STEUBENVILLE — A North Sixth Street building that at one time housed a nursing home will soon be helping a different clientele — individuals with behavioral health and mental health issues who need help getting their lives back on track.

Brookfield Counseling & Recovery, already partnering with Jefferson Metropolitan Housing Authority to provide outpatient mental health services to tenants in the JFK building and Gaylord Towers, is turning the former Catherine’s Care Center into a 16-bed group home that will address the needs of individuals with behavioral health and mental health issues, including substance abuse.

The Ohio-based provider also purchased a standalone home next to Catherine’s that will house an additional 10-12 clients.

Chief Operating Officer Nick Goodwin said Brookfield expects both properties to be ready to serve the Steubenville community “sometime in the fall.”

“We specialize in group living environments, whether they be long term care facilities, assisted living group homes or venturing into areas, like we do with HUD, where there’s a concentrated need for these services,” Goodwin said. “We do groups and individualized therapy, and the groups can focus on anything from anger control and substance abuse issues to …anxiety and depression. We work on coping skills, that kind of stuff, and then we’ll also do case management, get them on a good schedule with the local doctor.”

Their target population is aged 18 and up and will be referred to Brookfield from medical or mental health hospitals, including individuals who’ve gone through drug rehab but need step-down housing because they aren’t ready to live on their own.

“And unfortunately, a lot of them don’t have a home to go back to,” Goodwin said. “If they do, a lot of times it’s not a safe environment – that’s what’s led to some of their issues.”

Brookfield currently operates in about 20 locations throughout the state, including Hillsboro, McConnelsville, Cleveland, Youngstown and Sandusky. He said there’s no limit on how long people can stay in one of their facilities, pointing out they “have group homes where people have been living for years.”

“One of the big things is becoming part of the community,” Goodwin said. “You know, a lot of people, when they move into group housing, you find it’s different, right? You’re out of your comfort zone, so you increase your psychosocial function and you become part of the community. When somebody’s part of a community, they tend to take better care of things and look out for one another and that kind of thing.”

Goodwin said Brookfield’s partnership with JMHA was a first for them.

“We’ve always worked in group living environments, primarily group homes, nursing homes, assisted living and that kind of thing,” he said, pointing out teaming with a housing authority was the logical next step. “(You) look at where there’s a concentration of people that can benefit from the services but don’t have ease of access to it. A lot of times people living in Metropolitan Housing rely on public transportation or getting somebody to take them, so they can’t get to mental health appointments. Well here, you just have to come downstairs.”

JMHA Executive Director Melody McClurg said access to counseling emerged as a high priority over the past two years.

“We always knew that there was a need,” she said. “But when we started working on the Choice Neighborhood planning grant and the surveys went out, the whole community got involved and when residents felt comfortable expressing their need through the surveys, that’s when we really knew we have barriers that we have to remove. So we’ve already removed the barrier to education, because we have the Aspire program now in the North End. And we’re very fortunate because Brookfield was willing to partner to where they’re on site with us – we removed that barrier for people to have access to mental health services.”

McClurg said there’s been a lot of conversations locally about the increase in the homeless population in Steubenville, “but what people don’t talk about is why individuals are homeless. Amongst our homeless population, there’s a large percentage of them that have a need that Brookfield wants to address….Sometimes people don’t even know that they need that help, so the fact that Brookfield was willing to lock arms and take care of the community here in Steubenville, it’s a big deal. I know it’s a big deal for us here at the Housing Authority, but they’re not exclusive – they’re (going to be) here for the whole community, they want to become part of the community.”