CLEVELAND — A new healthcare provider in downtown Cleveland is aimed at improving people’s behavioral health to improve the community. 

C.J. Blair is working to change lives as the owner of The Table Core Services Agency.  As he gazed upon the empty storefronts along St. Clair Avenue where his office is located, he had a mixed vision.

“I see opportunity,” he said. “I see lost opportunities.”

That’s why he wants to give what he described as the “taboo” issue of mental health in urban communities a seat at “The Table.”

“If we can look at bad situations and invest in them, whether it be in real estate or in people, they can still be restored and become different things,” Blair said. “This is a land of opportunity. This is Cleveland.”

Blair, a native of Washington, D.C., spoke from his personal experience. He said after spending time behind bars, he shifted his focus. Now, he said he’s opening agencies across the country to help mold minds.

“I wanted to be a change agent in the community to say, ‘Let’s get them equipped, then let’s hold them accountable based off of what they know,’” he said. 

The Table opened in August 2020 as a foundation for building rapport and sharing life lessons. The inspiration came from the tradition of families gathering around the dinner table to share intellectual and physical nourishment. 

“Somebody had built that table, somebody had put the nourishment on that table and invited me to that table,” Blair said. “Got me what I needed, and then I was able to get the strength to sustain the nutrients and things that I needed to go build other tables for other people.”

He said he hopes to make a difference and help take neighborhoods back from negative influences like drugs and crime. 

“I cry every day because it’s like, I know what I come from,” Blair said. “I know who I am. And, for God to look at me and say, ‘You know what? I could use you.’”

The team at The Table is rooted in the community. Director of Operations Tammy Lyles has worked as a case manager for years and has a passion for helping people. 

“We could be that person in the drop of a hat, at the click of your fingers,” she said. “We could be that person. You could have it all today and not have nothing tomorrow.”

She understands that sometimes people just need someone to talk to.

“Meet them where they’re at and then you work with them to get where they need to be,” Lyles said. “Not where you want to be.”

That’s something the team at The Table takes seriously, with case managers sometimes visiting with clients at home. 

That means a lot to Deb’orah Ann Pascol Johnson Butler.

“I think she’s my big sister trying to keep her sister in check,” said Butler, referring to Lyles. 

She and Lyles share a special bond from difficult circumstances. They connected over the loss of their mothers. 

“She taught me a lot of things,” said Butler. “She’s telling me to get up and motivate myself and not just sit there.”

A support system that means the world, and empowers people to overcome challenges together. 

“If you don’t look at this as a job, and you look at it as a way of serving God and giving back, then you become that person’s person,” said Lyles. “And I think that’s what it’s all about.”