A Season of Growth

Emerge expands capacity to 80 beds at two locations this summer  

XENIA — With the new recovery housing now open and operational in Yellow Springs, staff at Emerge Recovery & Trade Initiative have been busy this past month as the organization has doubled its capacity and expanded its continuum of care to include all stages of residential treatment for men. 

Nathan Crago, director of residential services at Emerge, said the growth started in May and has transformed the organization from offering just under 50 beds in one location to now offering 80 beds at two locations. 

“May is when we began making all the moves,” said Crago, who has more than 20 years of clinical experience and strong ties to the local recovery community.  “We are growing. We are up to 40 employees, approximately 20 of which are in the men’s residential programs.

 The future is bright! We are heading in the right direction!” 

Crago said there are currently 26 residents in Yellow Spring. Of them, 18 are now working in the area and five enrolled at The Trades Institute, a for profit trade school, open to the public located at the Emerge campus.. The ones who are not employed or working to build job skills are not yet eligible yet or have yet to transition into that phase of  their care. 

The big change on the Emerge main campus at 2960 W. Enon Road was the transformation of the men’s housing unit, which is now residential treatment (ASAM 3.1 Level). On May 8th, they begin moving residents to the Yellow Springs dormitory, which is now called “Emerge Springs.” 

The main campus was then closed so that they could reopen under the new level of care on May 22. 

“It’s now 44 beds here,” Crago said. “We had to make space available for staff offices. We have had 12 intakes since opening. We currently have eight residents here. This is our second full week.” 

At this rate, Crago said the main campus will likely be filled up again in a month or two. 

Getting the residential program certified through Ohio Mental Health and Addictions Services was a huge step in the right direction, he said.  

“We’ve essentially doubled our capacity and extended our continuum of care,” Crago said. 

Longtime colleague Jeff Moore is now the men’s residential treatment operations manager. 

“I’m excited because we’re getting back to basics – true fellowship recovery and having them engaged in AA, NA and Celebrate Recovery,” Moore said. “We’ve been doing this together for more than 20 years. This is our passion, providing recovery resources to  the community. We know this works if you work it.” 

In addition to Crago and Moore, longtime counselor Luke Gulley is now at the helm of the clinical team. Emerge’s Jake Shelley is the lead housing monitor in Yellow Springs and one of the first hires when the main campus in Xenia was purchased in 2021.

In addition, former clients are now getting training to take on staff roles. “Watching a one of our men go from being one of our initial clients to being a team member has been a joy,” Crago said. “He was our second client” 

Moore said they now have eight guys working here who were previous clients. 

The rewarding part of this work is watching the transformation,” Crago said. “People transform their lives. We’ve also developed many new relationships with other community partners. We’ve become a reliable referral source. We’ve seen a lot of guys  come to our program, step out and become quite successful.” 

With June 16 marking the Emerge Ribbon Cutting just one year ago, both men said, the Emerge is headed on a positive path.