Officials attend groundbreaking for Lorain County Crisis Receiving Center

The groundbreaking for the planned Lorain County Crisis Receiving Center, 6140 Broadway in Lorain, took place Oct. 27 with a crowd of local and state community leaders.

The ceremony was a celebration for the many who had a hand in bringing the idea to fruition.

“This is a historical day for Lorain County,” said Dan Urbin, chairman of the Mental Health, Addiction and Recovery Services (MHARS) Board of Lorain County.

The Crisis Receiving Center will offer an alternative treatment plan in Lorain County as it provides behavioral health and substance use disorder care.

The facility will help divert those struggling with addiction and mental health issues from the criminal justice system, to get the assistance they need and ease the burden on law enforcement to deal with these medical issues in the midst of their day-to-day work in ensuring public safety, according to a news release.

“The planned Crisis Receiving Center is an alternative and much improved vision for how Lorain County provides behavioral health and substance use disorder care,” the release said.

Officials referred to the new facility as a prototype that other counties and agencies can used as an example as the country continues to battle the opioid epidemic with the “first-of-its-kind facility to treat those experiencing a mental health or substance use disorder crisis,” according to the release.

The project owner will be the MHARS Board in partnership with The Nord Center, The LCADA Way and many other community partners.

“It was really a vision to bring this together,” said state Rep. Joe Miller, an Amherst Democrat, at the event.

“Addiction is a disease and we need to say it over and over again,” said city of Elyria Safety Service Director Matt Lundy, who spoke during the ceremony and assisted in bringing the project together.

Lundy also said a crisis receiving center is not just a game-changer, but it’s a life saver and critical to the local economy.

The community agencies partnered with local and state officials to secure funding for the facility as a joint mission.

“This state supported initiative is appreciated and long overdue,” Urbin said. “Here in Lorain County, Michael Doud (MHARS Board executive director) has been working hard since his appointment in 2021, to move the county forward into building a better system for those experiencing a mental health or addiction crisis to access quality services.”

The center will offer “revolutionized mental health care,” said Dan Haight, president and CEO of The LCADA Way.

“(State Sen. (Nathan) Manning assisted at the state level, the city of Lorain has worked with the planning committee, private and public entities and nonprofits from the whole county have committed support to the work that the MHARS Board and the Nord Center are accomplishing with developing the Crisis Receiving Center,” stated the release.

Manning also was in attendance to join in the community event.

The Lorain County facility will offer 32 beds.

The living room model will provide 23-hour mental health stabilization for 16 adults and 16 for those seeking help for addiction, according to the release.

It will be staffed by medical professionals specializing in addiction and mental health.

“When a person experiences an addiction or mental health crisis, it may not always be clear to them, their loved ones and law enforcement how to handle these specialized medical issues,” Doud said.

“This crisis center is a front door to access services in our community,” the release stated. “It is an investment in modernizing the level of care we are able to provide Lorain County residents struggling with addiction and mental health issues.”