Red Oak Behavioral Health
Connect
Grow
Thrive
Our Mission
To deliver mental health and wellness services that empower students and those who support them.
Our Vision
A community where mental wellbeing is always within reach.
Our Values
Adaptability & Flexibility
Authenticity & Transparency
Compassion & Calling
Professionalism & Accountability
Spirit & Service
Red Oak Strategic Plan
Red Oak by the Numbers
Total clients served in YOUR community
Day to Become a Red Oak client
School districts who partner with Red Oak
Years serving the Greater Akron Area
Learn more about the Red Oak approach to care
Annual Reports
2020 Annual Report
2019 Annual Report
2018 Annual Report
2017 Annual Report
2016 Annual Report
2015 Annual Report
Professional Memberships
Our History
Red Oak has served as a mental health service provider for the Greater Akron community for more than 55 years. What began as a small faith-based counseling practice in 1963 (then known as Pastoral Counseling Service of Summit County) transformed dramatically in 1998, when founding CEO Rev. Byron Arledge was asked to pilot a program that would place qualified mental health professionals in select Akron Public Schools.
The school-based therapy program launched as a pilot with just one licensed therapist at Perkins Middle School. The following year, Red Oak placed seven licensed mental health professionals at other APS middle schools. By 2007, Red Oak was serving all grade levels in Akron Public, and began to expand its work to school districts across Summit County. Today the agency serves more than a dozen school districts with embedded mental health treatment services across four counties.
In 2013, the outpatient Barbara M. Vassel Comprehensive Care Center opened to serve children and adults in need of mental health care outside of the school setting. The opening of the Barbara M. Vassel Comprehensive Care Center not only provided an opportunity for the agency to serve parents and family members of its school-based clients, but also opened the door for the provision of psychiatric care and community referrals for clients of all ages. Those services were augmented to include services for older adults when they moved to our current office location at 611 W. Market Street in July of 2016 and again in 2020 with the addition of family therapy services as part of its outpatient service portfolio.
In 2018 Red Oak launched its first early childhood mental health services, serving children ages 3-5 within a preschool setting using a blend of screening, intervention and treatment services. Those screening and intervention services were augmented further in 2019 with the addition of mentoring and prevention programs, in partnership with the iC.A.R.E. Mentoring® program, and launch of a model behavioral health continuum of care program with Barberton City Schools that included training/education, screening, prevention and intervention, in addition to the already embedded treatment services.
