WELLFLEET — Outer Cape Health Services has opened a new behavioral health facility in Wellfleet. It will be open year-round to help people recovering from substance use disorder.

The A.I.M. Wellness Center, adjacent to the OCHS pharmacy at 2700 Route 6, is being funded with federal and state grants along with a significant donation from the Association for Improved Medical Resources on the Outer Cape, which runs the AIM Thrift Shop on Main Street in town.

The project has been in the works since 2015, said Dr. Damian Archer, OCHS’s chief executive officer.

The center is already accepting patients, who may be referred to the program by their primary care providers or by a behavioral health clinician. Patients may also be referred by an outside counselor, treatment facility, probation or parole officer of the court, or other community health organizations. People seeking help with substance use may also make their own appointments without a referral.

In an interview just before the center’s Sept. 27 ribbon-cutting ceremony, Archer said its staff includes two psychotherapists, a community navigator who will connect clients with other services that address basic needs, and a program manager who oversees the operation. Both individual and group counseling will be offered for patients living with substance use disorder.

“We, of course, will flex our services depending on the needs of the community,” Archer said, “but this is where we will primarily be providing recovery support and therapy through our structured outpatient addiction program.”

Outer Cape Health has offered an online program called SOAP (Structured Outpatient Addiction Program) since 2021. “That was the only way to do it until we had the physical space,” Archer said. “This will now be the in-person version of the online program.”

James Murphy, a licensed alcohol and drug counselor, will serve as program manager at the new facility. He and clinician Al Gentile will oversee the intensive day treatment program, which will run from 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays. Topics range from the neuroscience of addiction and its effects on the brain to post-acute withdrawal symptoms, known as PAWS.

During this post-acute phase, “there’s a constellation of things that happen,” Murphy said during a presentation at the ribbon-cutting, describing it as a physical and emotional process that can be experienced “three, six, or nine months after you’ve made it through acute withdrawal.”

Care during this second phase of recovery is important. “Even though PAWS is a temporary condition, the symptoms can become a driving factor in relapse,” according to the Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation website. “This is true even for people who are fully committed to staying clean and sober.”

After completion of the day recovery program, clients can step down to a series of one-hour group sessions led by coaches, which support recovery through art, movement, and mindfulness.

Rita Letsos, a registered yoga teacher who attended the ribbon-cutting, said she will offer recovery yoga weekly, free of charge, for program participants.

In addition to core staff, other clinicians will be involved with the new center, said Brianne Smith, the director of behavioral health at Outer Cape Health Services, in an email. “The wellness center will be providing an array of behavioral health and recovery services,” Smith wrote. They will include a combination of those that are reimbursable through a patient’s insurance and others that are provided free of charge.

According to Archer, the center provides services regardless of a client’s ability to pay.

Archer said he was proud of the fact that the center will focus not only on providing health care but also supportive social services. “You have to connect people with food security, housing security, transportation services,” Archer said. “You’re not really going to be fully engaged in your health and wellness until you feel secure in those very basic things.”

That’s where the community navigator fits in — a job that will be held by Wilson Tammi. “It’s been well proven that navigators, community health workers, are the best to establish those types of relationships and make sure that we’re not missing anyone’s needs,” said Archer.

While Outer Cape Health Services serves the eight towns on the Outer and Lower Cape, the program is open “to anyone able to make it to the facility,” Archer said. There is no need for a waitlist, he said, since programs at the center will operate with rolling admissions.

“The fact that Outer Cape Health Services is expanding services is downright impressive,” said state Sen. Julian Cyr in an interview following the ribbon-cutting. He said that federally qualified community health centers like OCHS are under tremendous strain right now because of inadequate reimbursements from commercial insurers.

Cyr proposed a bill that has already passed the state Senate that would require commercial insurers to reimburse community health centers at the same level at least as Medicaid and MassHealth.

For more information about enrolling at the A.I.M Wellness Center, email [email protected] or call 508-905-2892.