Dartmouth Health to open new addiction treatment center in Claremont

CLAREMONT — Nearly two years after Valley Regional Hospital joined the Dartmouth Health system, providers are set to begin seeing patients at an outpatient substance use treatment center Monday.

The New Hampshire Attorney General’s office required Dartmouth Health to fund and operate an addiction treatment center at the Claremont hospital for at least 10 years as a condition of the merger, which the Attorney General’s Office approved in 2024.

“We know that people can do extremely well if they have substance use disorders if they have access to convenient and timely care,” Dr. William Torrey, chairman of the Department of Psychiatry, said at an unveiling of the new facility at 7 Dunning Street, just off the main Valley Regional campus, Thursday. “You have to actually jump in at the moment you have the opportunity, and it really helps if you can get to the treatment program.”

The new addiction treatment program is an expansion of a similar program that has been operating in Lebanon since 2006. Thirty-five percent of patients at the Lebanon clinic in the River Mill Center live in Claremont, Dartmouth Health CEO Dr. Joanne Conroy said Thursday.

From left, Valley Regional Hospital CEO and president Matthew R. Foster, MD, MMM, Dartmouth Health psychiatry chair William C. Torrey, MD, Dartmouth Health CEO and president Joanne M. Conroy, MD, and Dartmouth Health addiction psychiatry chief Luke J. Archibald, MD, cut the ceremonial ribbon at the grand opening of the Claremont Addiction Treatment Program. (courtesy photograph)

“This was one of the top priorities for us, really demonstrating our commitment not only to Valley (Regional), but to the Claremont community,” Conroy said. “The program does combine the science of addiction care with the human touch of skilled psychiatrists.”

The Lebanon clinic sees about 450 patients per month and DH plans to serve about one-third of that volume, or 150, in Claremont, Dr. Luke Archibald, section chief of addiction psychiatry at DH, said. Archibald oversees the Lebanon clinic and will also run the Claremont facility.

“We believe there’s going to be a great need for our services,” Archibald said Thursday. “The truth is that there’s a tremendous need for addiction and mental health treatment everywhere, substance use disorders have no boundaries.”

Sullivan County had the second highest number of drug overdose deaths of any New Hampshire county per capita from January to November 2025, according to data from the New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services. Claremont saw the most overdose deaths of any town on the New Hampshire side of the Upper Valley during the same period.

The new clinic will have about nine employees, including licensed social workers, drug and alcohol counselors, an addiction psychiatrist, a nurse, a medical assistant, a resource specialist and a peer support recovery coach, Archibald said.

Patients will be able to access therapy, peer support groups including intensive outpatient programs that require about nine hours a week of group meetings, medication-assisted treatment, case management and social service referrals. The clinic will serve as a satellite location for the New Hampshire Doorway.

The Doorway is a state-run and federally-funded program that helps people experiencing substance-use disorders access resources — including screening and evaluation, treatment, prevention including access to the overdose-reversal drug naloxone, resources to assist long-term recovery and peer recovery services — within an hour’s drive from anywhere in the state. There are nine Doorway locations around the state and anyone can call 211 to be connected with a Doorway.

In the Upper Valley, Dartmouth Health operates the Doorway out of Lebanon. In January, the Lebanon Doorway helped 39 new clients struggling with opioid, alcohol or stimulant abuse access treatment resources and other social services, according to data from the state.

In Claremont, many of the same resources will be available including walk-in and crisis services.

Having to travel to Lebanon is a barrier for many patients, though DH tries to help patients access care even if they live further away, Archibald said. Providers prefer to see patients in person as much as possible, but will offer virtual or telephone appointments when necessary.

Patients on Medicaid qualify for transportation and the Doorway program can also provide transportation assistance, but transportation assistance means “you’re still relying on somebody else to come,” which can be challenging or unreliable, Archibald said.

Though some patients who live closer to Claremont have already expressed a desire to continue receiving treatment in Lebanon, Archibald anticipates many will choose to transfer their care to Claremont and hopefully more people who were not previously seeking treatment will choose to at the new clinic.

In Claremont, Archibald said he hopes to also work with the nearby DH-run Valley Primary Care to help clients access primary care physicians.

Shawn Cannizzaro, who owns Hope 2 Freedom Recovery Homes in Claremont, is hopeful that the new treatment center will make it easier for residents to access resources such as therapists and funding through the Doorways program, but he is skeptical of how well it will work.

“I can say go to The Doorway, it’s right down the street, but they have to make it, they have to want it, they have to put the effort into walking down there,” Cannizzaro said Friday.

Cannizzaro said he is “always butting heads” with Dartmouth Health because its approach to treatment is different than his.

Hope 2 Freedom, which operates three substance-free recovery homes in Claremont for a total of 24 residents, centers around creating a “safe, structured, family lifestyle” and requiring residents to put in the work such as committing to a 12-step or faith-based recovery program, finding a job and following rules.

In particular, Cannizzaro said resources such as medication-assisted treatment, while useful, can “enable” addicts. This kind of treatment is allowed in Hope 2 Freedom’s three recovery houses, but Cannizzaro does not see it as the best option.

“Ninety-nine percent of our successful residents, they did it with their own willpower and strength, basically, with a little bit of support.”

Medications like methadone, buprenorphine and naltrexone have been proven to prevent and reduce opioid use and the risk of overdose death by preventing drug cravings and withdrawal symptoms, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse. They are “less addictive” than other opioids, though they can be misused and produce dependence.

The Doorway will cover up to one month’s stay at a recovery house which at Hope 2 Freedom costs between $600 and $920. Cannizzaro encourages residents to seek out the money and hopes to be able to send them up the road to Valley Regional to connect with resource specialists, but said the funding can also cause problems.

Many residents will use the money as an excuse not to continue looking for a job or working towards recovery, he said. The money is also distributed week by week and only sent if a resident makes it seven days, so if they stay for less time, Cannizzaro gets nothing. Payments also take time to come through.

Cannizzaro said an early meeting with providers at Valley Regional last week was promising and he was looking forward to meeting with staff again Monday to get a better sense of whether he would refer residents to the new clinic.

“We’re not threatening and yelling and screaming at people, but we’re not going to deal with the manipulation and the lying,” Cannizzaro said. “That’s where the change is and if Doorway and Dartmouth can get behind that approach, I’m all for it.”