Trilogy Recovery Community Closes its Doors
In 2010, local author Kathy Ketcham took a family support group and molded it into a non-profit dedicated to providing an ongoing resource to individuals seeking recovery in the Walla Walla Valley. Ketcham had devoted 40 years to researching and writing about addiction, but nothing had prepared her for the challenge of a family member struggling with substance misuse.
Trilogy formed as an idea around the year 2000 when Mike Bates allowed Kathy access to the juvenile detention center. Hearing the stories and meeting the parents proved inspiring to the small team that would devote themselves to serve those struggling with substance misuse in the Walla Walla Valley.
In an effort to provide an enduring resource for those wishing to change their relationship with substances, Ketcham opened Trilogy Recovery Community, an organization that served individuals seeking to change their relationship with substances for 15 years.
On September 5—after 15 years of service to the Walla Walla Valley—Trilogy abruptly closed its doors.
While the money necessary to sustain the organization was lacking, the spirit of community lives on through the ongoing work of individuals like David Zequeria and Rachael Butler, facilitators who continue to offer their services leading groups in the basement of Pioneer Methodist Church, across the street from the office complex on Birch that had housed the organization for 15 years.
Ultimately, asking specialists in our community to provide services for free is unsustainable. Thankfully, others in the non-profit community are looking for ways to help address this crisis.
Unfortunately, other non-profits around the Valley are also struggling, forced to restrict their offerings, lay off staff, and even to close their doors as a result of financial uncertainty. This phenomenon is not limited to our local community support system. Shockwaves are being felt across the nation.
The result of stripping support away from those who need it most will ultimately lead to increased pain and suffering in the Walla Walla Valley and beyond.
In March, NPR reported that the Trump Administration revoked $11 billion in funding for addiction, mental health care. The Drug Policy Alliance reported in August that the Trump administration is demanding that Congress cut an additional $26 billion from addiction and overdose services in the federal budget through the appropriations process over the next few months.
Trilogy was only a short time away from being able to bill Medicaid for some services, but the Big Beautiful Bill put that source of funding further out of reach. 60% of the funds supporting attempts to treat with Substance Use Disorder come from Medicaid, according to the Center for American Progress.
Michael Baumgarter’s vote supporting the Big Beautiful Bill is putting lives at risk. His vote put our communities at risk.
Center for American Progress: How the Big, ‘Beautiful’ Bill Would Undermine Access to Life-Saving Substance-Use Disorder Treatment
https://www.americanprogress.org/article/how-the-big-beautiful-bill-would-undermine-access-to-life-saving-substance-use-disorder-treatment/
NPR: Trump team revokes $11 billion in funding for addiction, mental health care
https://www.npr.org/2025/03/27/nx-s1-5342368/addiction-trump-mental-health-funding
The Drug Policy Institute: Federal Funding Cuts Jeopardize Fentanyl Overdose Prevention and Recovery
https://drugpolicy.org/news/trumps-funding-cuts-jeopardize-fentanyl-overdose-prevention-and-recovery/