Cuyahoga County has a crisis in its mental health system, and Today in Ohio podcast hosts on Wednesday reviewed the many people who will suffer if the county presses forward with a treatment center it cannot afford.
The Alcohol, Drug Addiction and Mental Health Services Board of Cuyahoga County faces a financial squeeze: pour resources into a bold new downtown behavioral health crisis center, or protect the existing network of providers that are, right now, keeping the county’s most vulnerable people from falling apart.
The case for the new crisis center is that centralized, modern facility can dramatically improve how Cuyahoga County responds to mental health emergencies—diverting people from emergency rooms and jails before crises spin out of control. It’s a vision built around creating what advocates have called a “stronger front door” to the behavioral health system…