The Counseling Center – Who Are We?
A Brief Snapshot FY2010 

The Center, incorporated in 1963, is a private, not-for-profit comprehensive behavioral healthcare organization (the “behavioral healthcare” indicates that we work with mental and emotional illness, substance abuse issues, and the dually-diagnosed – those with both mental and substance problems).  

• Our Vision:
  We are committed to improving the health status of the residents of Columbiana County by providing excellent, effective, efficient, and sufficient behavioral health care services. 
   

• Our Mission:
  It is our mission to provide affordable, high quality, comprehensive behavioral health services to community members of all ages - children, youth, adults, and families; we accomplish this through efficient management of funds, utilization of such evidence-based practices as the Recovery Model, and the practice of continuous quality improvement.  In this way, clients and families are provided sufficient education and support to achieve increased independence and improved functioning in their homes and communities.

We have approximately 145 employees (114 full-time equivalents), a 6.6 million dollar budget, and we serve between 4,500 and 5,000 individuals and families each year, including 2,000 new clients.  Approximately 20% of those clients are seen for substance abuse issues. At any given point in time, we see approximately 3,200 active, unduplicated clients. We see people of all ages, individuals, families, and groups; we provide 24-7 emergency psychiatric services for all of Columbiana County. We work with around 700 Severely Mentally Disabled (SMD) adults and 400 Severely Emotionally Disturbed (SED) youth. Our medical staff see approximately 1,500 clients, including around 600 youths. Our youth services include intensive home-based, early childhood, and school-based care. Increasingly, our youth providers see younger clients; over the past two years, approximately 17-18% of Counseling Center referrals have been for youth ages 3-5; if we add in the 6 & 7 year olds, the percentage increases to over 31%. Our case managers have caseloads of approximately 35 clients each and our therapists each have caseloads of about 150.  Annually, we subsidize the housing of approximately 100 families and individuals and assist 150 to 200 people concerning their vocational needs.     

We have three sites: Lisbon, East Liverpool, and Salem. We are also in the Juvenile Justice Center in downtown Lisbon. We have an immediate care housing facility on our main campus, called the Kendall House, with 6 apartments, staffed 24/7, housing urgent care adult clients; our Hand-in-Hand House allows us to provide housing to four formerly homeless mental health clients in the community; we own five other scattered-site apartments in the Lisbon area and Apple Grove Homes I and II, three 10-unit townhouse apartments in Lisbon.  We are in the schools and jails, serving clients.  We work with all the local social service agencies, law enforcement, and the courts.  We provide services for a number of groups, serving individuals, parents, teachers, and families with support, mentoring, education, and provide an intensive outpatient program (IOP) as an alternative to hospitalization for a number of individuals suffering from a chemical dependency.  

The County paid for 600 bed days at the State Psychiatric Hospital for fiscal year 2009, which averages less than two (2) beds per day. We, or the county, have contracts with several hospitals for emergency adult psychiatric beds, including Saint Elizabeth’s Hospital, Turning Point Crisis Stabilization, Akron General Hospital, St. Thomas Hospital and Canton Crisis Center. We have contracts with Neil Kennedy Recovery Clinic and Trinity Hospital for adult detoxification. We also use Belmont Pines in Youngstown (youth) and Akron Children’s Hospital (youth), as needed.  

Our clinical staff consist of:

• 3 psychiatrists
• 1 advanced practice nurse
• 3 nurses
• 2 psychologists
• 15 mental health therapists
• 4 Families Together therapists
• 4 AoD therapists
• 4 Parent Project providers
• 2 Early Childhood consultants
• 11 adult community support providers
• 12 youth community support providers
• 2 IDDT (mental health/chemical dependency) community support providers
• 6 After-Hours Crisis workers and 3 Crisis workers during regular hours
• 6 vocational specialists
• 6 residential workers, working at our Kendall House
• 3 counseling/psychology/social work interns, and
• 2 Payeeship workers

The great majority of our funding comes through a contract that we have with the local Columbiana County Mental Health and Recovery Services Board through which federal and state mandated and discretionary funds are provided.  

• 38% comes from the Ohio Department of Mental Health;
• 3% comes from the Ohio Department of Alcohol and Drug Administration Services;
• 31% comes from Medicaid and Title XX (indigent funding);
• 14% from local levies; and;
• 14% from client fees and local, state and federal grants.

We have a subsidized fee scale that is based on a client’s ability to pay.  Generally, the County Board provides the difference between what the client pays and what the agency’s actual cost is.  So, for instance, if a client is asked to pay $10 per hour/visit with a therapist, and our cost is $100/hour, the Board picks up $90. Our contract with the County has to be “earned” in the sense that we collect money from all third party payers, including Medicaid, Medicare, private insurance, and self-pay. We, then, invoice the County every month, based on the total number of clients we see and services performed.      

We have grants from the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services, the Ohio Department of Mental Health, the Ohio Department of Development, and the US Department of Housing and Urban Development. We have local school and jail contracts and a number of local affiliation agreements.

We are certified by the Ohio Department of Mental Health (ODMH) & the Ohio Department of Alcohol and Drug Addiction Services (ODADAS); and we are accredited by the Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities (CARF). We receive an independent audit, a Medicaid audit and a Non-Medicaid services audit on an annual basis. Rules from the Office of Management & Budget (OMB) Circular A-133 apply to our funding.