NewsNow - 01.27.2022

Governor DeWine Announces Nearly $15M in ARPA Block Grant Funds to Strengthen Behavioral Health

Governor Mike DeWine announced Wednesday that $14.9 million in American Rescue Plan (ARPA) Supplemental Block Grants funds will be used to help strengthen Ohio’s statewide mental health and addiction care services system, specifically in the areas of youth prevention and early intervention services. “We know that 75% of substance use disorders and mental illness begin before the age of 25, and prevention and early intervention strategies are vital to building resilience and opportunities for long-term health,” said Governor Mike DeWine. “These dollars will make key investments in substance use disorder and mental health prevention programs and treatment services to help Ohioans live their best and healthiest lives.” The funds will be distributed over the next four years and are broken down as follows:

Primary Prevention

$5M ($1.25M per year) for community coalitions and youth-led programs to address marijuana and alcohol prevention. These funds will be awarded on a competitive basis with a goal of reaching up to 250,000 individuals over the next four years.
$5.4M to support public health campaigns designed to enhance the perception of harm of alcohol and marijuana use.

Coordinated Specialty Care for First Episode Psychosis

$2.3M to fund two pilot First Episode Psychosis Coordinated Specialty Care Virtual Teams in year two and six additional teams in years three and four. Using telehealth to expand services, specialists at the Ohio State University Early Psychosis Intervention Center (EPICENTER) will provide medication management, psychotherapy, and family support and education. Individuals with first episode psychosis will access specific coordinated specialty care services through their local community mental health center (i.e., case management, education and vocational support and on-site nursing and medication management). EPICENTER will provide training and ongoing consultation.
$1.8M to mitigate losses for uncompensated care at 17 existing First Episode Psychosis/Early Serious Mental Illness teams in the following counties: Allen, Athens, Auglaize, Butler, Clermont, Coshocton, Cuyahoga, Delaware, Fairfield, Fayette, Franklin, Gallia, Greene, Guernsey, Hamilton, Hardin, Highland, Hocking, Jackson, Lorain, Lucas, Mahoning, Meigs, Montgomery, Morgan, Morrow, Muskingum, Noble, Perry, Pickaway, Pike, Portage, Ross, Stark, Summit, Trumbull, Vinton, Washington, Wood.
$307,926 for the purposes of adopting Healthcare, Outcomes, Network, Education (HONE) developed by Yale University to better collect outcomes on Ohio’s First Episode Psychosis clients.

As part of the ARPA block grant funding, OhioMHAS is also this month releasing $2.98 million in COVID mitigation funds to Ohio’s Alcohol, Drug Addiction and Mental Health Boards (ADAMH) to be used by boards and community behavioral health providers for COVID testing, PPE purchases, contact tracing, healthy environment maintenance, and other efforts to prevent spread of COVID-19, as well as for behavioral health services for individuals in short-term housing who are at elevated risk of contracting COVID. These are one-time allocations to Ohio’s ADAMH boards for local distribution. Click HERE to read the Governor’s full press announcement.

Governor DeWine Announces $2.5 Million to Support Victims of Family Violence

Also on Wednesday, Governor DeWine announced more than $2.5 million in grants for victim service agencies to support victims of family violence, domestic violence, and dating violence during the COVID-19 pandemic. The funding comes from the Family Violence Prevention and Services Act (FVPSA) American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) supplemental funding federal grant program. This ARPA supplemental funding for FVPSA is separate from the ARPA funding recently announced for law enforcement and first responders. Administered by the Ohio Department of Public Safety’s Office of Criminal Justice Services (OCJS), the FVPSA federal grant program is the primary federal funding stream dedicated to the support of emergency shelter and related assistance for victims of domestic violence and their children.

In total, 42 grants were awarded to 40 local agencies in 35 counties. Funding will support the establishment, maintenance, and expansion of programs and projects to:

prevent incidents of family violence, domestic violence, and dating violence.
provide immediate shelter, supportive services, and access to community-based programs for victims of family violence, domestic violence, or dating violence, and their dependents.
provide specialized services for children exposed to family violence, domestic violence, or dating violence, underserved populations, and victims who are members of racial and ethnic minority populations.

Click HERE to view a complete list of agencies receiving grants and the amounts.

OSU EPICENTER Spring Speaker Series Schedule

The Ohio State University Early Psychosis Intervention Center (EPICENTER) has announced a weekly, virtual early psychosis speaker series for this Spring. Presentations will focus on topics relevant to the etiology, phenomenology, lived experience and/or treatment of early psychosis. Continuing education credit for Counseling, Psychology, and Social Work is available for Ohio providers. You may register for any of the upcoming talks by clicking on the title of the presentation below. All sessions will be held on Fridays from noon-1:00 p.m. Past presentations from the speaker series are available for viewing on the EPICENTER website. For questions about the speaker series, please email EPICENTER@osumc.edu.

Jan. 28 | Distressing Psychotic-Like Experiences in Middle Childhood and Early Adolescence |Presenter: Nicole Karcher, Ph.D.

Feb. 4 | Dosing Antipsychotic Medication for Relapse Prevention | Presenter: Dr. Stefan Leucht

Feb. 11 | Microbiota, Mental Health, and Neurodevelopment | Presenter: Gerard Clarke, Ph.D.

Feb. 25 | Use of Antipsychotic for Women with Psychosis | Presenter: Bodyl Brand

March 4 | Transition to Psychosis Among At-Risk Children and Adolescents | Presenter: Ian Kelleher, MB BCh, Ph.D.

March 11 | Promoting Resiliency in People with Serious Mental Illness During the Coronavirus Pandemic | Presenter: Nadine Kaslow, Ph.D.

March 18 | Addressing Psychosis in Transgender and Gender Non-Conforming Individuals | Presenter: Sebastian Barr, Ph.D.

March 25 | Hippocampal Functioning in Individuals at Clinical High Risk for Psychosis | Presenter: Emily Hird, Ph.D.

April 1 (4:00 p.m.) | Transdiagnostic Clinical Staging for Youth Mental Disorders | Presenter: Patrick McGorry, M.D., Ph.D.

April 8 | Early Intervention, Telehealth, and Long-Term Recovery in Psychosis | Presenter: Donal O’Keeffe, Ph.D.

April 15 | Clozapine and Inflammation | Presenters: Walter Stearns, M.D. and Craig Parris, A.P.R.N.

April 22 | New Avenues for Studying Language Disturbances in Psychosis | Presenter: Nancy Lundin, B.N.

April 29 | Psychosis and Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder | Presenters: Sarah Hamilton, M.D. and Hossam Guirgis, M.D.

20th Annual NADD State of Ohio MI/DD Conference – July 11-13

The 20th Annual NADD State of Ohio MI/ID Conference will take place virtually on July 11-13. More information about registration and the schedule will follow in the spring. To learn more about NADD and the Ohio Conference, visit the NADD website. The theme for the 2022 conference is “Supporting the Workforce that Supports Individuals with MI/IDD”. Conference planners are currently accepting workshop proposals. Presentations will be 90-minutes in length and will include time for audience question-and-answers. Proposals must be submitted by Feb. 18.

In the News

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