Coastal Horizons, which has had services in Pender County for that past 20 years, has recently stepped up its substance use disorder services to better help residents there, officials said.

The group moved and merged its adult services aimed at county residents in 2025 from Burgaw to Rocky Point, where Coastal Horizons has an opioid treatment facility. Since then, the nonprofit has seen a 78% increase in Pender County clients – from 90 outpatients in August 2024 to 160 in August 2025, according to the group’s annual reporting.

That’s dozens more people staying clean so they can work and manage their day-to-day lives, officials said.

“Our opioid treatment program today is at 162 (clients), so we’ve kind of been hovering between like 160, 170,” Gayle Beese, Coastal Horizons’ Pender County program director, said in a December interview. “And I think some of that’s because we’re really reducing barriers. I have such an amazing team who understands the urgency sometimes with addiction medicine.”

While substance use percentages have decreased nationally since 2018, they’ve climbed in Pender County, according to its health department. Prescription opioids and heroin continue to be problems, but the reigning scourge is fentanyl, Beese said.

“With fentanyl coming in on top of it all, it’s just been a lot more of a crisis,” she said.

Communication and flexibility are essential to assist outpatients, she added. For example, what if a client doesn’t have a car but needs to get to a nurse-supervised office visit? Coastal Horizons works with clients to understand their individual situations and arrange support, such as transportation, as needed.

The nonprofit benefits primarily from a mix of federal and state grants. One of Beese’s major partners is the county health department, which funds proposals from groups like Coastal Horizons. The department is in the process of administering the $6.8 million it was awarded by the national opioid settlement, which is being spread over an 18-year period.

One increasing priority, Beese said, has been identifying individuals who can benefit from immediate intervention following an overdose. Thus, the Post-Overdose Response Team began working in the county in 2024.

PORT has two county peer support specialists – professionals who’ve made similar transitions and have stayed clean for years – as well as a lead therapist. The team, which Beese is also actively involved in as a licensed therapist in mental health and addiction and a certified clinical supervisor, often goes to where the person in need is.

“Maybe they’re staying with family, had an overdose or the risk of an overdose, and we got their name somehow,” Beese said. “Clients don’t have to come to us for services to be in this program. There just isn’t a lot of other options in Pender County, but if they need a higher level of care, our peers have driven people to places like Walter B. Jones (Alcohol and Drug Abuse Treatment Center in Greenville) and Wilmington Treatment Center.”

Coastal Horizons has also worked in the past year to reinforce its efforts both at the local domestic violence shelter, where it has added a women’s support group, and the county jail.

“If a client gets into the jail, they’ll do a drug screen and they’ll see if the person is on any medication like methadone or Suboxone or Subutex,” Beese said. “We make sure that they get their medication continued. The support and the partnership that we have with the Pender County jail – they’ve been amazing.”

Beese said a recent patient benefited from multiple services that Coastal Horizons offers, which is not uncommon. The client came in for help on her own initially.

“When she came to us, she was using very heavily,” Beese said. “She was really struggling, and she ended up getting incarcerated. It was when she took advantage of those counseling sessions in jail that we were able to get her full attention, and when she was released, she got treatment. She’s just doing amazing today. A therapist has been able to work with her on her trauma as well.”

In total, Coastal Horizons currently helps about 1,000 clients in Pender County, while also serving 58 of North Carolina’s 100 counties.

In November, the organization broke ground on its new administrative building in Wilmington, located at 945 Medical Center Drive. Leaders said the added space is necessary to make room for additional treatment at the main campus in Wilmington, located at 615 Shipyard Blvd.

In a release announcing the milestone, Margaret Weller-Stargell, president and CEO of Coastal Horizons, stated, “This new building represents a vital investment in our ability to meet the growing needs of our community and state. We are deeply grateful to Sen. Michael Lee (R-New Hanover) for securing the $12 million in capital funding that made this project possible. His unwavering commitment to expanding behavioral health and substance use treatment will have a generational impact on individuals and families across North Carolina.”

The Wilmington campus began offering evening opioid treatment in 2024 and now provides more than 80 individuals the service. While the evening dosing and therapy are not currently offered in Pender County, Beese said local needs are constantly being assessed.