Cuyahoga County Diversion Center expands to allow self and family member referrals for treatment

Oriana House Inc. on East 55th Street in Cleveland

The Cuyahoga County Diversion Center operates out of the Oriana House on East 55th Street in Cleveland. (Gus Chan, The Plain Dealer)The Plain Dealer

CLEVELAND, Ohio— Cuyahoga County’s Diversion Center expanded its mission on Monday to allow for people with mental illness or drug addiction to seek treatment themselves or through family members and friends, officials said.

The change expands the $9.2 million center from a pre-arrest diversion center to double as a crisis center that offers treatment to people before police intervention, said Scott Osiecki, the CEO of the county’s Alcohol, Drug Addiction and Mental Health Services Board. The board oversees the center.

“We’ve always been advocating for people in need of services to receive care before their symptoms escalate to a level of crisis, needing hospitalization or law enforcement involvement,” Osiecki said. “We’re really happy about this and we think this is a great resource for the community.”

The long-planned center opened in May at a temporary location at the Oriana House building on East 55th Street. There are 50 beds at the center, which will eventually expand once a new, permanent site is built. More than 80 people have used the center since it opened. Osiecki he expects the new change to attract more people to the center.

“The Cuyahoga County Diversion Center was developed to divert people who need mental health and substance use treatment away from the criminal justice system. That is still the primary purpose,” County Executive Armond Budish said. “We can also use this facility to help people with mental illness or substance use from further escalating into a psychiatric situation and hospitalization, while still reducing the burden on our jails.”

Osiecki said the ADAHMS board always planned to operate as both a pre-arrest diversion center — where people accused of low-level, non-violent offenses can voluntarily get treatment instead of getting booked into jail— as well as a crisis center. The center will prioritize pre-arrest diversion.

He said the process will work similar to a police referral. Instead of a police officer or EMS worker calling FrontLine Services’ 24-7 hotline to determine if someone fits the criteria to be accepted to the center, someone can call the hotline themselves, as can family members or friends.

Anyone over the age of 18, with no history of violence or sex crimes, qualifies for help from the diversion center. Anyone who is taken to the center must go voluntarily. If someone doesn’t qualify, or beds are unavailable, FrontLine Services will connect people with additional places for help, Osiecki said. The center can’t accept walk-ins, he said.

The center provides an alternative to emergency rooms that may not be able to help someone in the throes of a mental health crisis as readily as the diversion center, which is staffed around the clock with psychiatrists, nurses and social workers. The center also provides immediate access to someone with substance abuse issues who may otherwise have to wait for a bed to open elsewhere, Osiecki said.

“Other diversion centers throughout the country also have the same kind of admission criteria,” Osiecki said. “So if we have this resource and ability, we do want to make sure that is used to the best of its ability.”

It’s the second expansion of services at the center in recent weeks. Last month, officials allowed for police and EMS workers to take people to the center without a crime occurring.

Osiecki said the expansion has nothing to do with recent issues with Cleveland police’s policy regarding the center.

The policy was criticized in recent months for putting in place barriers for officers to take people to the center who need treatment instead of jail. One is a requirement for officers to first call the city prosecutor’s office before FrontLine Services. Mayoral candidates Justin Bibb and Kevin Kelley have said they would eliminate that criteria from the policy.

Another issue, that officers first get permission from victims of low-level, non-violent crimes before they start the process of taking someone to the center. City officials on Friday said they would rescind that requirement sometime this week after experts and those who work with the diversion center criticized the policy.

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