Recovery, Wellness & Mental Health
Franklin County is home to the largest behavioral health treatment and research center on any pediatric hospital campus in the country, a century-old psychiatric hospital that's now the only academic program in central Ohio treating every age group under one roof, and an addiction-treatment nonprofit that's served Central Ohio continuously since 1953 — plus dedicated crisis response and the state-designated public boards that fund mental-health and addiction services across the outer counties of Delaware, Union, Fairfield, Pickaway, and Licking.
Big Lots Behavioral Health Pavilion — Nationwide Children's Hospital
Opened in March 2020 following a $50 million gift from Big Lots and the Big Lots Foundation, the nine-story, 386,000-square-foot Big Lots Behavioral Health Pavilion houses inpatient psychiatric units, intensive outpatient programs, a dedicated Psychiatric Crisis Department, and behavioral-health research space under one roof. Nationwide Children's Hospital describes it as the largest behavioral health treatment and research center on any pediatric medical campus in the country.
Ohio State Harding Hospital
Founded in 1916 in Worthington by Dr. George T. Harding II as one of the country's early private psychiatric hospitals, Harding Hospital merged with Ohio State University in 1999 and moved onto the university's medical campus. It now operates 84 adult and geriatric inpatient beds and 24/7 Psychiatric Emergency Services, and is described as the only academic program in central Ohio providing inpatient psychiatric services spanning child, adolescent, adult, and geriatric patients.
Talbot Hall — Ohio State Wexner Medical Center
Talbot Hall has provided inpatient and outpatient treatment for substance use disorders at Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center continuously since 1974. It currently operates 40 inpatient beds — 25 for medical withdrawal management and 15 for residential treatment — alongside medication management, individual and group psychotherapy, and a sleep-medicine unit, treating alcohol, opioid, and other substance use disorders.
Maryhaven
Founded in 1953 by the Sisters of the Good Shepherd as a single residential program for women with alcohol addiction, Maryhaven describes itself today as Central Ohio's oldest and most comprehensive behavioral health provider specializing in addiction treatment, and the largest provider of behavioral health care in the community by number of patients served — now running 26 programs across six locations in central and north-central Ohio, including a satellite site in Marysville, Union County.
Netcare Access
Netcare Access operates Franklin County's 24/7 crisis phone line (614-276-CARE / 614-276-2273), plus in-person crisis assessment, stabilization, and short-term residential services for adults in mental-health or substance-use crisis. In 2025, Netcare's crisis clinicians fielded more than 167,000 calls and coordinated over 12,500 transports, describing itself as central Ohio's leading responder for people in behavioral-health crisis.
Southeast Healthcare
Southeast Healthcare (Southeast, Inc.) has provided integrated mental-health, substance-use, primary care, dental, and homeless-outreach services in Columbus since 1978, on a sliding-fee, no-one-turned-away basis. It holds a HRSA Health Care for the Homeless grantee designation — a federal status not every city's safety-net behavioral health provider carries.
Outer-County Coverage: Delaware, Union, Fairfield, Pickaway & Licking Counties
Ohio funds community mental-health and addiction services through county-level public boards created under the state's 1989 Alcohol and Drug Addiction and Mental Health Services Act. Each of the five outer counties in the Columbus metro area has its own board that plans, funds, and monitors local treatment, crisis, and prevention services, separate from the ADAMH Board of Franklin County that oversees the resources listed above.
Delaware-Morrow Mental Health & Recovery Services Board
The Delaware-Morrow Mental Health & Recovery Services Board plans, funds, and monitors public mental-health and addiction treatment services for Delaware County (including the city of Delaware and the county's northern communities) and neighboring Morrow County, contracting with local providers rather than delivering care directly.
Mental Health & Recovery Board of Union County
Headquartered in Marysville, the Mental Health & Recovery Board of Union County assesses local behavioral-health needs and funds contracted providers to deliver mental-health and addiction services countywide, rather than operating clinical programs itself.
Fairfield County ADAMH Board
The Fairfield County ADAMH (Alcohol, Drug Addiction and Mental Health) Board plans, funds, and monitors mental-health, addiction-prevention, treatment, and recovery services for Fairfield County, headquartered in Lancaster.
Mental Health and Recovery for Licking and Knox Counties
Established as a body corporate under Ohio law and governed by an eighteen-member board that includes state and county representation, this agency funds and monitors alcohol, drug-addiction, and mental-health services for Licking County (including Newark) and neighboring Knox County, contracting with local treatment agencies to deliver care.
Paint Valley ADAMH Board
Pickaway County's mental-health and addiction services are coordinated by the Paint Valley ADAMH Board, a multi-county public board also serving Fayette, Highland, Pike, and Ross Counties, which funds crisis, prevention, and recovery services and maintains a county-specific crisis line for Pickaway County residents (740-477-2579).