BATAVIA, Ohio — The Clermont County Board of Commissioners has proclaimed September 2026 as National Recovery Month, formally recognizing that treatment works and that recovery from mental health and substance use challenges is possible with community support.
Dr. Lee Ann Watson, executive director of the Clermont County Mental Health & Recovery Board, and Denny Moell, the board’s associate director, accepted the proclamation on behalf of the organization, according to a county Facebook post. Moell said the impact of mental health and substance use challenges often reaches beyond the person struggling to their families, friends and the broader community.
Watson also gave an update on the county’s new Crisis Receiving Center, which she said is planned to open in January and will give Clermont County residents 24/7 access to behavioral health services, addressing what the county has previously described as a long-standing gap in the local behavioral health system.
The Mental Health & Recovery Board is converting its current headquarters at 2337 Clermont Center Drive in Batavia into the Crisis Receiving Center, according to the county. The project drew a $1 million grant from the OneOhio Recovery Foundation, which distributes a share of Ohio’s settlement funds from pharmaceutical companies tied to the opioid epidemic, the county has said. Board staff relocated to an office on Ferguson Drive in Cincinnati earlier this year while the Batavia building is renovated.
The Mental Health & Recovery Board has operated in Clermont County since 1969, when it was formed under a state law creating local boards to plan and fund community mental health services. County voters approved a local levy for the board in 1981, and the board later took on responsibility for alcohol and drug treatment services as well. It now contracts with agencies including Greater Cincinnati Behavioral Health Services, Child Focus and Clermont Recovery Center to serve thousands of adults, children and families each year, funded through a mix of state, federal, local levy and grant dollars.
Anyone experiencing a mental health or substance use crisis can reach the Clermont & Brown County Crisis Hotline at 513-528-SAVE (7283) or call or text the National Suicide & Crisis Lifeline at 988, the county said. Both are available around the clock.
The county is also promoting “Hope Lives Here,” an overdose awareness and recovery event set for 2 to 6 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 30, at Mount Orab Park. The free, family-friendly event will bring together Clermont and Brown counties for an afternoon of remembrance, recovery resources, food and entertainment, according to the county.
The information contained in this story was obtained from Clermont County.