Governor DeWine announces $90M investment to strengthen local behavioral health crisis response services; Paint Valley ADAMH gets $7.9M in funding
Ohio Governor Mike DeWine Monday announced the award of $90 million in American Rescue Plan Act funds aimed at strengthening mental health and addiction crisis services statewide.
A total of 37 regional projects will receive funding through the Ohio Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services (MHAS), according to the Ohio Governor’s Office.
The board receiving the largest award was the Paint Valley ADAMH Board, covering Highland, Fayette, Pike, Pickaway and Ross counties, with $7,962,700 awarded.
As previously reported by The Highland County Press, in August 2022, then-executive director Penny Dehner shared results of the ADAMH’s needs assessment and recommendations report with commissioners and explained that the assessment led to the recommendation to “build a 23-hour observation unit to provide walk-in crisis support,” possibly in Ross County, and a “crisis stabilization unit to offer a less restrictive treatment option for those “in an acute behavioral health crisis,” possibly in Pickaway County. The assessment also outlined a need for “mobile crisis teams to provide coverage over the entire five-county area.” The teams would include master’s-level clinicians and peer support specialists with 24/7 community response.
According to the information provided by current executive director Melanie Swisher in July 2023, PVADAMH submitted a request for $7,962,700 in state funding, so they received their complete ask. Their first priority goal is to have the “fully operational eight-chair 23-hour crisis observation unit and a fully operational eight-bed crisis stabilization unit,” with the second goal to have “mobile crisis teams deployed across the five-county area.” They are hoping to have both goals implemented by July 1, 2024.
Other local entities receiving funding included the Fairfield County ADAMH Board (Fairfield, Athens, Hocking, Vinton, Licking, Knox, Coshocton, Guernsey, Morgan, Muskingham, Noble, Perry, Fayette, Highland, Pickaway, Pike and Ross counties), $538,166; and the Southwest Collaborative (Brown, Butler, Clark, Greene, Madison, Clermont, Preble, Warren and Clinton counties), $3,977,400.
The remainder of the press release from the Governor’s Office follows.
“Across Ohio, people of all ages and their families are seeking care in record numbers for substance use and mental health concerns,” said Governor DeWine. “I am proud of the work we are doing in Ohio to make services more visible, accessible and effective for all Ohioans faced with mental health and substance use crises. By expanding access to a full array of crisis services, more Ohioans of all ages will receive the care they need in their local community so that they can recover and reach their full potential.”
OhioMHAS will oversee coordination of the grants in collaboration with county Alcohol, Drug Addiction and Mental Health (ADAMH) Boards. As a part of the planning process, Boards were required to work with community partners (service providers, law enforcement, hospitals) to identify local needs and gaps in their regional crisis systems and to develop collaborative projects to add capacity statewide.
The resulting awards will fund a mix of capital improvement projects (26 projects, $74.5M) and infrastructure projects (11 projects, $15.5M), closing locally identified gaps in care such as short-term residential beds, behavioral health urgent care, mobile crisis response teams, and facility/IT improvements.
Specifically, the funding will:
• Add more than 225 new residential beds for Ohioans in crisis.
• Establish five Behavioral Health Urgent Care clinics.
• Support two new Crisis Intervention and Observation units.
• Launch six new mobile crisis services teams.
• Assist with four technology upgrade projects.
• Support two crisis consultancy projects.
“Because of these investments, more Ohioans and their families will have a better response to their behavioral health crisis needs than ever before,” said OhioMHAS Director Lori Criss. “With these projects, Ohio is taking a leap forward to reverse decades of neglect for Ohio’s behavioral health crisis care system, ultimately creating a more hopeful future for people experiencing a behavioral health crisis.”
Strengthening crisis services at the community level is an ongoing priority for the department. Learn more about OhioMHAS’ crisis work at https://mha.ohio.gov/get-help/crisis-systems.