-term recovery.”

On top of new partnerships and new programs, XChange is also growing its existing services. The organization currently serves roughly 200 people through its recovery programs. Pre-COVID, it served roughly 300.

The organization recently acquired a new home that will serve as one of its supportive housing locations, bringing the total number of homes owned and operated by the organization to nine.

Beyond growing existing programs, XChange is also sustaining its many others, such as its Street Medicine Team. The Street Medicine Team, which began in October of 2021, includes nurses and other volunteer medical professionals who provide medical support and resources to camps in Ridgefield and Battle Ground.

“This program is really keeping a lot of people out of the emergency room,” Smith said.

To finance XChange’s many programs, the organization operates a handful of micro-businesses — including construction, towing and cleaning businesses — that the organization uses to raise revenue and employ people in XChange’s programs.

XChange’s many expansions come at a critical time. Fentanyl, a highly addictive opioid 50 times stronger than heroin, is circulating widely throughout Clark County, and overdose deaths are on the rise.

“We’ve had a lot of overdoses, and we’ve done a lot of funerals,” Smith said. “Fentanyl is in everything now. It’s scary.”

Many nonprofits and organizations are teaming up to respond to Clark County’s fentanyl crisis, and XChange is helping to make those connections.

“We have been involved with the recovery work in Clark County for 19 years and are very grateful for the many agencies and folks involved in this fight against the enemy of addiction,” Smith said. “This is life or death work.”

To donate to the organization and to learn more about their extensive list of programs, visit www.XChangelives.org or text “give” to 360-205-1717. To volunteer with the organization, call 360-687-8500.