County gets visit from director of state Mental Health and Addiction Services

March 18--ASHTABULA TOWNSHIP -- The director of the Ohio Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services paid a visit to Ashtabula County, Monday, to learn about some of the programs and initiatives the county is working on to combat the growing drug epidemic the area is facing.

Tracy Plouck spent the afternoon learning about the county's drug court, drug recovery programs and mental health counseling services offered in the county. This is the first time a state director has visited the county, said Miriam Walton, director of the Ashtabula County Mental Health and Recovery Services Board.

With the number of drug-related deaths increasing in the county, one of the more prominent programs in the county is drug court. Judge Alfred Mackey said at any given time, there are between 30 to 40 individuals participating in drug court.

Heroin abuse in the county is the most problematic, with the vast majority of abusers being within the age bracket of 18 to 36-years-old. The county is also third in the state for the number of methamphetamine labs.

Drug court allows drug offenders a chance to enter a recovery program, with regular drug testing and meetings and rather than go to prison.

The county also offers a residential treatment facility for both female and male drug offenders at Lake Area Recovery Center. Director Kathleen Kinney said the facility houses 12 beds for female offenders and beginning April 1, 14 beds will be available for the male population thanks to a grant.

The men's facility has been closed for the past four years because of a lack of funding.

Kinney said it is disturbing that so many people in the county are using heroin.

"It's the one that causes death to so many in our county and sometimes we are helpless as to what we can do," Mackey said.

The goal at LARC is to find drug offenders a new safer place to live once they complete treatment. Women typically stay in treatment for 90 to 100 days, but Kinney said that time-frame may be less for males. There are currently more than 500 males under probationary supervision in the county and the vast majority of them are substance abuse offenders, she said.

One of the biggest problems these men and women face once they complete treatment is the inability to pay their fines and get their drivers licenses reinstated so they can have transportation to get to and from a job.

"It's a viscious circle," Kinney said. "They can't drive to get to a job so they can have money to pay their fines."

Walton said one option might be to develop a program that allows individuals within a certain income level to do community service to work off their fines. Plouck was in agreement with the idea and said she would take the idea back with her.

Plouck also had the opportunity to meet with the staff of the Community Counseling Center to hear about several new initiatives the center has implemented including the Mental Health Stop Grant, the Transition to Independence Program. Motivational Interviewing Program and Community Care Center.

Clinical Supervisor Matt Butler has had great success with the Stop Grant program. The program allows individuals who have been receiving mental health treatment in prison to obtain assistance with housing, medication and medical appointments once they are released.

"It's been really neat to collaboratively work with these folks who would otherwise be roaming around," Butler said. "Even though this isn't a huge amount of money, we've been able to leverage it to make a huge amount of differences in people's lives."

Community Counseling is also getting ready to launch the TIP program which will help young adults who have grown up within the Children Services system transition into being on their own. Staff members will help with things such as job interview skills, resume writing skills, budgeting money and even grocery shopping.

Another new program at Community Counseling Center is the Community Care Clinic, which offers immediate pre-crisis access. Clinical Supervisor Joleen Sundquist said it has allowed the staff to have outreach with a lot of clients that otherwise may not have made it into seek counseling.

Walton said she uses the phrase "today's the day" to describe the need for such a service.

"We have people who are approaching crisis and decide they need the treatment," she said. "They make the call but can't get an appointment for one to two weeks."

Plouck also received a tour of the new Signature Health site at the former Ashtabula Hotel and learned about the new Child Advocacy Center, the County Jail Treatment Program and state hospital successes and issues.

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