


Our Mission
To heal and empower any person with substance abuse disorder in a safe, nurturing environment to assist them in becoming a respected, responsible, productive member of the community.


Your one time or sustaining monthly donations help us help others. No amount is too small to make a big difference in someone’s life.
About Us


Co-founders John McManus
Medical Director Ruby Bayan, MD
In 2015, John McManus and Ruby Bayan, MD, an adult, child and addiction psychiatrist shared a common vision to provide the best care needed for those suffering from addiction in our community. With more than 50 years of experience between them in this field, they collaborated with other community stakeholders to bring their vision to life.
Waterfront Recovery Services is the first detox program in Humboldt County certified by the State of California Department of Health Care Services to provide Incidental Medical Services.

Congressman Jerad Huffman tours Waterfront with aide John Driscoll, John McManus and Dr. Bayan. (right).
Co-founder John McManus and Medical Director Dr. Ruby Bayan meeting with political leaders and community partners. (below)

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My counselor couldn’t have done a better job. He always had time for me and gave me excellent care. I was given the same from detox staff all the way to the good food of the kitchen staff. Thank you!
Addressing the Needs of a Community in Crisis
Addiction Studies - Wellness Practices - Life Skills
Employment Opportunities - Transition Support
Waterfront Administrative Staff



Jeremy Campbell
Executive Director
Jackie Coghill
Nurse Practitioner
Jamaica Bartz
Admissions Director
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Thank you Waterfront staff! I love you all and appreciate your care and encouragement. You have given me a good starting board for my recovery journey; I will miss all of you.
Alcohol Drug Care Services opened Waterfront Recovery Services in the fall of 2017 to provide medically supervised detox and addiction therapy. Our staff of medical professionals and counselors specializing in addiction issues work continuously to develop compassionate and effective programs for residents in an effort to treat the whole person.
Detox Counselors at Waterfront case manage for individual SUD (Substance Use Disorder) recovery and general health care. WRS also provides services for dual diagnosis clients with secondary mental health issues.
Extra curricular exercise programs, yoga, art workshops, and a variety of spiritual practices scheduled on site bring inspiration and vitality to the process of putting lives back together.
Resumes, job interview skills, cooking classes, budgeting are some of the offerings our transitional housing staff make available.
Waterfront has a New Executive Director
We are excited to announce that Jeremy Campbell has been promoted to Executive Director of Alcohol Drug Care Services. Campbell has been a part of the Waterfront Recovery Services team for three years and recently stepped up to serve as Assistant to the Executive Director under Dr. Ruby Bayan, Medical Director and acting Executive Director. He has been an invaluable contributor to the organization as we navigated numerous major changes these last few years. We feel confident that Campbell’s leadership will keep us on the path of fulfilling our mission as we grow and continue to develop programs

Staff Spotlight Jackie Coghill MSN FNP-C
When she returned to Humboldt, she stopped by Waterfront to drop off a resume, “totally unprepared for an interview” and was surprised to be whisked into McManus’ office for a long conversation about the innovative medical model detox and recovery program McManus and Dr. Ruby Bayan were pioneering on the North Coast. Waterfront had only been open for a year but there was a need for someone when Dr. Bayan was out. They stayed in touch. and as soon as funding was available, McManus reached out.
Coghill is a Family Practice Nurse Practitioner but a lot of people who come to WRS require more than a diagnose and prescribe type of care. They require further evaluation. She notes that it’s difficult to get a primary care physician in Humboldt so she tries to develop a primary care plan for whatever their problem is. “Some have been self-medicating for years.”
“Never in my wildest dreams did I think I would be doing addiction medicine. My program was a family practice program. That’s what my certification is in but I guess what I do here is family practice in a way. A lot of Waterfront clients haven’t seen a doctor in many years so it’s usually more than a routine examination. Nothing in NP school could have prepared me for this population.”
“Jackie Coghill’s contributions to Waterfront Recovery cannot be overstated. Her medical expertise and understanding of where substance use disorder intersects with a patients physical and mental health care needs is incredibly unique and rare, Executive Director Jeremy Campbell says of Coghill. “She has an innate ability to work with the people entering treatment at Waterfront who often feel vulnerable and anxious as they navigate the initial stages of recovery. Jackie has been a major part in actualizing the initial vision co-founders John McManus and Dr. Bayan had for Waterfront Recovery Services and the hope is that she will continue long into the future.”
When asked about the unique challenges of working with this population, Coghill says, “I have personal experience with close family members struggling with the disease of addiction and alcoholism so I’m quite familiar with the impact on the family and the ripple effects.” She had never imagined coming in that these experiences would inform her work. She’s required to see clients within 24 hours of admittance and notes that communication must be on their terms in order to build a rapport and establish trust. “It’s important to Understand the impacts and that this is a family problem. Communication with the patient/addict must be on their terms so the quicker you can understand that and let that be OK, the better treatment you can give them,” she says.
“When my son was in addiction, and I was coming to work here, I had a really good friend that would say maybe you can’t help your son but you can help somebody else’s son.” There are a lot of people at WRS who are close in age to her son “and every single one of them, I remind myself that this is someone’s son that I’m helping. I love that.” (Her son has his life back on track.)
Coghill believes that Being able to be a communicator and not passing judgement is part of giving care. Understanding that they deserve care like any other human being or patient despite their condition upon their arrival. “Sometimes people have been out in the elements, their lives have been difficult so getting to connect with them and have them feel valued and cared for so that they can open up and tell you some of the medical problems that they’ve been pushing in the closet for years. I think I come with good communication skills and that has helped me tremendously.”
When asked how she knows she’s making a difference, Coghill talks about the satisfaction of knowing that pregnant women are allowed to remain at Waterfront until delivery even if they’ve completed the program and women who, after having lost custody of their children, get them back. “They come in broken and get well with love, food and sleep so they can do what’s required to be a good mom so they can get their kids back.” She says she loves running into them in the community healthy and happy and with their kids. “That brings me joy.”
“I have daily inspiration for these folks because no matter how . . . some of them come in here looking rough, I mean 10, 20 years older than their age. Once we detox them, I mean it’s as comfortable as it’s going to be anywhere because we do medication assisted treatment, I can see the light back in their eyes. It’s like when they’re using, their soul has left and when I see them in the hallways and their spirit is back, and it does come back, every time I see it, I’m just overjoyed. I see it right in front of my own eyes everyday and I think about that and I know we’re helping people. I ask myself, are we helping people and am I doing any good:? I know we are.”
“We can’t give someone the gift of recovery for the rest of their lives, they can only give that to themselves but we can give it for a brief time here as we hold and nurture them and for that period of time, their soul is back and they are living their life. If they can hang onto that . . . that’s going to be up to them. So are we doing good? Yeah, we’re doing good because that counts. And so medical is now understanding that recovery from addiction is not a straight line. Every period of sobriety counts. It doesn’t mean that if someone has a recurrence that all is lost. You pick up where yo left off and keep going. We need to change our language around recovery and I think slowly we are. It’s not just go to recovery and get fixed. You’re probably broken in some emotional places and have been just coping with drugs or alcohol. What we offer here is offer a place to begin the healing process from that and the first step in that is to eliminate the drugs and alcohol.”
Staff Spotlight - Jackie Coghill



Jackie Coghill MSN FNP-C
Photos: TOP - Coghill with Dr. Bayan CENTER - Coghill in her office BOTTOM - Coghill showing original art made by co-worker Ryan Colliton.
Medical Director Dr. Ruby Bayan on Community Voices
Waterfront Recovery Services provides a medical model for Substance Use Disorder designed by Dr. Bayan and Co-founder John McManus.
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. . . really pulled through for me in detox going above and beyond, helping me through a very tough time. I should be getting my daughter back very soon. Thank you so much.
Community Steps Up To Honor
John McManus and Support WRS
Sunday June 5th. Click here for info.
John McManus 1964 - 2022
indebted to this tenacious and compassionate man.
Family, friends and community collaborators came together at his memorial to celebrate the life of this powerhouse that ended too soon due to ALS. Speakers shared stories about McManus as loving father, smart, compassionate advocate, amazing musician and most of all, hilarious friend. Laughter marked most interactions with him and this occasion was no different. There was a general sense of appreciation that we had this wonderful man in our lives.

It is with great sadness that we acknowledge the passing of Alcohol Drug Care Services’ Executive Director and Waterfront co-founder John McManus. He was a fearless, street-smart visionary who insisted on raising the bar for care in our community. McManus walked the walk and showed others the way. We will forever be