NORTHFIELD, Ohio – Community Support Services (CSS) and its partners celebrated the groundbreaking of the future home of the Dr. Fred Frese Residential Center Oct. 3.

Located on the grounds of Northcoast Behavioral Healthcare, the $10 million facility will be a 16-bed residential step-down center that provides a supportive environment for those who are departing the psychiatric hospital and transitioning back into the community.

The development is the result of a partnership between the state of Ohio and the County of Summit Alcohol, Drug Addiction and Mental Health Services Board (ADM Board) to help address the crisis response for individuals who are released from hospitalization but not yet stabilized enough to live on their own or without additional support. The goal is that with the additional support provided at the center, those discharged from the hospital will be less likely to end up with a crisis that lands them in an emergency department, on the streets or in jail.

CSS will staff the facility, providing services such as case management, counseling, group therapy and nursing, in addition to residential care. The center will house male and female adults from Summit, Portage, Geauga, Cuyahoga, Lake and Lorain counties, and the average resident’s stay will be 60 to 90 days.

The center will include various wings with yoga and exercise rooms, shared spaces for socializing, meeting rooms and pods of bedrooms. The design of the center, which took about a year in planning, was created with a warm, lodge-like feel that incorporates the earthy hues of the adjacent Cuyahoga Valley National Park. Design work was done by Hasenstab Architects, and construction will be completed by Hammond Construction.

The project is supported by the ADM Board through local levy funds and $2 million from the Ohio Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services (OMHAS) via American Rescue Plan Act funds.

The center is named after Dr. Fred Frese III, a psychologist and fierce advocate for those living with severe mental illness. Frese was diagnosed with schizophrenia in 1968 and later went on to earn a doctorate in psychology and be appointed the director of psychology at Wester Reserve Psychiatric Hospital.

“CSS is grateful and humbled by the opportunity the Frese Center represents,” Keith Stahl, CSS director of operations and residential services, said at the groundbreaking. “We look forward to staffing the facility and serving the residents of Summit County and Ohio in the Spirt of Dr. Frese. With this center, his belief and embodiment of recovery will continue in perpetuity. And if the Frese Center is half as inspirational and life changing as Dr. Frese, we will be immensely successful.”

The groundbreaking was attended by members of Frese’s family, as well as ADM Board Executive Director Aimee Wade, NAMI Ohio Executive Director Luke Russell, NAMI Summit County Executive Director Leslie Stoyer and OMHAS Director LeeAnne Cornyn.

The center is slated to open next fall.