He said this expansion is the first outpatient center of its kind in Middletown and marks a significant expansion for the Community Health Alliance in Warren County.
This center will bring much needed case management, group and individual counseling, outpatient services, medication assisted treatment, peer recovery support, perinatal services, psychiatry, and mental health therapy to Butler and Warren county residents, according to Gehring.
“We want to make access to treatment as easy as possible,” he said. “Lets be honest, the people that need mental health and substance abuse treatment have enough on their mind. They have enough they are dealing with right now. If we can make access to treatment not a hurdle that’s really our responsibility.”
Eventually, the facility hopes to operate an Opioid Treatment Program (OTP).
More than 107,000 Americans died of drug overdoses last year, setting another record in the nation’s escalating overdose epidemic, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimated last week.
That’s a 15% increase from the previous record, set the year before.
According to the Butler County General Health District, the county has ranked 7th for the state of Ohio for the number of unintentional overdose deaths. Butler County is the state’s 7th largest county with a population of more than 390,000.
Gehring believes all the services offered at Community Health Alliance can assist those dealing with drug addiction and other health and social issues. The company was “very strategic” to have one office for all services, he said.
“There is no wrong front door,” he said. “We want to treat the whole person.”
The goal, he said, is to provide “a strong continuum of care.”
Success is measured by the needs of every individual and to return them to the highest level of functionality, he said.
“It can’t be one size fits all,” Gehring said.
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