County leaders teamed up with a local company to open two new treatment centers to help those in need. NBC 7’s Omari Fleming gives us a look inside one of the centers ahead of its grand opening.
San Diego County leaders teamed up with a local company to open two new opioid addiction treatment centers to help those in need.
At the new SOAP MAT treatment center in San Diego's Rolando neighborhood, director Tom McDole says they'll be able to treat more than 600 people a year.
He says in addition to medicine, one of the keys to their success with opioid addiction is creating a safe space and individual treatment.
“Once they feel comfortable and see they can do it, they start pushing forward. Because a lot come in with no hope,” McDole said.
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McDole shared how their quick intake process and staff of counselors are key to helping patients start their road to recovery.
"It’s very critical," he said. "When they walk in the door, they need help. We don’t want to have them sit in the corner and give them opportunity to change their mind and walk out the door."
SOAP MAT stands for "stop opioid addiction program and medically assisted treatment."
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The center on University Avenue and Rolando Boulevard is one of two new centers that opened this week. The other one is in Vista.
The treatment facilities are part of a partnership with the County of San Diego to help combat the deadly opioid crisis.
Learn more about the impact of the fentanyl crisis on local communities in NBC 7’s in-depth project "Poison Pill: San Diego's Battle With the Fentanyl Crisis." Watch here.
Though medicine like methadone is used at the facilities, McDole says the center applies a multi-pronged approach, which includes psychosocial rehabilitation services. He says the goal is to eventually wean patients off the medicine for better mental clarity.
"You’re in prison but don’t see the bars. So work hard on your own goals and what you want to get off meds, so you can get your life back," he said.
CEO Dr. Laura Rossi says the facilities are one of the few in the country to also focus on helping pregnant women and mothers deal with their addiction.
“Pregnant and parenting women are really forgotten in the system," Rossi said. "And so what our aim is, is to really keep mother and child together and look at the whole woman and the whole situation together so that we can really help women and babies stay together."
Rossi says she's seen success at another treatment facility she operates in North County.
“Seventy-three percent of all of our patients are currently on a take-home status in the Vista facility, and that’s huge," Rossi said. "That means that all of those patients, as of right now, are testing negative for illicit substances."
SOAPMAT isn’t just a job for McDole, it’s also a passion project since his daughter died nine years ago from opioid addiction. He says during treatment for cancer, she was prescribed fentanyl patches.
“If there was a place like this, she would’ve gotten the compassion to know what she was doing and what it would have taken to get her life back," McDole said.
Now, he’s hoping it can help save others and lead to an even sharper reduction in opioid deaths.
Data from San Diego County shows overdose deaths dropped from 1,300 to 1,200 from 2022 to 2023.
