For more than a year, the new Wildwood Recovery Center in Dickenson County has been completed, equipped and ready to open. Instead, it has remained dark, quiet and vacant.
On Friday, county leaders announced a “major milestone” step toward changing that.
A license to operate the 112-bed residential treatment center for men has been approved by the Virginia Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services, the county said in a news release. Although additional steps remain before the drug treatment facility can accept its first patients, county officials and the operator said they hope to open during the second half of 2026.
“Receiving the state license is a critical step forward and reflects the significant work that has gone into preparing Wildwood Recovery Center to meet Virginia’s rigorous behavioral health standards,” said Dana Cronkhite, executive director of the Dickenson County Industrial Development Authority. “This milestone brings us closer to delivering much needed recovery services to our region.”
The license is conditional and lasts for six months, according to the state behavioral health department. Regulations allow a provider to operate for up to 12 months on a conditional license, through a first and then a second license. If the provider demonstrates compliance during the conditional period, it can be moved to a full annual license, Lauren Cunningham, director of communications for the department, explained in an email.
While the provider is under a conditional license, it is considered licensed, she added.
The license was approved Thursday, one day after the department visited Wildwood, which is in Clintwood.
County officials, including Cronkhite and county Administrator Larry Barton, have been working for years to open a treatment facility because Dickenson continues to have one of the highest overdose death rates in the state and few options for treatment. Wildwood was announced in 2023.
For many years, families in Southwest Virginia have had to send their loved ones with substance abuse issues far away for treatment, if they could afford it and if they could find residential treatment, Cronkhite said. She added that addiction isn’t just a health issue; it affects families, schools and the workforce, and hinders economic development.
“This project really changes access,” she said. “People are more likely to enter treatment and stay in treatment when they can be close to their support system. The goal is to connect them with the resources that are needed for long-term recovery so that they can get back into the workforce and be healthy, tax-paying citizens again.”
Originally, the facility was to be operated by Addiction Recovery Care of Kentucky, which came under an FBI investigation into possible health care fraud. No charges have been filed.
ARC announced in February 2025 that it had submitted its license application, but when months went by with no approval, county officials said in late October that they were going with another operator because it was taking too long to get the license.
The new operator, Momentum Management Solutions, previously Momentum Recovery and Wellness, based in Louisville, Kentucky, filed a new application for the license, and it was approved in 60 days, according to Matt Boggs, the company’s chief financial officer and chief operating officer.
The plan under ARC was for Wildwood to be a year-long program that was heavy on job training, so the client could complete an internship and get a job when they were done. The county’s plan was to combine substance abuse treatment with job training so the county could raise its low labor force participation rate, which is about 41%.
But Boggs said the treatment will be different for each client, based on individual needs. Some job training will be offered, but some clients will need less time and training, he said.
The next step will be to focus on the credentialing process with Virginia’s Medicaid managed care organizations, which is required to operate, according to Cronkhite.
Boggs said once Momentum got word that the license was approved, it immediately submitted an enrollment application Friday to the Virginia Department of Medical Assistance Services. In a couple of weeks, he said he expects to get a Medicaid number, which would allow the company to work toward contracting with the managed care organizations, the insurance companies that administer the state Medicaid program.
Boggs said he’s not sure exactly how long that will take.
Under the approved license, Wildwood will operate at a 3.5 level of care, which is clinically managed high-intensity residential treatment. Once the facility is fully open, Momentum plans to pursue licenses for additional lower levels of care in a residential setting as well as outpatient services, Boggs said.
Wildwood will accept patients from across the state but will have a particular focus on those from Southwest Virginia, he said.
Once Wildwood is fully operational, Boggs said the plan is to hire nearly 50 employees.