Colonial Clinic III LLC, of Spokane, which is owned by a husband and wife, recently bought the assets of a 26-year-old private outpatient drug-and-alcohol treatment center here that operates under the name of Colonial Clinic.

Huston Stolz, who has worked at the facility for eight years as a chemical dependency counselor, and Becky Stolz, who is a certified public accountant, bought the business's assets on Feb. 1 from Dan and Karla Colyar.

Becky Stolz declines to disclose terms of the transaction.

Colonial Clinic III, which is leasing the 3,200-square-foot clinic located at 910 N. Washington, has 11 employees including the owners. It focuses on counseling clients who agree to meet at the clinic for a year in closed, confidential groups of typically 12 people for therapy sessions, the couple says. The clinic also provides parallel, separate group therapy sessions for family members.

Huston Stolz says the Colonial Care's program focuses on group therapy treatment benefits and provides counseling to educate people about the disease of chemical dependency. The program is supportive of participants who also attend 12-Step recovery programs through Alcoholics Anonymous, Narcotics Anonymous, and others, he says.

"The difference with our treatment is clients stay with their small closed group in treatment for a one-year period, while other treatment programs have open groups that allow people to rotate in as they enter treatment," Huston Stolz says. "Most other treatment programs typically are six months."

He adds, "We cater to professionals. The treatment is designed so people can stay in their jobs and at home."

He says that former clients have included teachers, firefighters, nurses, doctors, and business owners who prefer the confidentiality of closed group sessions that offer intensive outpatient chemical dependency treatment but allow them to remain in their careers.

The clinic offers therapy group meeting times both at night and during the day. It has four group rooms and seven offices for individual counseling. The clinic usually forms new closed groups every six weeks, and it usually has about five separate groups running at any given time.

They estimate that the clinic serves 400 to 500 people a year. A high percentage of clients seek the treatment on their own, although court judges, doctors, employee-assistance programs, and family members also have referred clients to the clinic.

Huston Stolz is the clinic's director and is one of eight chemical dependency counselors. The remaining employees are in support roles, including Becky Stolz, who handles the clinic's finances.

Health insurance covers the cost of treatment for many clients, the couple says. Becky Stolz says the cost of the program to individuals varies depending on the requirements of different insurance companies that have contracts with the clinic.

"Different insurance companies set what we can charge," she says. "Most require co-pays," or that a deductible amount is met. "We usually allow monthly payments."

If someone doesn't have insurance, the clinic usually requires a $500 down payment and works with the person on a 12-month schedule of fees totaling about $350 a month, although it can allow some adjustment based on ability to pay, the couple says. They say a payment arrangement also depends on whether there is room in a closed group.

The family therapy treatments are free for the first five weeks, and then cost $10 per person per session, Stolz says. Insurance coverage typically doesn't cover the family sessions, she says.

She adds that some insurance companies will pay 100 percent of the program's first phase of intensive outpatient treatment, which includes greater frequency of group meetings over five weeks.

As the treatment year progresses, Colonial Clinic's program shifts to two-hour group sessions that are held twice a week for 12 weeks, then once a week for the same time period, followed by once-a-month meetings near completion.