Addiction Services

Substance use disorders (SUDs), also known as addiction or chemical dependency, are diseases that affect a person’s brain and behavior. These disorders happen when a person cannot control their use of substances, even if it hurts their health, relationships or other parts of life. Substances can be legal or illegal, such as alcohol, marijuana, nicotine, opioids and others. SUDs can range from mild to severe and affect anyone, no matter their age, race, ethnicity or gender.

At MultiCare, we know asking for help with addiction takes courage, and every person takes a different path to recovery. Our SUD specialists provide compassionate, confidential and nonjudgmental care that honors your choices and helps you achieve your goals.

MultiCare provides two levels of outpatient SUD care — general outpatient and intensive outpatient.

Our intensive outpatient program (IOP) offers a structured therapy schedule and comprehensive support services for those who need more than weekly therapy sessions. Participants in the IOP typically attend services three to four days a week, totaling about nine hours of treatment per week.

We also provide care for those who are pregnant through our pregnancy Substance Treatment and Recovery Training (START) program. This program offers inpatient and outpatient care to people at any stage of pregnancy who are experiencing problematic substance use.

At the beginning of your recovery journey, we’ll conduct an assessment that will explore the role of substances in your life. This will help us determine the level and type of treatment best suited to your needs.

Regardless of what type of care you receive, a variety of trained addiction experts may support you, from doctors, advanced practice providers and nurses to state-certified substance use disorder professionals, among others.

SUD treatment may include a range of options and strategies depending on the nature of your disorder and your particular situation. Your care plan may include:

• Medication-assisted treatment for opioid and alcohol SUDs (available in some primary care clinics)
• Individual and group counseling
• Behavioral health and psychiatric services
• Referral to inpatient withdrawal management services when substance usage cannot be safely managed on an outpatient basis
• If appropriate and aligned with patient goals, abstinence-based models of treatment such as those used by Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) or Narcotics Anonymous (NA) are available
• Relapse prevention
• Education about SUDs and overdoses with access to naloxone (Narcan) as appropriate
• Harm-reduction strategies
• Mindfulness
• Screening and treatment options for infections transmitted via intravenous substance use

We also provide driving under the influence (DUI) assessments at our Puyallup location. These court-ordered evaluations identify how substance use is negatively affecting your life and may help inform your treatment pathway.

We believe how you approach SUD care matters — it influences both the shape and outcome of a person’s recovery journey. At MultiCare, we believe:

Words matter. We choose compassionate, respectful and destigmatized language that places the person before the disease.

SUD affects us all. While SUD has the most significant impact on individuals, their families and loved ones, it also affects our workplace and community.

Recovery is possible. We maintain hope because people do recover, and families can heal.

We are stronger together. We combat the trauma, isolation and stigma of substance use disorder by connecting with others, sharing our experiences and offering support.

Our values light the way. In our work, we strive to reflect our MultiCare values of respect, integrity, stewardship, excellence, collaboration, kindness and joy.