On Friday, Ohio Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services (OhioMHAS) Director Lori Criss traveled to Belmont County where she participated in a ribbon cutting ceremony for a new detox facility in Barnesville. Belharmon Recovery Services will provide medically monitored withdrawal management programs for residents of Belmont, Harrison, and Monroe counties.

The facility, which previously housed the Barnesville Church of the Nazarene, features eight private bedrooms and will serve adult men and women who have an identified need for withdrawal management services from an addictive substance such as opioids, alcohol, methamphetamine, and benzodiazepines.

The Mental Health and Recovery Board of Belmont, Harrison and Monroe counties utilized local levy dollars to complete renovations. Construction began in 2022 and was completed this spring. "It took us some time to get where we are today, but it was well worth the journey," said Lisa Ward, Executive Director the MHRS Board.

Click HERE to read local news coverage of the ribbon cutting. 

OhioMHAS is pleased to announce the appointment of Jennifer Jarrell as the department's new Deputy Director of Public Affairs. Jarrell, who joined the department this week, previously served as Deputy Director of Communications at the Ohio Department of Commerce. In that role she was responsible for leading a team of public information officers, serving as a spokesperson for the Medical Marijuana Control Program, and managing all internal communication and employee engagement programs and activities for the department.

Prior to her time at the Department of Commerce, she spent more than five years with The Kroger Co. where she first oversaw all media and government relations for the company’s Columbus Division, which encompassed more than 115 stores stretching from Northwest Ohio through Columbus and into the Ohio Valley. She later transitioned to oversee associate communications and employee engagement for the division. Jarrell also served as a public information officer for the Delaware County Sheriff’s Office and spent nearly a decade in television news, working as an on-air reporter at stations in Columbus, Toledo, South Bend, Indiana, and Zanesville.

She earned her Bachelor's degree in Broadcast Journalism from the E.W. Scripps School of Journalism at Ohio University, and in 2021 earned her Master's degree in Public Policy and Management from the John Glenn College of Public Affairs at The Ohio State University. Jarrell serves on the Governing Board of Children’s Hunger Alliance, as well as the Glenn College Alumni Society and as a member of the Olentangy Local School District’s Communications Advisory Group. Originally from the Akron area, Jennifer and her husband Todd live in Galena with their two children and dachshund.

From weather, to rising prices and costs of doing business, to long hours, and the weight of keeping the family farm in business can cause incredible amounts of stress and take a toll on a farmer’s mental wellbeing. A newly created alliance will focus on mental health in agriculture to ensure Ohio’s farmers, families, and communities are better equipped to deal with stress.

The Ohio Department of Agriculture (ODA), Ohio Department of Health (ODH), OhioMHAS, The Ohio State University (OSU), Ohio Farm Bureau (OFB), Ohio Suicide Prevention Foundation, and Farm Credit Mid-America make up the new Ohio Agricultural Mental Health Alliance (OAMHA).

The group’s first action is introducing a new, anonymous survey to seek feedback directly from rural communities. The survey aims to gauge stress and how it’s being dealt with. OSU created the survey in partnership with OhioMHAS and ODH; working with OFB they utilized a pilot group to provide feedback. OAMHA will use survey results to determine where resources are needed and help ensure support is available to communities.

The Montgomery County Alcohol Drug Addiction and Mental Health Services (ADAMHS) Board this week announced that it has received multiple awards from the Dayton Business Journal. Executive Director Helen Jones-Kelley will be given the "John E. Moore, Sr. Award for Racial Diversity" at the 2023 Leaders in Diversity event on Oct. 26. According to a media release, Director Jones-Kelley was chosen for this distinction "to recognize her 40+ years of public service, focused on improving the lives of families and children."

Montgomery ADAMHS is also among the three finalists for the Journal's "Business of the Year Award" in the Community Supporter category. Highlights include work made possible by a $1.2 million federal grant to focus on promoting good mental health among Black youth. Montgomery County ADAMHS was one of just eight organizations nationally to receive this grant from the Minority Health Office of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The grant allowed ADAMHS to host the first Cultivating Resilience Summit this past summer, drawing mental health professionals from across the state to learn more about building a trauma-informed community.

In June, the Board was tapped to receive the paper's "Inno Fire Award" for innovation. The award is given to organizations that show the most innovation and impact in their community. Montgomery ADAMHS was given the honor to recognize a series of grants that were earned to allow for the funding of innovative programs to increase services in Montgomery County, including the launch of the Crisis Now model of delivering crisis services.

In collaboration with Wright State University and the Ohio Department of Developmental Disabilities, OhioMHAS is now offering the Mental Illness/Intellectual Disability (MIDD) training series on eBased Academy. This series focuses on the many issues unique to individuals with both behavioral health issues and development disabilities. Each hour-long training module focuses on a different subject and is designed to help learners better understand the many treatment-related and other issues faced by this population.

The Collaboration Network (TCN) will present a virtual Roundtable on Mental Health: Tackling Behavioral Health Equity and Access to Care on Oct. 19 from 9:00-11:00 a.m. Featured panelists include: OhioMHAS Director Lori Criss; Kate Schroder, President and CEO of Inyteract for Health; and Meredith Poynter, Southwest Hub Director of teh Mental Health & Addiction Advocacy Coalition. Topics covered include: equity in mental and behavioral health care; improving access by confronting the workforce shortage; and Ohio's mental health system.