Daybreak Youth Services leaders Annette Klinefelter, left, and Ron Frederiksen, right, celebrate with several elected officials from the area moments after cutting the ribbon for the new RWC Center for Adolescent Recovery in Brush Prairie.
The RWC Center for Adolescent Recovery in Brush Prairie will house girls and boys ages 12 to 18.
Last Thursday at least 200 people, including some elected officials from the area, gathered for the ribbon cutting of Daybreak Youth Services’ new RWC Center for Adolescent Recovery at 11910 N.E. 154th St., Brush Prairie.
The 30,000 square-foot building on 8 acres will offer mental health, substance abuse and detox treatment to residential patients and outpatients. Inside the building there are 40 residential beds, six detox beds, 12 mental health stabilization beds, a 2,000 square-foot gym, classrooms, living rooms and counseling areas.
The project’s capital campaign raised over $2 million, and the “RWC” portion of the facility’s name are the initials of someone who was close to large donors Tom and Joan Skoro. RWC’s life was claimed by alcohol addition.
The RWC Center’s new services are something youth in Clark County haven’t had access to in the past, state Sen. Lynda Wilson, R-Vancouver, said at the ceremony. She said local kids seeking treatment will no longer have to worry about traveling to larger cities to find this level of help.
On Saturday, 16 boys moved into the RWC Center as the facility’s first clients. On June 1, the doors will be open to boys and girls ages 12 to 18.
“We’re going to see great things from the people that come out of here,” said Clark County Council Chairman Marc Boldt.
State Rep. Liz Pike, R-Camas, also spoke to the crowd last Thursday.
“This building is exactly what the state of Washington is about,” Pike said.
She also thanked the community for supporting it and said the real heroes are the young people who will come to the RWC Center with the courage to fight their problems.
“Addiction is a huge problem across all ethnicities and income lines,” Pike said.
Steve Becker, Daybreak’s outreach director, led the ceremony and said the RWC Center’s opening is extra special because it occurred during Mental Health Awareness Month.
Daybreak Executive Director Annette Klinefelter said big projects such as this can’t happen without contributions from everyone, including a higher power.
“This community is great and this unique facility, the first of it’s kind, could not be built anywhere else,” said Klinefelter.
Daybreak officials plan for the RWC Center to bring 40 full-time, living wage jobs to Clark County and contribute over $4 million to the local economy per year.
