The Four County ADAMhs Board approved several contracts at its Thursday, Sept. 12 meeting, including the purchase of a new van to transport clients to services and the training of providers in traumatic grief.
Maumee Valley Guidance Center will receive $65,000 to purchase a new van to transport agency clients to specialized programming that is designed to stabilize their mental health by increasing socialization and reducing isolation. They will also receive an additional $2,200 in state funding for services provided to the forensic population.
Recovery Services of Northwest Ohio will receive $36,500 so two staff members can become certified as traumatic grief counselors.
The process takes about a year, but once completed, Recovery Services will be able to offer specialized grief services for persons who have experienced any type of trauma, including trauma caused by violence or natural disasters.
Tonie Long, ADAMhs Board CEO, explained that some of the training and program start-up costs may be off set if the board receives funding from a disaster preparedness grant that will be applied for.
Some $5,500 was authorized as the ADAMhs Board’s share of the next Defiance County health needs assessment.
The assessment process is coordinated by the Defiance County Health Department, which has received financial support from a number of agencies that then use the information to help with strategic planning.
A $90,000 Title XX contract with Quadco Rehabilitation Center was also approved to provide vocational and employment services for clients served by the ADAMhs Board system.
Long also updated the board on several topics. She explained that the board will need to create a new five-year strategic plan over the next four months as the current plan expires at the end of the year.
Approval of the new five-year plan is expected to occur at the January board meeting. It was reported that the Four County ADAMhs Board has received a clean audit for 2023 from the state auditor’s office.
Long told the board that Ohio is moving forward with its plan to implement a regional mobilization response and stabilization services for youth through age 21.
The four county board, which is in the northwest region, has joined the other mental health boards to support the application of Lucas County’s Zepf Center to be the regional coordinating agency.
Although the state has not made its selection, the Zepf Center has indicated that they would sub-contract with OhioGuidestone, an agency that already has offices in the four county area, to provide the services in Defiance, Fulton, Henry and Williams counties.
Long also updated the board on four funds that it receives from various sources that merely pass through the ADAMhs Board for accounting purposes. The funds are earmarked for specific purposes.
The largest fund is the Addiction Treatment Program that totals some $232,000. It is used for substance use treatment services and recovery support for individuals active with drug courts.
The board also receives $140,000 each year to support the area’s drug courts. Both Williams and Henry counties have drug courts for juvenile offenders while Fulton and Williams counties operate drug courts for adult offenders.
The Four County ADAMhs Board is part of a multi-county regional project that is funded by the state to provide money for specialized behavioral health needs that would be too costly for each board area to develop on its own.
This year, Long explained, the board will receive $113,311 in new funds, plus $10,383 in carryover from last year. She said $70,383 of that amount has been earmarked for detox beds at Arrowhead Behavioral Health in Maumee, $38,311 for adult mental health crisis stabilization beds at Unison Behavioral Health’s Crisis Stabilization Unit in Bowling Green; $10,000 for residential housing at the Terry Russell Home in Fostoria; and $5,000 for Steady Path Forward in Findlay.
Finally, the board receives $105,000 from a combined federal and state grant to help fund the navigator program in the Patrick Henry school district. The navigator helps school staff and families identify and connect with services to benefit students with special needs.