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50 For 50 #40: Keep Your Friends Close
This is the 40th in a continuing series of stories--one every day for 50 days--to conclude IKRON's year-long celebration of our 50th anniversary. Missed one? No problem! See the entire series on our news page here.
In 2005, a new opportunity came IKRON's way to partner more closely with another Cincinnati organization: the WARMLINE, begun in 1994.
WARMLINE offers 24-hour peer support to anyone who just needs to talk to someone for a few minutes. In addition to being a popular service (receiving over 26,000 calls per year), WARMLINE is also a significant employer of peer supporters--currently, around 30 peers answer calls.
But in 2005, WARMLINE needed a new home, as the Consumer Network that previously housed the service had closed. IKRON did a little rearranging on the first floor, and WARMLINE moved in. They remain at the IKRON building today.
Just a few years later, the then-15-year-old Health Resource Center (HRC) was also doing some house hunting. HRC is a nurse-managed, full-service mental health clinic that focuses on the "hard to serve" population, many of whom were regular visitors to the Psychiatric Emergency Service in the mid-1990s, but with no long-term solution. Dr. Connie Wilson and Sister Mary Lynne Calkins founded HRC in 1995 on McMicken Avenue, and they moved into IKRON's third floor in 2010.
With this new addition to our building, IKRON clients now had access to HRC's medication services, while HRC clients could take advantage of IKRON's employment services. The partnership remains beneficially mutual to this day.
Our building on Vine Street now houses four agencies: IKRON, HRC, Mighty Vine Wellness Club, and WARMLINE. Hundreds of people come through our doors every week, for a variety of purposes, but they all find the same thing: a group of people who are committed to their success.