Continuing the Mission: RecoveryOhio Launches a New Way to Find Care
For more than 15 years, Ohio Governor Mike DeWine has prioritized expanding access to addiction and mental health services for all Ohioans. As Ohio’s attorney general, he treated the opioid epidemic as a public health emergency, successfully suing the opioid manufacturers and distributors for the damage they caused Ohio with the proliferation of prescription opioids. Later, Governor DeWine, working with local governments and the attorney general, created the OneOhio Recovery Foundation to make the opioid settlement money a benefit to Ohio for years to come.
In one of his very first official actions as governor, DeWine created RecoveryOhio, an initiative built to unify state and local efforts to address substance use and mental health challenges and to support the individuals and families living with them. In the years since, RecoveryOhio has worked to expand treatment, strengthen prevention and improve how care is coordinated across the state.
On June 30, that mission reached a new milestone with the launch of RecoveryRachelOhio, a first-of-its-kind statewide platform that makes it faster and easier for Ohioans to find the help they need. RecoveryRachel gives people a single, trusted place to search for licensed and certified mental health and substance use treatment providers near them — for free, anonymously and around the clock.
“No family should have to struggle to figure out where to turn for help,” said RecoveryOhio Director Erin Reed. “RecoveryRachel is about making sure that when someone in Ohio is ready to seek treatment, the path forward is clear.”
Historically, finding behavioral healthcare in Ohio has meant navigating a fragmented patchwork of providers, programs and eligibility requirements. RecoveryRachel replaces that maze with a single, trusted entry point to treatment providers across Ohio, all built on official licensure data from the Ohio Department of Behavioral Health. By bringing verified, up-to-date information into a single place, the platform reduces confusion and helps people connect to appropriate services more quickly. And because it’s anonymous and free, no one has to identify themselves or worry about cost just to find out what’s available to them.
More than 1,400 providers are listed on the platform, and users can search for care by location, specialty, availability, insurance and other filters. The platform also offers links to relevant information and resources as well as a Q&A explaining how everything works. And for anyone who would rather talk through their options rather than scroll through search results, the platform includes a virtual assistant named Rachel who serves as a friendly, personal guide. Available via chat, text, or voice, Rachel listens, asks a few questions and then points people toward services that fit their needs.
RecoveryRachel is a genuinely new kind of resource for Ohio — an AI-powered tool shaped by the people who understand the system best. It was built with input from treatment providers, clinicians, families and individuals with lived experience in recovery, all with the goal of ensuring it’s practical, accessible, responsive and trustworthy.
For Reed and the team behind the platform, RecoveryRachel is the direct result of the governor’s long-standing belief that no Ohioan should face these challenges alone.
“Governor DeWine has made it a priority to ensure that every Ohioan facing addiction or mental health challenges knows they are not alone,” Reed said. “His unwavering commitment to expanding access to care has driven this initiative from day one. RecoveryRachel is a direct result of his belief that help should be easy to find because when barriers come down, lives are saved.”
If you or someone you know is looking for mental health or substance use treatment in Ohio, RecoveryRachel is available now at RecoveryRachelOhio.org.
