Mental health outreach will soon be more accessible to Portage County residents. TownHall II Integrated Health Services and Neighborhood Development Services officially broke ground on the site for the new Serenity House crisis care center at 3761 Lovers Lane in Ravenna last Thursday morning.
“It is a day of just being so grateful and thankful for our community collaborators that are critical to the success of this project because the need for this shelter is so significant and the teamwork is going to be the requirement to make this project and other associated projects successful,” TownHall II CEO Tamara Hunter told The Weekly Villager.
As previously reported by The Villager, TownHall II has partnered with NDS, a non-profit organization that revitalizes neighborhoods and communities with affordable housing, there will soon be a crisis center accessible for all Portage County residents in need of immediate aide who are afflicted by mental ailments or trauma. The project is being funded with federal funds and the organizations have contracted with Testa Design-Build, a residential and commercial construction company to build the facility.
Also in attendance for the groundbreaking was Mayor Frank Seman, Portage County Commissioner Sabrina Christian-Bennett, Shepherd’s House Executive Director Ann Marie Nobel, Portage County jail administrators and several other prominent Ravenna citizens.
With NDS having purchased the building for the Serenity House location, Hunter said that the plan is for significant renovation to be done in the interior.
“There might be some external things that need to happen but we are going to have individual rooms for people. So it is putting the walls up in the rooms and it is creating staff working space, storage space and things that we need to be able to support that community,” she noted.
According to Hunter, the idea for this building was originally presented to her by NDS Executive Director Stacy Brown in 2020 and it was an opportunity she could not pass up.
“Working for her or with her and NDS has been fantastic,” Hunter said. “I have done a lot of projects with them and will continue to just because of their community support.”
Hunter added that the crisis care center will provide safe haven for any individuals that need a sanctuary for a short-term residence as they suffer from mental trauma or disease.
Once they have enjoyed a healthy night’s sleep, the plan for the next day will be for them to meet with a social worker, licensed therapist and case manager and to map out a plan for them to continue receiving the help that they need from other community resources that also deal in mental health aid.
Hunter said that TownHall II has opened its doors for any interested community resources that can lend their assistance in providing the right type of treatment.
In addition to having qualified mental health professionals, Hunter said there will around the clock residential aides employed at Serenity House to constantly monitor the status of each occupant.
“There will be standard training, it is likely that we will engage them in our crisis center intervention training that we use for our help line. Our 9-8-8 lines deal with assessments,” she added. “Then we will do some escalation training with the individuals.”
Hunter acknowledged that there will also be guidelines that are established for each visitor, holding them to a set of standards they must be accountable for. If those standards are violated or if an individual is believed to pose an immediate threat to themselves or the other residents, they will be asked to leave the premises immediately.
Hunter said that although there will be protocols to closely monitor an occupant’s violent tendencies, Serenity House will not automatically turn that person away without making an assessment to determine how much of a risk they pose.
“If there is a history or if someone is coming through the prison system and they are trying to re-enter, those are spaces where if there is no immediate violence, we are going to be open to those people because those are often times, they are the people that need it the most,” she said.
While the Serenity House is still months away from opening its doors, Hunter said that she can already foresee the crisis care center becoming a vital resource in mental health advocacy in TownHall II’s mission to always provide mental health services.
“I think it will be critical,” she said. “I think that it is something that I am always hearing that there is this need. This can help fill it so I think it is going to be a fantastic resource and opportunity for people who need just a little help getting on their feet or just shelter for the night.”
