VASHON ISLAND, Wash. — The Seattle Indian Health Board recently closed on a property on Vashon Island that will house a residential treatment center for substance use disorders, with care rooted in the fostering of cultural identity and the use of traditional medicine and practices.
Esther Lucero (Dinè/Latina), the CEO and President of the Seattle Indian Health Board, says the future center will fulfill a promise to the community.
"We're actually losing generations of our children to addiction and we made a commitment to our tribal partners and urban Indian community that we would provide a solution to that," Lucero said. "That's why this program is so important- because we'll be able to serve pregnant and parenting people, keeping families intact as they travel through the recovery process- so it feels incredible."
SIHB previously operated the Thunderbird Treatment Center, which held 64 beds, and sold that space to invest in a new, modern, larger facility. This center will have 92 beds with 10 reserved for pregnant or parenting people and will offer a unique service delivery model centered on traditional Indian medicine.
"When we were opened at Thunderbird treatment center before, we had the lowest recidivism rates in the state," Lucero said. "It's about strengthening cultural identities, holding true to our traditional values, overcoming historical trauma by reintegrating our indigenous epistemologies- that is the reason for our success."
Lucero says the clinic will serve all people, including non-Indigenous clients, using those native techniques.
"We recognize we're all related and that everybody can benefit from that way of healing," Lucero said. "In order to overcome something like historical trauma, which is a cumulative trauma and a community trauma, so we have to heal as a community."
Lucero says Vashon Island was home to the original tribal lands for the Puyallup people, and that the Muckleshoot tribe recently purchased property nearby to reinvigorate their traditional food and medicines. The space is also next to a land trust complete with ADA-compliant trails.
"Vashon Island when you step there, it already feels like medicine, it already feels like healing," Lucero said.
Lucero says the space is in good shape but will still need to undergo some renovations for specific needs; they're expected to take 18-24 months.