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Trumbull Mental Health and Recovery Board seeking levy renewal

Vindicator (Youngstown, OH) - 10/13/2014

Oct. 11--WARREN -- The last time there was much public discussion of funding issues relating to mental health and substance abuse was when Gov. John Kasich decided to expand Medicaid eligibility a year ago.

That decision made it possible for more people to get services for mental health, drug and alcohol addiction and other conditions.

In Trumbull County, it meant that the county Mental Health and Recovery Board didn't have to spend about $600,000 annually to three agencies that provide most of its services -- Valley Counseling, Coleman Professional Services and Compass Family & Community Services.

But the Ohio Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services cut $500,000 from the local agency's annual budget, said April Caraway, executive director of the county mental health and recovery board.

That left about $100,000 the local board could use to expand services in a couple of areas -- mental health and addiction-prevention programs in the local schools and working with local homeless shelters to provide housing for the homeless.

Helping the homeless is important for a mental health and recovery program such as hers, Caraway said, because homeless people with mental-health issues won't get better until their homelessness is corrected.

The local board has a renewal levy on the ballot this November -- a 1-mill, 10-year levy that would raise $3,344,282 annually. That is $34.17 per year for the owner of a $100,000 home.

As for the job her agency is doing, its partner agencies served 10,000 people with family services, mental health counseling and substance abuse assistance last year.

That doesn't mean everyone is getting the services they need, Caraway said. Some people are homeless, some people wandering the streets probably have mental illnesses and might have been in a state mental hospital in the days when there were many more of those hospitals, she said.

But under Ohio law, authorities cannot force every mentally ill person to get help.

Caraway said 35 people died of drug overdoses in 2013 and many more were on the verge of death until a drug called Narcan was used to revive them from an overdose at local emergency rooms or by ambulance personnel.

But one of the newer concerns she has is with high-school kids snorting heroin, a method that is appealing to those who would not have tried heroin the more common way -- injection with a needle, she said.

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(c)2014 Vindicator (Youngstown, Ohio)

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