Stark Community Foundation
In partnership with The Repository, every Monday, Stark Community Foundation highlights positive happenings in our community. Here’s to Good News Mondays!
Construction is underway on a new behavioral health urgent care in Canton, a first-of-its-kind, “one-stop” care center for adults, youths and families in crisis. Developed by Coleman Health Services in partnership with Stark County Mental Health & Addiction Recovery (StarkMHAR), it will be one of only a few similar facilities in Northeast Ohio.
Aligned with Ohio’s Crisis Compendium, this comprehensive facility will bring prevention, early intervention, crisis response and transition support services together under one roof. By integrating these services, the facility will provide immediate, on-site, coordinated care for individuals facing behavioral health crises or struggling with substance abuse.
This care model is designed to reduce wait times, decrease expensive hospital emergency department visits and transportation, while creating staffing efficiencies for medical and behavioral health, supporting law enforcement with a secure drop-off location and providing professional, comfortable and trauma-informed care for community members in crisis 24-hours-a-day, 365-days-a-year.
Located at 2421 13th St. in Canton, the new 19,800-square-foot, two-story building will significantly increase the organizations’ capacities to serve residents who visit in-person and utilize their services through their rapidly expanding mobile crisis teams and 988 crisis hotline. Construction is expected to be completed in fall 2026.
“The need for urgent care for mental health has become more pressing than ever, with many individuals struggling to cope with stress, anxiety, depression and other conditions,” said Hattie Tracy, president and CEO of Coleman Health Services. “In Stark County in 2024, the crisis hotline received 35,000 calls, and 71 Stark County residents died by suicide. These statistics weigh heavily on our minds, and we are doing our best to make sure access to life-saving care is streamlined and coordinated within the community.”
The new facility will offer expanded services, including an involuntary hold unit for behavioral health, as well as voluntary observation and assessment rooms for both adults and youth. A crisis stabilization unit will provide immediate stabilization for individuals in crisis and play a vital role in the continuum of care for mental health and addiction recovery. These spaces are being designed with flexibility in mind, so they can adapt to the community’s evolving needs in behavioral health crisis care.
“Individuals and families that utilize the Behavioral Health Urgent Care will be evaluated promptly to avoid escalation, receive quick relief from symptoms and set up with the appropriate after-care to have a greater likelihood of a successful full recovery,” said Tracy. “The target population is an estimated 7,000-plus individuals in Stark County who are in a behavioral health or substance use crisis requiring assessment, observation, crisis, residential stays or hospitalization.”
In addition to its clinical value, the project represents a long-term investment in the community. It is expected to generate economic development not only through the creation of health care jobs, but also by supporting a network of essential service providers that may be newly established, expanded or sustained as a result of the facility’s operations.
The new center marks a significant step forward in delivering high-quality, compassionate behavioral health services in Stark County and improving outcomes for both clients and the wider community.
Learn more at www.colemanservices.org/starkcrisis.
Stark Community Foundation helps individuals, families, businesses and nonprofits achieve their philanthropic goals through a variety of charitable funds and strategic initiatives. Ranked in the top 10% of community foundations in the country, the foundation and its family of donors have granted nearly $275 million to nonprofits since 1963. Learn more at www.starkcf.org.