City's mental health nonprofit to reopen Monday with tighter operating rules

Tri-City Co-op is located in the C&K Print building on Winter Street. (Courtesy image)

ROCHESTER - After being closed for more than a month, the city's only peer-supported mental health recovery center will reopen on Monday with new, tougher rules for those seeking services.

Tri-City Co-op, which currently provides aid and counseling to about 50 individuals, closed its doors on Nov. 14 due to issues surrounding foot traffic in and out of its Winter Street headquarters and counseling center.

While Executive Director Martha Hewitt said on Friday she didn't want to disclose what prompted the center's closure, she did say that more structure would be brought to bear in the day-to-day running of the nonprofit, specifically individual entry to the building.

"Everyone will have to check in now," Hewitt said.

As part of the remedy a front desk area has been constructed so that clients will have to check in before entering unlike previously when clients could just come and go as they please.

Hewitt also said they would be actively "checking the progress" of clients on an individual basis and adhere more to the structure of the center's "mission statement," which is to provide "an alternative, non-medical approach to wellness and recovery."

The closure has left a gap in services for local folks dealing with mental health issues, but Hewitt and Don Mccullough of the center both said their clients have been supportive during the closure.

"They understand why we did it, and what we had to do," said Hewitt.

Many in the community of those struggling with mental health issues also suffer from addiction and homelessness, agreed Hewitt and Mccullough.

The interconnectivity of the three came to the fore last July when Mccullough organized a homeless rally at City Hall.

None of Rochester's homeless population came to the rally but two formerly homeless individuals who did show up said addition to drugs like heroin and cocaine fueled much of the homelessness they see.

Grace Lloyd and her friend, Dennis Fournier, both formerly homeless, said during the rally they escaped the scourge of homelessness with one single action: beating their addictions.

Lloyd said she knew of at least six individuals who were homeless in Rochester because they blew their disability checks on drugs.

"I know one who gets $1,600 a month but he blows it on 8-balls (a term for an amount of various drugs, including crack, heroin and cocaine)," she said. "The answer to the homeless problem is already there if they'd stop using drugs. We're here to fight addiction, not homelessness."

Hewitt said Monday's opening would be a "soft opening," to see how the entry-egress protocols work.

The center has also reduced its hours of operation for the time being. They will now be open just Monday, Tuesday and Thursday, from 9:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m.