A letter from Donna Weinberger, GCC Strategy Team Leader,

At a recent Cuyahoga County meeting, it was announced that there is a new Behavioral Health and Addiction Crisis Center that will be open and fully functional by Sept 2026. This is a joint project of the Centers, the ADAMHS Board and the County.  It was also announced at this meeting that the current Diversion Center will close sometime after that time. The timing of that announcement was very unfortunate, because it caught many people off guard. It is important now to let people know what this new center will entail, and why GCC is supporting the new Center and the eventual closing of the current Diversion Center.

The Cuyahoga County Diversion Center was the idea of GCC’s Criminal Justice team starting in 2016.  After four years of pushing, the Diversion Center was established in 2021. Since opening, the Center has served over 3,000 residents who have received critical and sometimes life-saving treatment for mental health and addiction. They are averaging a census of about 30 currently. As many of you also know, the Center began with drop-off by law enforcement only, but later it was opened to self-referral, friends and family. The Center, a County project, did not include all of the elements we originally pushed for, but we supported the concept and continued to push towards change.

There is currently a narrative being pushed by some members of Council and cleveland.com (who have not done any fact-checking in their recent editorial) that the current Diversion Center is a failure. This is patently false. Though any new project has growing pains, the Center has provided outstanding care through Oriana House and UH Psychiatry, and they receive excellent marks from the clients who use it.  The primary false narrative is that it is not being used for diversion. While it took some time for law enforcement to change a long standing culture of bringing people to jail or the ER, law enforcement does consistently use the center now. This includes the Cleveland Police Dept, RTA, inner ring suburbs and outlying ones. The main reason that the projected numbers for diversion by law enforcement have not been reached is that law enforcement’s arrests for misdemeanors have plummeted, particularly for the CPD. But it is a win whenever someone enters the Center for treatment, no matter how they got there!

The new Center, located on the St. Vincent’s Campus, will be a state of the art, three floor facility based on very successful Crisis Diversion Centers in other parts of the country. It will include everything that the current Center has, including law enforcement drop-off.  

GCC supports this new Crisis Center for the following reasons:

 

1. 1. From the beginning, GCC has advocated for a “No Wrong Door” Center.  The new Center will include all services, including 24 hour crisis, longer term stays, pharmacy, adolescent urgent care, primary care, detox and more. Clients will be able to get everything they need in one place

 

2. 2. We think it is important that there be the capability for stabilization in a locked unit. Though only 1% of people need this, it’s critical that it be available so that people do not need to be taken elsewhere. We believe this will increase law enforcement usage and keep people out of jail and the ER.

 

3. 3. Currently, services at the Diversion Center can only be obtained through a pre-screening, call-in process. GCC has advocated from the beginning that people should be able to access crisis diversion services without this pre-screening. This will be true at the new Center.

For more information, contact Donna Weinberger, drw508@gmail.com