New Emergency Mental Health and Substance Use Center to Open at Former St. Vincent Site Downtown

A $28 million renovation of the old St. Vincent Charity Medical Center, shown in a rendering released earlier this year, into a behavioral crisis center brings mental health emergency services back to Downtown Cleveland. Credit: ADAMHS Board

Cleveland and Cuyahoga County have in recent years aimed to better serve those in the region dealing with mental health, substance abuse and behavioral issues. Cleveland police, for example, have a “co-responder” pilot program staffed by trained crisis intervention officers and social workers to handle a variety of calls. And the Cuyahoga County Diversion Center, which offers treatment to those with mental health or substance issues who would normally be taken to jail, opened in 2021.

But some of that momentum was stymied when St. Vincent’s closed in 2022, as the hospital’s psych ER was an affordable and convenient location for patients.

The Centers of Cuyahoga County along with local leaders this week announced plans to bring that sort of care back to the Central neighborhood.

Starting this spring, a $28-million makeover of one of the St. Vincent buildings — funded by the Alcohol, Drug Addiction and Mental Health Services (ADAMHS) Board of Cuyahoga County, state Covid money, other County money and donations — will begin for a new behavioral crisis center. Officials expect it to open in 2026.

The plan fills a need both for a more open-door treatment facility and one centrally located for patients around Cleveland.

“Oh, having these capabilities again downtown, and on one site, with these other services? That’s a really big deal,” Brandy Carney, the county’s director of Public Safety & Justice Services, told Scene.

“Is there still gonna be a need for additional beds within the county? Yes,” she added. “But we’re definitely getting closer to where we need to be now that we have all these capabilities on site.”

The capabilities are, Carney said, a kind of complement to the 50-bed Cuyahoga County Diversion Center on East 55th, just as they are a new kind of facility entirely.

Planned to occupy three floors, each level will cater to patients depending on their triaged need of stay. Floor one, urgent care for a day-long stay. Floor two, 16 detox beds plus 16 for patients who might need two, three weeks of recovery.

And floor three, Carney said, will host outpatient services, like mental health counseling and long-term therapy.

All paired together by a “living-room model” type of care aesthetic, rather than giving off sterile vibes.

“That’s what’s important,” she stressed. “Having one site that’s gonna have the entire continuum of care for behavioral health that could arguably be had.”

For the tens of thousands of Cuyahoga County residents that seek mental health or addiction treatment every year, many enter immediate therapy or the detoxification process via two avenues: Some seek help voluntarily. Others are often dropped off by local police, either to skirt avoid jail visits or a criminal charge altogether—a procedure often called pink-slipping.

The Diversion Center on East 55th, which the County opened in November of 2021, was built as a means to link Cleveland Police with otherwise victims of the justice system. But all patients require a pre-screening call. Anyone violent is turned away. And the East 55th center doesn’t talk walk-ins.

Eric Morse, the CEO of The Centers, the nonprofit that owns the St. Vincent building, painted the $28 million remodel as just this: a crisis center tailored to accepting patients rather than having to turn anyone away.

“A mental health or substance use crisis can take many forms—self-harm, panic attacks, suicidal ideation, getting in trouble with the law, planning or considering hurting oneself or others, or an addiction crisis,” Morse wrote in a press release.

“It is our vision that the [center] will be a beacon of hope,” he added, “for those who need immediate, crisis respite and stabilization services, as well as ongoing support.”

Carney will oversee the center’s operation in some capacity with Morse and Scott Osiecki, the CEO of the Alcohol, Drug Addiction and Mental Health Services Board, the latter of which is chipping in $9.3 million to see the remodel realized.

More services, Carney argued, are forever needed. To handle an overcrowded jail. To aid or prevent police arrests. To keep many alive and functioning.

“Not just for Cleveland and for Downtown,” she said, “but for all of us in the county.”

Cuyahoga County residents suffering an addiction or mental health crisis can always call 988 or the United Way’s intake line at 211 to secure help in the area.

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