The Alcohol, Drug Addiction and Mental Health Services (ADAMHS) Board of Cuyahoga County is responsible for the planning, funding and monitoring of public mental health and addiction treatment and recovery services delivered to the residents of Cuyahoga County. Under Ohio law, the ADAMHS Board is one of 50 Boards coordinating the public mental health and addiction treatment and recovery system in Ohio.
The Board is a quasi-independent part of county government, governed by a volunteer Board of Directors. The Board contracts with provider agencies to deliver services that assist clients on the road to recovery.
ADAMHS Board of Cuyahoga County Adopts OACHBA's Statement on Issue 1
The ADAMHS Board of Cuyahoga County adopted the statement made by the Ohio Association of County Behavioral Health Authorities (OACBHA) on Issue 1 at the September 26, 2018 General Board meeting. The full statement is available below.
The Ohio Association of County Behavioral Health Authorities firmly believes that non-violent individuals with a substance use disorder are better served through treatment instead of incarceration. This is particularly true for marginalized populations who are over-represented in Ohio's prisons and often go unserved. We oppose this constitutional amendment because it does not address the problem as intended. We implore the Ohio General Assembly to immediately bring together a bi-partisan coalition of concerned Ohioans to take action to address these issues through a legislative solution.
Buried in Treasures Support Group
Buried in Treasures is an action-oriented, peer-led treatment group and is hosted by the Hoarding Connection of Cuyahoga County. The facilitated group is highly structured and time-limited, consisting of 15 sessions. Each session focuses on a chapter in the book, Buried in Treasures: Help for Compulsive Acquiring, Saving, and Hoarding. The sessions are facilitated by a nonprofessional who may have (or have had) hoarding disorder or a special interest in it.
Sessions are held on Thursdays, 1:00 p.m. at May Dugan Center, 4115 Bridge Avenue, Cleveland 44113 and on Tuesdays, 7:15 p.m. at the Middleburg Heights Community United Church of Christ, 7165 Big Creek Parkway. If you are interested, sign up online at www.hoardingconnectioncc.org.
Training Institute Schedule 
The ADAMHS Board of Cuyahoga County Training Institute announces its Fall/Winter 2018 workshop schedule. We are offering workshops with CEUs/RCHs in September through December of 2018.
To review our Fall/Winter 2018 Training Institute Workshop Schedule, click here. (It may take a few moments to open.)
24-Hour Suicide Prevention/Mental Health & Addiction Crisis Services
If you or someone you know is thinking about suicide call the 24-Hour Cuyahoga County Suicide Prevention Hotline operated by Frontline Service, Inc. at 216-623-6888.
24-hour Crisis Text "4HELP" to 741741. A live, trained crisis counselor will respond within five minutes. The crisis counselor helps you move from a hot moment to a cool calm to stay safe and healthy using effective active listening and suggested referrals – all through text message using Crisis Text Line’s secure platform.
Click the Chat Icon to learn more about Crisis Chat or access the confidential and anonymous service that is available daily from 3:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m.
The Suicide Postvention Response Team serving Cuyahoga County responds to those most immediately affected by suicide loss. The team of volunteers will provide timely response to survivors, a listening ear and information about local resources available to survivors.
Cuyahoga County Crisis Response Needs Assessment
In January 2018, the Alcohol Drug Addiction and Mental Health Services Board of Cuyahoga County (ADAMHSBCC) contracted with The Begun Center for Violence Prevention Research and Education (Begun Center) at Case Western Reserve University to conduct a comprehensive community needs assessment of Cuyahoga County’s crisis response system. This system is a complex and tiered one comprised of crisis response services that support clients whose safety and health are threatened by behavioral health challenges, including mental illness, developmental disabilities, substance use, and/or overwhelming stressors.
The objective of this assessment was to include a broad enough range of participants to reliably surface the major underlying themes characterizing the responsiveness of the system in meeting the needs of clients and their families. The goal of this effort was to present these themes in ways that would be useful in assessing the effectiveness of the current system and later informing planning efforts for improvement. The report details strengths and identifies areas for improvement in the Cuyahoga County Crisis Response System.
The ADAMHS Board Recovery Month Billboard Campaign Is Up!
The Alcohol, Drug Addiction and Mental Health Services (ADAMHS) Board of Cuyahoga County launched a recovery billboard campaign in celebration of September as National Recovery Month.
The billboards feature photos and quotes of fourteen individuals from Cuyahoga County who are living better lives - lives full of recovery - because they sought help after a suicide attempt or for their addictions and/or mental illness. The goal of the billboard campaign is to reduce stigma and raise awareness about addictions, mental health, recovery and suicide prevention. Treatment works and recovery is possible!
Each of the fourteen billboard participants are also being featured on the ADAMHS Board’s Twitter, Facebook and Instagram accounts this month. Join us in celebrating recovery throughout the month of September!
FREE Online Behavioral Health Screenings - With Video Doctor!
The ADAMHS Board of Cuyahoga County is pleased to offer FREE and anonymous online screenings that feature Video Doctor (for depression and alcohol screenings), an online tool that simulates a conversation with a doctor and guides a person through a series of questions about his/her emotional well-being and readiness to seek help. Video Doctor launches after a person completes an online screening and scores positive for having symptoms of depression or alcohol abuse.
We offer the following screenings:
- Alcohol Addiction (with Video Doctor)
- Depression (with Video Doctor)
- Bipolar Disorder
- Eating Disorders
- General Anxiety Disorder
- Posttraumatic Stress Disorder
- Brief Screen for Adolescent Depression
These screenings are anonymous and are not intended to be a diagnosis. The screening tools can help you identify signs that you or someone you know might have a mental health and/or addiction issue. The results only indicate that you may benefit from a professional consultation and services.
Click this link to access the screening program: http://www.mentalhealthscreening.org/screening/ADAMHSCC
Please Note: The online screening program is an education initiative of Screening for Mental Health, Inc. (SMH), and all screenings are informational, not diagnostic. The online screenings, like the paper and pencil screenings held on SMH national screening days, are conducted anonymously and diagnoses and treatment recommendations are not provided.
Information on Opioid/Heroin Addiction and Help
Heroin is an opiate. Fentanyl and carfentanil are synthetic opiates. Opioids in all forms can be dangerous and are addictive. Anyone can become addicted and often times, heroin addiction begins with a prescription for painkillers. There were 722 overdose deaths in Cuyahoga County in 2017. Opioid addiction is a brain disease that can lead to physical changes like depression, personality changes, respiratory and G.I. problems, and general infections. When the drug is ingested into the body, it lights up a feeling of euphoria in the brain, and works to mimic many of the body's systems. After a user's first time getting high, it takes a higher and higher dose to recreate the feeling.
Recovery from opioid addiction is possible. And, those in recovery from addiction often play a vital role in helping others who are living with substance use disorders, including heroin addiction. Medication Assisted Treatment is also successful in aiding with recovery from opioid addiction.
Individuals abusing opioids/heroin/fentanyl need professional help. There are detoxification and treatment programs available in Cuyahoga County: contact our 24-hour information and referral line at 216-623-6888, or visit our Finding Help page for a list of treatment providers. Talk to your primary care physician or even go to the hospital emergency room for help.
The first step to recovery is seeking help. From there, sticking to treatment is the most important thing. Heroin abuse is a scary aspect of drug culture. Users can get very sick, very fast and are less likely to seek medical treatment for illnesses because getting high is their priority. Behavioral therapy, counseling, help with withdrawal symptoms - which can be important if the drug has done significant organ damage - is available.
Recovery Speakers Bureau If you are living in recovery from mental illness and/or addiction and would like to share your story as a Recovery Advocate, please complete this interest form.
Recovery Story Videos
Click here to watch recovery stories of Travis, Shelli, Toni and Tyler.
Looking for a speaker about heroin addiction, treatment and recovery?
Contact Beth DeJesus, External Affairs Officer via email or phone: 216-241-3400 ext. 812.
Recovery is Beautiful
Ohio’s community mental health and addiction services system is in the second year of a 5-year transition from a system that focuses on acute care to a Recovery Oriented System of Care (ROSC) that focuses on recovery management to help individuals not only get well, but stay well.
This transition is called Recovery is Beautiful. The ADAMHS Board of Cuyahoga County is the organization responsible for ensuring that this transition to the ROSC takes place in Cuyahoga County.
If you want to learn more about the ROSC click here.
Problem Gambling & Resources 
The ADAMHS Board of Cuyahoga County provides Problem
Gambling information, warning signs and community resources on its website.
Click here or the icon to the left to be directed to the Problem Gambling page.
Question, Persuade, Refer (QPR) Suicide Prevention Training
The ADAMHS Board of Cuyahoga County is offering FREE Question, Persuade, Refer (QPR) Training to physicians, healthcare workers, and other gatekeepers in Cuyahoga County to help prevent deaths by suicide and reduce the stigma associated with mental illness.
A gatekeeper is anyone in a position to recognize a crisis and warning signs that someone may be contemplating suicide.
QPR teaches three simple steps that anyone can learn to help save a life from suicide.
90% of people in a suicidal crisis will give some kind of warning of their intention to those around them.
For more information on QPR Training, click here.
Project DAWN (Deaths Avoided With Naloxone): Naloxone Saves Lives!
The ADAMHS Board of Cuyahoga County supports MetroHealth's Project DAWN and is supporting the program with a $100,000 grant to help save lives from heroin overdoses. The grant will allow MetroHealth to buy 2,000 more naloxone kits.
Naloxone is an opiate blocker (antagonist) that can reverse the effects of an opiate overdose. Overdose deaths are especially common after an individual has had a period of sobriety, such as immediately after detoxification, upon leaving residential treatment, or when leaving jail or prison.
Naloxone is easily given to an unconscious patient as a nasal spray. It will not harm someone who is not experiencing an overdose. However, it has no effect on those who overdose on cocaine, methamphetamines, or alcohol.
Free Naloxone Kits are available to a person addicted to heroin and/or friends and family on a walk-in basis at the following locations:
Cuyahoga County Board of Health, 5550 Venture Dr., Parma, OH 44130
Fridays, 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.
Circle Health Services (formerly The Free Medical Clinic of Greater Cleveland), 12201 Euclid Ave., Cleveland, OH 44106
Tuesdays, 12:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. and Fridays, 1:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.
Thomas F. McCafferty Health Center, 4242 Lorain Ave., Cleveland, OH 44113
Thursdays, 4:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.
City of Cleveland-EMS Headquarters, 1701 Lakeside Ave., Cleveland OH 44114
Monday through Friday, 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
Ohio law contains a “Good Samaritan” clause that blankets prosecution of someone who gives naloxone to an overdosing person and then calls 9-1-1, even if the caller was using drugs, to eliminate the fear of calling for help. All first responders including police, firefighters and paramedics can also carry naloxone. Call 216-778-2100 for more information about Project DAWN.
Every person with opiate addiction and their families and friends should know about the potentially life-saving Project DAWN. Click here to download a Project DAWN flyer with contact information.
RX Drug Drop Program:
Click here to view a flyer about the Cuyahoga County Prescription Drug Drop-off Program, or visit www.sheriff.cuyahogacounty.us/rx or www.rxdrugdropbox.org.
Parking at the ADAMHS Board:
Free parking is available on a first-come, first-served basis. All visitors must check-in at the Parking Attendant Booth located in the lot directly behind the building on the east side of West 26th Street.
Visitors are to inform the attendant that they are visiting the ADAMHS Board and will be directed to available parking spaces.
Free and metered parking is also available on the street.
Please click here to view our disclaimer