The nonprofit Recovery Resources will close next summer, after decades of providing therapy, housing and employment services to people with mental health diagnoses or addiction.
Starting in October, MetroHealth took over treatment services for the nonprofit’s psychiatric and therapy treatment.
The 70-year-old nonprofit also manages 55 affordable housing units scattered around Cuyahoga County and offers employment assistance to those who receive treatment for mental illness and/or a substance abuse disorder, among other programs.
It’s not yet clear where the non-clinical services will go. Recovery Resources is working with its funders to find other Cleveland providers that can take on the work, including another organization that can operate the housing and keep residents in their homes. If that is not possible, a MetroHealth spokesperson wrote that it would work with the county’s Alcohol, Drug Addiction and Mental Health Services Board to help residents apply for other housing options.
Recovery Resources will conclude most of its direct programming and services by the end of the year, though its housing services may extend past that.
The transition was “guided by the principle of ensuring expanded access and financially sustainable services in an economic environment that continues to present challenges to organizations like ours,” Recovery Resources CEO Seona Goerndt said in a press release.
MetroHealth and Recovery Resources have had a close partnership since 2018, when the hospital acquired the nonprofit. For the last several years, MetroHealth had been offsetting losses from Medicare and Medicaid payments at Recovery Resources, the hospital said.
“Amid growing financial pressures, transitioning services to MetroHealth and other community agencies proved to be the most sustainable path forward,” the hospital wrote in a news release.
The change affects about 80 employees in all, the hospital said, the majority of the nonprofit’s staff. Employees whose programs do not transition to other community organizations will be offered severance packages based on their length of service with Recovery Resources.
A small team will remain after Dec. 31 to help sunset the organization and to oversee housing, if needed.
The move by Recovery Resources, it seems, is yet another domino in a county of falling healthcare dominos. Healthcare organizations across Cleveland are preparing for federal Medicaid cuts and other rising costs. Cuyahoga County’s ADAMHS board – which doles out money to providers working on alcohol, drug addiction and mental health – is proposing an up-to-10% across-the-board cut in 2026. In July, MetroHealth laid off 125 employees in an effort to stabilize its finances. The hospital also said that it will have to close its psychiatric emergency department if ADAMHS cuts its funding.
It’s not yet clear what, exactly, all these changes will mean for patients. MetroHealth hopes that access will be expanded by adopting Recovery Resources’ clinical work — patients can now get treatment at the many clinics the hospital runs countywide.
“As our community’s needs evolve, this transition is the most responsible way to ensure people still receive the care and support they deserve,” said Dr. Nabil Chehade, MetroHealth’s senior executive vice president and chief of clinical transformation, in a press release.