Devan League shows a visitor the well-stocked refrigerator and the laundry room and the shower, and he imagines how much he would have appreciated such a place, open to everyone for no cost, while he was battling drug addiction.

He’s happy, though, that others, some dealing with the same sometimes excruciating challenge that he confronted, will have a clean and safe spot to visit.

And League is gratified that he might be able to help some of them.

Or even serve as a mentor.

“This is absolutely rewarding for me — I get to give back,” League said on Wednesday morning, June 4, as he gave a tour of New Directions Northwest’s new Community Outreach Center in Baker City.

New Directions, the nonprofit that offers addiction and mental health treatment in Baker County, among other services, opened this center on May 13 at 2405 10th St. in Baker City, on the west side of the street at the corner of Madison and 10th.

Also known as a peer outreach center because it is operated in part by workers, including League, who are recovering addicts, the completely remodeled building (it formerly housed a church and, before that, a pizza parlor), is open to “everyone, for any reason, or no reason,” said Shari Selander, New Directions CEO.

New Directions bought the 2,420-square-foot building in November 2023 for $195,000. The nonprofit received a state grant to buy the building, constructed in 1960, Selander said.

She didn’t have an estimated cost for the renovations, which took more than a year.

Although New Directions helps people overcome addictions and mental health issues, the new center is a “non-clinical” setting, said David Fry, the agency’s outpatient addictions supervisor.

That means people who visit aren’t obligated to agree to counseling.

Indeed, visitors don’t have to commit to anything.

The center’s purpose, Fry said, is to give people a safe and comfortable place where they can get a snack, wash their clothes or take a shower.

Or just “hang out,” Selander said.

“The atmosphere is very warm and welcoming,” she said.

“Everyone is going to be treated the exact same way, with dignity and respect,” Fry said.

Although the center is not a homeless shelter — for now its hours are weekdays from 9 a.m. to noon and from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m., although that could expand depending on need — Selander said people who don’t have a place to live are welcome, along with everyone else.

Bob Forsyth, a former addict who works at New Directions, said the center on 10th Street is a setting less formal, and for some people less intimidating, than New Directions’ main office on 13th Street.

He said research has shown that such facilities, which serve as a sort of interim step for people who struggle with addiction, a safe place but one where they don’t have to undergo treatment, can be crucial in helping them eventually seek treatment.

League said the center can help people by giving them a place where they can temporarily get away from the toxic atmosphere that feeds their addiction.

Forsyth and Fry will both work occasionally at the new center.

Three key staff members, also New Directions employees, are the “peers” — people who have become sober relatively recently.

League and Darion Grove are two of the peers. Both work full-time at the new center.

“We have a very good crew to get this started,” Selander said.

League lives in one of the two Oxford Houses that New Directions bought in Baker City and opened in 2023.  Those are drug- and alcohol-free homes open to people in addiction recovery, who have to pay rent and work together to keep up the homes.

Grove lived in the Oxford House for women in Baker City until recently, when she was able to rent her own place.

Both League and Grove said they would have appreciated having access to an outreach center when they were struggling with their addictions.

“I wish I had this support when  I was getting clean,” Grove said.

Having a safe place to visit, where there is no pressure to agree to counseling, can be a vital part of a person’s progress toward sobriety, they said.

Grove said a visitor who has come to the center once or twice a week is “not quite ready to get clean.”

But Grove said that when the person is ready to talk about treatment, she will be there to help guide the person to the options available through New Directions, as well as other services such as help finding a job or housing.

“We meet people where they’re at in the experience,” Grove said. “People aren’t going to get clean because they’ve been told to get clean. They have to go at their own pace.”

The 10th Street center includes a bulletin board near the entrance with posters listing the schedules of local Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous meetings. Another display includes pamphlets from local agencies that help with housing, medical issues and other needs.

League said he has already met people at the center who remind him of himself when he was fighting for sobriety.

He relishes the chance to serve as a role model or mentor, to share his own experiences and prove to people who are struggling that they too can succeed.

League said one of the more frequent visitors since the center opened May 13 has been living in a travel trailer. The man came to the center to shower and wash his clothes.

League said he helped the man look for a job.

The man started a job on Wednesday, a milestone that League and the other peers celebrated.

The man also has a place to park his trailer, League said.

A ‘homey place’

League said the center’s decor, with plush sofas and chairs, is designed to be “homey.”

There are smaller rooms where visitors can talk with a peer or just spend time alone.

The walls are decorated with slogans such as “Be Kind,” “Know Your Worth” and “Better Together.”

A larger meeting room includes a miniature pool table for recreation, as well as a TV.

There is a computer and printer where people can search for housing, fill out job applications or write a resumé.

The center has clothes people can wear while their own garments are being washed and dried.

Other services include overdose prevention kits, wound care kits and safe disposal of needles.

The center will have a free barbecue, with hamburgers and hot dogs, Friday, June 6 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.

The center’s phone number is 541-406-4444.