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The proposed Ashland site of Mountain Beaver House is a planned peer respite center intended to support people in mental or emotional distress. Zoning issues and pushback from neighbors ended the project.<\/p>\n
Justin Higginbottom\/Jefferson Public Radio<\/p>\n
Derek DeForest was forcefully hospitalized during a mental health crisis, an experience he said was not only traumatic but also not helpful. <\/p>\n
Later, he became active in the psychiatric survivor movement, advocating for the civil rights of those involuntarily committed.<\/p>\n
Although DeForest opposes forced hospitalization, he still thinks people in crisis need help. He worked on the East Coast at a peer respite, a short-term, voluntary residential program \u2014 usually in a home-like setting \u2014 staffed by those with similar experiences.<\/p>\n
Research shows<\/a> the resource can be effective, yet there are fewer than 50 programs in the U.S.<\/p>\n In 2021, the Oregon legislature passed a bill<\/a> to fund the state\u2019s first peer respites. Legislators and advocates argued that peer respites could be a useful resource for those unwilling, or not a good fit, to enter psychiatric hospitalization. <\/p>\n Around 30% of adults experience mental illness in Oregon \u2014 the highest rate in the country. Lawmakers approved $6 million to start four programs across Oregon.<\/p>\n Five years later, only two centers are open. One of the groups that failed to open a center was Stabbin Wagon, a harm reduction nonprofit. Deforest was part of the group\u2019s efforts.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen the peer respite funding became available, we were like, \u2018Oh, this is actually a way we could constructively contribute,\u2019\u201d DeForest said. \u201cThis is something we know is important from our own experiences.\u201d<\/p>\n OHA awarded Stabbin Wagon $1.5 million to open Mountain Beaver House, a planned peer respite in Jackson County.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd that\u2019s when the trouble started,\u201d DeForest said.<\/p>\n The group hoped to operate in Medford but faced pushback from city officials and residents before OHA even delivered the grant. The uproar was due to Stabbin Wagon\u2019s sometimes controversial work.<\/p>\n The organization runs a harm-reduction van, providing things like clean needles, pipes and overdose reversal medication. <\/p>\n The group\u2019s mission is to reduce health risks for drug users, but some residents say the group enables drug use. It\u2019s also been very critical of the police.<\/p>\n \u201cI think really it was just the fact that we were openly saying we\u2019re not going to work with the police,\u201d DeForest said.<\/p>\n Emails first reported by Information for Public <\/a>Use reveal that the Medford Police Department, city officials, and other nonprofits contacted OHA to protest Stabbin Wagon\u2019s grant.<\/p>\n \u201cEveryone is in shock over this because it was completely under the radar and there has been no communication,\u201d said Lori Paris, former CEO of Addictions Recovery Center, in an email to the police department. \u201cCommunity partners are concerned for several reasons, but most are concerned that the funds will be used to create a safe injection site.\u201d<\/p>\n In another email, former Medford City Manager Brian Sjothun asked who to contact at the state level about the grant. \u201c[T]his is a disaster waiting to happen,\u201d Sjothun said.<\/p>\n Stabbin Wagon sued Medford, arguing that opposition from city officials delayed the release of state funding. That lawsuit remains in federal court. City officials did not respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n Stabbin Wagon eventually shifted efforts to Ashland, hoping a more progressive local government would welcome the project. <\/p>\n There, a landlord who believed in their mission offered a large house in a quiet neighborhood above Lithia Park.<\/p>\n Mountain Beaver House staff planned to use the home as a sanctuary to serve up to four people, offering two-week stays where residents could rest and connect with social services.<\/p>\n Things were looking up, DeForest said \u2014 until they weren\u2019t.<\/p>\n The first problem was zoning. The respite bill didn\u2019t include language about zoning, leaving Ashland planning officials to debate whether the program was appropriate in a residential neighborhood.<\/p>\n Mountain Beaver House\u2019s future neighbors also had something to say.<\/p>\n \u201cOne of the secrets to small communities like this\u2026is that everyone can\u2019t live here,\u201d Ashland-resident Ron Rusnak said during a packed planning meeting. \u201cOnly a special few people can live here.\u201d<\/p>\n As opposition mounted, Mountain Beaver House employee Sam Strong began to lose hope.<\/p>\n \u201cFor me personally, it wasn\u2019t when the city was being the way that they were being,\u201d they said. \u201cIt was when the neighbors put together a petition to get us out of the neighborhood.\u201d<\/p>\n DeForest said OHA told him to rent the house and figure out zoning later. Stabbin Wagon\u2019s lawyers assured the group that it would eventually win the zoning fight.<\/p>\n The group followed OHA\u2019s recommendation, renting and furnishing Mountain Beaver House and onboarding staff.<\/p>\n DeForest said reaching someone at OHA to discuss an extended timeline was hard.<\/p>\n \u201cI mean, it was pretty bizarre,\u201d DeForest said.<\/p>\n Emails show message after message from Mountain Beaver House seeking clarification and direction from OHA. DeForest said the group was \u201cghosted\u201d and eventually resorted to calling every number in the OHA staff directory.<\/p>\n \u201cI know people who took their own lives waiting for the respite to open,\u201d DeForest said.<\/p>\n OHA did not agree to an interview. In a statement, the agency said it terminated its agreement with Stabbin Wagon last year because the group did not reach key milestones. The agency sent a notice in March asking for a return of grant funds.<\/p>\n DeForest and Strong left the Mountain Beaver House that same month.<\/p>\n Successes and failures<\/p>\n Mountain Beaver House was not alone in facing setbacks. OHA pulled a grant from Portland-based Black Mental Health Oregon<\/a> after the state Department of Justice opened an investigation into the organization\u2019s financial disclosure filings.<\/p>\n OHA also canceled a grant to The Stronghold in Klamath County. That organization, which focuses on tribal residents, couldn\u2019t bring a property up to code. The Stronghold won a lawsuit against a contractor it blamed for the delay. The judgment included $1.5 million that the group said it lost in OHA funding.<\/p>\n Two groups, Project ABLE in Lincoln County and Folk Time in Portland, did open peer respites. Those organizations also had experience running mental health services.<\/p>\n For Kevin Fitts, a lobbyist with the Oregon Mental Health Consumer Association and author of the state\u2019s peer respite bill, their successes aren\u2019t a coincidence.<\/p>\n \u201cWhy in the world did OHA choose contractors that were not even prepared to set up and develop a center?\u201d Fitts said.<\/p>\n Fitts thinks OHA failed to do its due diligence in approving grants.<\/p>\n \u201cThey gave them the grants and scored them in a way that I think was irresponsible,\u201d Fitts said.<\/p>\n The agency scored applicants on eight categories. The highest-valued considerations were \u201coverall program description\u201d and \u201cequity and cultural response,\u201d worth 15 points each out of a possible 70 points. No category existed for previous experience or work in a similar field.<\/p>\n Fitts said he believes the peer respite model can save both lives and public funds. He hopes the state will continue to support the program.<\/p>\n \u201cI think the crucial thing will be the success of the two houses that are already set up,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Peter Starkey, executive director of Folk Time, said their peer respite has been a success. He said around 50 people have stayed at the center over the last year, including many unwilling to use clinical intervention like psychiatric hospitalization.<\/p>\n \u201cWe really treat it as a family environment,\u201d Starkey said. \u201dThe vast majority of people that go through are incredibly lonely,\u201d<\/p>\n He\u2019s seen people begin looking for work again after years of unemployment. And some who would regularly stay at a psychiatric hospital have not needed to reenter a facility since staying at the respite.<\/p>\n Folk Time, founded some 40 years ago, is Oregon\u2019s oldest mental health peer agency. But Starkey said it was still a challenge to open a peer respite. He said, in his experience, fighting local zoning codes can be \u201ctrauma-inducing.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s always a headache for peer respite, specifically because it is counter-cultural,\u201d Starkey said. \u201cThere aren\u2019t municipalities that are really set up for it.\u201d<\/p>\n He said the difficulties Folk Time faced, while operating in a progressive city, are likely more pronounced in rural areas.<\/p>\n Building community<\/p>\n DeForest said he still wants to help people in mental and emotional distress, but he would be cautious about working with the state again.<\/p>\n \u201cPolicymakers in Salem and the Willamette Valley come up with ideas. They may be good ideas,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd they don\u2019t actually care if it works for rural communities, for Southern Oregon.\u201d<\/p>\n DeForest and Strong now volunteer at the Bear Creek Social Center, a new mutual aid project in Talent.<\/p>\n \u201cThe love and the community that was built from the Mountain Beaver House didn\u2019t end there,\u201d Strong said. \u201cIt was spread out into our community and is hyper saturated into the Bear Creek Social Center.\u201d<\/p>\n Unlike peer respite centers, Bear Creek doesn\u2019t provide beds or staff. But Deforest and Strong said it offers community \u2014 a core part of what they hoped to build at Mountain Beaver House.<\/p>\n Justin Higginbottom is a reporter with Jefferson Public Radio<\/a>. <\/p>\n This story comes to you from the Northwest News Network, a collaboration between public media organizations in Oregon and Washington.<\/p>\n