New Oak Harbor clinic offers mental health, substance abuse treatment
Conquer Clinics is a licensed behavioral health agency.
Conquer Clinics’ newest location on Pioneer Way — completed after nearly a year of renovations — means accessing mental health and substance use services is that much easier in Oak Harbor.
“There’s a sense of relief knowing that, you know, we finally have a home now,” Site Coordinator Diana Mladosich said. “It’s nice to know that we finally found ourselves grounded so that we can work on more important things.”
Conquer Clinics is a licensed behavioral health agency offering what counselor Mark Lester described as “innovative” outpatient treatment in the form of medication management, therapy and certified peer support, among other services and programs. Conquer offers telehealth services and operates the Rafiki House, a transitional recovery house for women in Snohomish County, as well as EMOTE, or the Emergency Mobile Opioid Team in Everett, a street medicine team.
Mladosich explained that Conquer’s intake process is “pretty structured.” An assessment is performed, then time is taken to ensure clients understand the goals and methodology of their treatment, which can include activities like bibliotherapy, music appreciation and art.
“Without a purpose, all you have (is a) small sense of relief,” she elaborated. “And that’s why we use (substances) anyways.”
Conquer can see clients with substance abuse problems “within a week,” Mladosich explained, whereas getting help at other facilities can take up to two months due to high demand for such programs. Initiating mental health services, however, could take a bit longer as the clinic is currently short on mental health providers.
Ensuring obstacles do not prevent clients’ ability to access necessary care is important to Conquer, which is why the clinic is flexible when it comes to scheduling — seeing clients as early as 6 a.m. and as late as 7 p.m. — and offers reasonable payment plans and sliding fee scales, Mladosich said.
“Times are hard. People are working multiple jobs. There’s a government shutdown,” Mladosich said. “So what really needs to be emphasized is that drugs and alcohol don’t discriminate who their victims are. And if we can, we do not discriminate who should receive treatment.”
Setting roots downtown means Conquer is far more accessible to the public. It helps staff, too — Lester explained having everyone in one place makes for a more “cohesive” working experience.
Conquer Clinics staff is in a better position now to help clients help themselves.
“At the end of the day we’re just counselors and we remain counselors, but people ultimately end up living with themselves,” Mladosich said. “So at least we know when you walk out the door, you’re happy with the person you are.”
