The Centers, a Cuyahoga County behavioral health provider, has announced it will open a $28 million crisis center in Cleveland’s Central neighborhood in 2026.
The three-floor center, located in a building on St. Vincent Charity Medical Center's downsized campus, will include a receiving center, a psych urgent care for children and adults, detox and mental health recovery beds, inpatient and outpatient care and a pharmacy. There will be about 200 people staffing the building, including 24/7 nursing staff, psychiatrists, social workers and peer support professionals who have lived experience with addiction or mental health issues.
The project is funded by the Alcohol, Drug Addiction and Mental Health Services (ADAMHS) Board of Cuyahoga County, which will also provide operating support. Additional funding comes from $6.8 million in state COVID-19 relief funds, funds from the county's opioid settlement, a tax credit and philanthropic and individual donors.
More resources for psychiatric emergencies
Eric Morse, CEO for The Centers, said the location will help people get connected to psychiatric services faster — as his organization has seen with its two other psych urgent care locations.
"Today if you have a psychiatric crisis, you're often sitting in an emergency room for hours or days, not necessarily getting the specialized treatment that you need," he said. “The fact that they can walk in and get (care) in the same day, instead of waiting two or three months for an appointment, has been really impactful."
The ADAMHS Board of Cuyahoga County had been searching for an organization to run a behavioral health crisis center for years after plans fell through with St. Vincent and MetroHealth.
Scott Osiecki, ADAMHS Board CEO, said the crisis center will be a more comforting place to get care compared to an ER. It will be set up like a living room with chairs, instead of beds.
“This is just a front door to our system. It's a part of our crisis continuum of care," he said. "This is a much more receptive location.”
St. Vincent partnership
Osiecki said ADAMHS Board of Cuyahoga County is thrilled with the location of the center. There are eight bus routes that run directly past the proposed facility. It's also next to St. Vincent’s old psych ER, where people had been going for mental health services for years, and where many had been surprised by the previous emergency room’s closing. The old St. Vincent hospital building is set to be demolished this year.
St. Vincent sold the medical building that will become the crisis center to The Centers, where it will remain connected to care. Its Rosary Hall will handle the medical care on the detox unit and link to the outpatient program.
A clearer place for jail diversion
The center will also meet a continued need for jail diversion. The county's diversion center currently does not accept people who need involuntary commitment, Morse said, a problem that's made it confusing for officers to find the right place to take people who may not want treatment in the midst of a crisis.
Police will take all diversion calls to the new center when it opens, he said.
"The long-term goal of this is that if you can get people the treatment when they need it, instead of getting them into the criminal justice system, we should be able to reduce that mental health population in the prison system," Morse said.
