Townhall II, an integrated health network that provides mental health and recovery treatment services to Portage County, opened a new location on North Chestnut Street last Wednesday to better serve the community. 

The network was born out of two grassroots organizations from Kent State over 50 years ago. The first was a crisis and suicide prevention hotline on campus, and the other was a drop-in center that provided resources by a group of volunteers.

“[It was] a lot of mission-driven people wanting to help the community, and that’s really what we are today,” Tamera Hunter, president and CEO of Townhall II, said.  

Today, they provide the community with a variety of services such as substance abuse treatment and prevention, a rape crisis center, victims of crime counseling, a driver intervention program, mental health services and a residential recovery house for women. 

Kevin Brosien, director of marketing at Townhall II, said issues like substance abuse and mental health crises affect everyone, not just one segment of society. 

“We’re providing services for the betterment of the community as a whole, the people that walk through our doors are from every walk of life,” Brosien said. 

Hunter recognizes the need for their services, and said they want to help everyone, regardless of financial issues.

“We’re never going to turn anyone away,” she said. “Someone who walks through our doors and needs help, we’ll figure out how to do it.” 

They do take private insurance, but for people who don’t have any, the Mental Health Board provides them with money to help them free of charge. 

Hunter said Townhall II is most known for their substance abuse treatment and prevention. They provide prevention services to all Portage County school districts, with an expanding prevention team. 

Substance abuse treatment is a process, on average it can take about five attempts at recovery to resolve a drug or alcohol problem.  

Hunter said because of the high recidivism rates, they have been working with the Sanctuary Model of trauma-informed care. This promotes a trauma informed staff and community to look at policies or actions that could re-traumatize clients. 

“If our work environment is healthy, we’re going to be able to provide excellent quality care to our clients,” Hunter said. 

The Sanctuary Model focuses not only on the trauma of those seeking treatment, but the systems and staff who provide the treatment. Hunter recognizes this and wants to produce a safe place for clients and workers. 

“I want our staff to come in and feel loved and grateful, and really enjoy what they’re doing when they come into work,” she said. “I want our clients to feel that love too and know that we’re here and we can be their sanctuary while they are working on their own personal issues.” 

Treatment can be a long process, and it can be difficult for people to admit to needing it according to Hunter. 

“I want to challenge people against this stigma of substance abuse and mental health conditions,” Hunter said. “That’s really the battle that we’re fighting, people don’t want to say they have issues and then those things perpetuate.” 

If people can talk about what they are going through, she said they can all work together on dealing with it, and that is her goal at Townhall II. 

“We want to be the sanctuary people and we want to be known for that and letting people know that they can come in the doors and feel loved,” Hunter said. 

Townhall II is located at 520 N. Chestnut St., Ravenna, OH. Contact their 24/7 helpline at 330-678-HELP.

Correction: An earlier version of this article stated the new location as 155 N Water Street, Kent, Ohio. The new location is 520 N. Chestnut St., Ravenna, Ohio.

Savana Capp is a reporter. Contact her at [email protected].