Lakewood Mental Health Facility Could Close Next Year After County Funding Cut

A long-running mental health facility in Lakewood says that losing its county funding will keep it from operating next year.

Future Directions, a peer-run drop-in space for people struggling with drug disorders or mental health problems, has been operating at 2070 W 117th Street since 1989. It’s done so with primarily with the help of Cuyahoga County, which funds operations through its Alcohol, Drug Addiction, and Mental Health Services Board.

At least until next year.

Although the ADAMHS Board doled out about $428,000 to support services at Future Directions this year, that number will be zero in 2027.

Nearly a dozen other small nonprofits geared toward helping those in recovery, including Oriana House and the East Cleveland Neighborhood Center, likewise will see their county funding cut as ADAMHS sorts through budget and issues of its own. (Some nonprofits, like the ECNC, did not respond to a request for proposal for 2027 funding.) It’s lost $8.5 million in funding the last two years.

Passage of a health and human services levy on the ballot in November would go a long way toward stabilizing its funding, and those of organizations that rely on ADAMHS. Failure would mean further cuts and tough decisions.

Future Directions director J.J. Commisso said the loss of funding has the organization, which welcomed about 4,000 people through its doors in 2025, scrambling to find solutions.

“Unfortunately, as the ADAMHS Board was our primary funder, Future Directions does not have the capital to buy the building,” he said.

“Therefore, I am currently working on finding potential funding partners or even another organization to join that could purchase the building so we can continue our mission to provide peer support to our members.”

In a statement to Scene, a spokesperson for the ADAMHS Board said cuts were made due to the “current state of the system and the funding challenges facing behavioral health providers across the county.”