In part 1 of our special investigation, we dropped some bombshell allegations against the Counseling Center leveled by a former employee. He claimed that the majority of the facility’s patients come from out of town and that many of them end up homeless and contributing to the area’s crime problem.
This opinion is held by a lot of residents and local government officials. We reached out to the Counseling Center’s Chief Operating Officer Aaron Wagner for the facility’s side of the story.
Wagner says it’s simply not true that most clients come from out of town. “Eighty percent of TCC clients are from the region, meaning a typical commute. With operations in Brown, Adams, Scioto, and Lawrence County, this equates to an approximate hour radius of Portsmouth.”
He says the of the other 20% of clients, half are referrals from community-based correctional facilities (CBCF) and post-incarceration programs. “Those persons are from various areas in the state but are in the local CBCF’s. TCC is one of only 3 fully comprehensive operations in the state, so it’s easy to see why a CBCF connects clients to TCC. The other 10% are entering our Stepping Stones Program, which allows children to remain with their mother (and in some instances with their father) while they receive mental health and/or addiction treatment. The children are able to access care for their trauma and development as well.”
He says that many companies won’t attempt to provide services like those because they don’t make money. “TCC does so as a nonprofit, shifting revenue from other services to cover this unique and important program.”
While he says he can’t speak for other less-reputable rehab operations, Wagner says TCC takes people home if they quit rehab. “We do return individuals to their home communities if they do not wish to remain at TCC. If they are a justice referral, we work with their parole officer to return them. We do not allow “walk-offs” and in the rare instance a client is obstinate, we engage law enforcement immediately.”
Wagner disputes the idea that TCC clients end up homeless. “TCC is not aware of ANY clients who are homeless. We engage with the local shelters to ensure they have our information for referrals, we provide transportation for any and all in need, we hold routine homeless healthcare events in local parks to attempt to help and engage them in whatever service they may need (typically applicable to our large mental health residential program that many do not know we operate), and we perform city sweeps on occasion where we reach out to the homeless where they are and attempt to help while providing both food, clothing, healthcare items, and Narcan. Surveys at the local shelter have consistently revealed that persons there did not come to the area to seek any form of treatment but rather are either passing thru or nearly lifetime homeless. It is not factual to assume that homeless individuals in our community have increased as a result of treatment operations.”
He insists The Counseling Center provides many important services to the community. “TCC is one of the only operations in our region to have an independent quality certification that includes housing and support operations, assuring an independent and detailed review of the facilities, operating procedures, and financial practices.
The focus needs to remain on expanded mental health services and homes, a challenging and continuously underfunded need in our region and arguably the nation. In addition to these efforts, TCC teams up with local emergency and safety services and responds to overdose and mental health calls 24 hours, 7 days with on call, qualified professionals. This operates in conjunction with and out of our Crisis Center that is also open and accessible 24/7/365 with immediate phone access at 740-354-1010.”
Up next in our series, we take a look at TCC’s tax filing.
Review Part 1 in this series here
