In the fall of 2022, CSS was awarded a four-year $4 million grant by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) allowing CSS to implement the Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinic (CCBHC) model for care delivery. CSS was one of only seven Ohio organizations to receive the grant.

The CCBHC model emphasizes coordinated, comprehensive, trauma-informed and recovery-oriented care for anyone in need of services for mental health or substance use, regardless of ability to pay, place of residence or age. To achieve this, CSS has expanded its services to include treatment for children and adolescents, enhanced services for those with substance use disorder and increased outreach to certain populations that have been underserved. The grant provided funds to hire additional staff for these efforts, including a child and adolescent coordinator and crisis specialist; a care coordination specialist, and a cultural broker to assist with the needs of Nepali and other clients.

“We are very grateful to SAMHSA for their confidence in CSS to lead this collaboration and make a positive impact on the lives of so many of our community’s most vulnerable people.” - Bob Stokes, CSS president and CEO.

As a CCBHC, CSS must offer the following core services, either directly or through relationships with designated collaborating organizations:

• Targeted case management and care coordination.
• Screening, assessment, diagnosis and risk assessment.
• Patient-centered treatment planning.
• Outpatient mental health and substance use disorder services.
• Outpatient primary care screening and monitoring.
• Psychiatric rehabilitation services.
• Peer and family support.
• Crisis mental health services.
• Intensive, community-based mental health care for veterans and service members.

CSS’ collaborating partners include Child Guidance & Family Solutions, CHC Addiction Services and Portage Path Behavioral Health/ Psychiatric Emergency Services.

Typically, about 50% of clients who are placed in housing lose their housing within the first six months, largely because of the lack of support. This fiscal year, that number changed for CSS, thanks to a newly created staff position.

Funding awarded by a generous local foundation enabled CSS to create a full-time housing retention specialist position. The retention specialist provides case management services to help ensure newly housed clients are successfully integrating into their housing and the community. The specialist also supports clients by helping them build coping skills to deal with feelings such as depression or anxiety that can arise from living independently or being in new situations.

Initially, the specialist contacts the clients several times a week and then tapers off visits over six months. In addition to case management, the specialist helps the client connect to an agency that will continue to provide support services.

Implementation of the housing-retention specialist position at CSS led to an incredible success rate: nearly 80% of clients now maintain their housing after six months. The success of the program has led the County of Summit Alcohol, Drug Addiction and Mental Health Board (ADM Board) to take over funding the position, which initially was funded for one year.

In August of 2022, ground was broken for the Naomi Project supportive housing facility. Thanks to quick work by Tober Building Co., the facility was completed and opened just four months later, providing a new home for eight residents who were participants in CSS’ Tent to House program.

The new facility, which was awarded funding through the Housing Tax Credit program, includes eight one-bedroom apartments and a clubhouse for the residents. It is one of 45 units of scattered-site supportive housing being developed in Summit County as New Frontier Homes, a collaboration between CSS, the City of Akron, Summit County Land Bank, Family & Community Services, Joanna House II and Tober Development Co. The goal of the new developments is to prevent or end homelessness for nearly 40 families in Summit County.