MOUNT VERNON — Although they won’t move in until Oct. 7, Freedom Center staff dedicated their soon-to-be new location on Friday.

The Freedom Center bought the building at 135 S. Main St. in April 2022 through a $550,000 grant from the Ohio Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services (OMHAS).

“This has just been a dream come true and sometimes I really have a hard time believing that it is real,” Dr. Afet Kilinc, the Freedom Center executive director, said.

“I want to thank you for your amazing support and your generosity. We know that this moment is possible because of you,” she told the donors attending the dedication.

Freedom Center board member Kris Caldwell thanked the donors who contributed to the project. Donors included OHMAS, Ariel Foundation, Knox County Foundation, Mental Health and Recovery Board for Licking and Knox Counties, and several families.

John Annarino, OMHAS chief of staff, spoke on behalf of Gov. Mike Dewine and OMHAS Director LeeAnne Cornyn.

“It’s easy to collaborate with people who care and people who are committed and people are easy to work with,” he said.

“I thank you for not caring about who gets the credit. I thank you for putting your heart first and making sure that people that need us have help because that’s what we’re all about the end of the day.”

Kay Spergel, executive director of Mental Health and Recovery Board for Licking and Knox Counties, thanked Kilinc, her board, and her staff for “making this wonderful, really cool place possible.”

“It’s just not the building. It’s the people that make the building happen, and it’s the people within that building that make really wonderful things happen to the other,” Spergel said.

Renovations

Robert Robertson Construction Services started renovations in the fall of 2023. The Freedom Center will occupy the second and third floors.

“We have two tenants occupying the first-floor space,” Kilinc said. “The community really wanted us to reserve the first-floor space for retail and businesses so that we can continue to support the business activity in downtown Mount Vernon.

“Plus this generates a little revenue to cover our operations,” she added.

Kilinc said the tenants, a yoga and Pilates studio and Atlas Wellness, fit well with the Freedom Center’s services.

“We feel that we have a building dedicated for wellness services that are mental health or physical health,” she said. “We have two wonderful tenants who are going to be really very complementary working together serving the community.”

Renovations included a new roof on the third floor and adding stairs from the second to the third floor. Future improvements include a new roof on the second floor, fixing underground drainage downspout problems, improving the elevator, and creating more accessibility by adding a ramp on the Gambier side entrance.

“We invested a lot of money to bring the building up the code and improve it. It’s a huge investment in Mount Vernon and downtown, and I think that our presence has contributed significantly to downtown because of our innovation efforts,” Kilinc said.

“The tenants we have are doing their own renovations because they felt like they really wanted to be a long-term tenant, and they were willing to take on renovation projects.”

The need

The second and third floors provide nearly 8,000 square feet, almost double the center’s current space at 106 E. Gambier.

“We had to use space next door for some of our programming because we didn’t have enough space in our current building,” Kilinc said. “Plus, it’s a very old building, almost 200 years old.

“It’s on the registry of historic homes. It was not really built to be a office building, so it doesn’t flow very well.”

Kilinc said that on East Gambier, everyone was under the same roof in a small space.

“That was concerning to us because we didn’t want to mix women who are vulnerable with high-risk men or adults,” she explained. “The new space allows us to have dedicated space for children and dedicated space for women.

“We’ll also be able to have our prevention program under the same roof as our other programs,” she continued. “And it certainly provides a more modern, appropriate space for our counseling services and group services and family services.”

The vision

Kilinc marked her fifth anniversary with the center on April 1.

“I hit the ground running. My board was already at work looking for a bigger, better modern building,” she said.

Kilinc and her board members visited multiple properties, trying to find one that would accommodate the center’s needs.

After several years of no luck and many rejections, Kilinc said they became resigned to buying different properties and renovating them to create a small campus.

“We feel so blessed because we didn’t seek this building out. It just fell in our lap,” she said. “The owners wanted to sell it to us through a private sale, and it happened in December. I felt like it was Christmas.

“I still feel that excitement today.”

Kilinc said staying downtown was extremely important, noting the proximity to other health care providers and the center’s clients.

“Being downtown is a perfect location. It gives clients great accessibility and also puts us close to with other partners.”Dr. Afet Kilinc, executive director of the freedom center

“A lot of our clients walk to our building to get to their appointments. Many of them also take public transportation, or rely on bicycles, and many of them reside and live near us on the west side or in the immediate neighborhoods,” she said.

“They also have a lot of involvement with probation and courts, so it makes sense for us to be closer to downtown and other partners that serve our clients and be in walking distance to them.”

Freedom Center: Nearly a century of service

The Freedom Center has been in the community for 47 years.

“We provide very comprehensive services,” Kilinc said. “We’re not just about substance disorder treatment, although that is our roots and that’s where we came from.”

“We provide prevention services and mental health services,” she continued. “We specialize in children play therapies and EMDR trauma therapy. Also, we specialize in treating women and really providing women gender-specific treatments, and recently added case management and homeless outreach services.”

The center also provides medication and medical services, has a psychiatrist on staff, and has a physician who prescribes addiction medications.

It can also provide family and couples counseling in the new location.

Kilinc said that in the past, the center was more comfortable serving kids aged 12 and older.

“But we have the capacity and expertise to serve kids as young as like 5 or 6 years old, maybe even younger if they’re able to participate in play therapy,” she said.

“So we have quite a wide range of very comprehensive services. But the community, I think there were moments they were a little nervous about having us in certain areas, including downtown. We had to address those concerns with the community partners.”

What’s the next step for the Freedom Center?

The Freedom Center will hold a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Oct. 10. The move-in date to the South Main site is slated for Oct. 7.

The center owns its building at 106 E. Gambier and will continue offering intensive medication and medical services there.

Expanding to South Main allows the center to take on a second capital project: renovating the Gambier building and transforming it into recovery housing services.

“We hope to build a certified quality recovery housing with treatment onsite,” Kilinc said.

“Having a recovery home is going to really help those who are most high-risk and most vulnerable and help them really have long-term recovery.”Dr. Afet Kilinc, executive director of the freedom center

The center is pursuing state capital funding.

“Our community struggles with affordable housing,” Kilinc explained. “We also lack housing-based programs or services for people with severe mental illness or substance disorders.”

Although some sober living programs are in the community, Kilinc said they are not certified. The state encourages certification to receive state funding.

“So, we want to create hopefully one of the first certified recovery homes for this community and help our clients who have very severe chronic aggressive substance use disorders have an expanded long-term sober recovery environment that will be like a home,” she said.

Kilinc said that many clients who live in a residential facility are strong when they leave.

However, if they do not have a sober living arrangement and sober support system, “they get triggered … their shields weaken, and they relapse.”

“So a recovery home where they can be in the community, in a home that gives them the structure and the support they need to be able to expand their recovery and sustain their recovery, is very much needed,” Kilinc said.

by Cheryl Splain September 9, 2024