OhioMHAS Names New Chief Fiscal Officer

The Ohio Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services (OhioMHAS) today announced the appointment of Austin Criss as Chief Fiscal Officer (CFO). Criss joins OhioMHAS after serving more than 18 years with the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services as a Senior Budget Analyst, Budget Analyst Supervisor, Financial Manager, and Project Manager. As CFO, he will oversee the department’s daily fiscal operations, including budget and reporting, business office, revenue and billing, community funding, and community and hospital monitoring. He will also represent OhioMHAS with the Office of Budget and Management and on matters that come before the Ohio Controlling Board.

“I am excited by what Austin brings to our team with his nearly twenty years of financial and leadership experience, including his years of work with federal grants and supporting programmatic teams,” said OhioMHAS Director Lori Criss (no relation). 

Criss holds a bachelor’s degree in Economics from Connecticut College and is a graduate of the Ohio Fiscal Academy. He is a native of Alliance, Ohio, and currently resides in Westerville with his family.

New Partnership to Provide More COVID-19 Testing Kits to Ohioans

Ohio Department of Health (ODH) Director Bruce Vanderhoff, M.D., M.B.A., on Friday announced a new partnership that will make more COVID-19 rapid tests available to Ohioans. Through Project Access COVID Tests (Project ACT), the Rockefeller Foundation is joining six states to make tests available to households in traditionally underserved areas. Ohio’s initial allocation through this partnership will be 175,000 tests made available through home delivery. Click HERE for more information and to read the full ODH press announcement.

FY22 RFP: Clubhouse Model of Psychiatric Rehabilitation for People Living with Mental Illness

OhioMHAS is seeking proposals from qualified applicants to establish additional recovery Clubhouses in Ohio. A recovery Clubhouse is a place that fosters social connections among individuals with lived experience with mental illness, substance use disorders, or both. The first Clubhouse, Fountain House in New York, was established in 1948 when former patients of a New York psychiatric hospital began to meet informally as a kind of “club.” Today, there are more than 300 Clubhouses in more than 30 countries. Each Clubhouse promotes membership and belonging.

OhioMHAS intends to select multiple recipients. Funding is provided through receipt of federal block grant dollars. Grant recipients will be provided technical assistance (TA) from a separate entity to assist with implementation. That entity, known as the “TA entity,” will be determined through a separate RFP (below). “Technical assistance” is defined as providing education, support, and consultation towards achieving outcomes and goals for this RFP. All questions must be submitted electronically to peerservices@mha.ohio.gov no later than 5 p.m. on Feb. 20. Applications must be submitted to peerservices@mha.ohio.gov by 5 p.m. on Feb. 27. The grant award will not exceed $500,000 per applicant.

View RFP (MHA-FY22-ComPln-ClubHouse-01)

Face Sheet

OhioMHAS Assurances and Agreements

FY22 RFP: Technical Assistance for Clubhouse Development and Implementation Grant

OhioMHAS is seeking proposals from qualified applicants to provide technical assistance to all the awardees of the Clubhouse Model of Psychiatric Rehabilitation for People Living with Mental Illness grant (MHA-FY22-ComPln-Clubhouse-01). “Technical assistance” is defined as providing education, support, and consultation towards achieving outcomes and goals for that RFP. All questions must be submitted to peerservices@mha.ohio.gov by 5 p.m. on Feb. 20. Applications must be submitted to peerservices@mha.ohio.gov by 5 p.m. on Feb. 27. One grant, not to exceed $250,000, will be awarded.

View RFP (MHA-FY22-Recovery-ClubTech-02)

Face Sheet

OhioMHAS Assurances and Agreements

OCA Annual Spring Conference - Call for Proposals and Early Bird Registration Are Open

Ohio Children’s Alliance is now accepting workshop proposals and early bird registration for the 46th Annual Conference scheduled for May 4-5. The conference will be held at Renaissance Columbus Westerville-Polaris, 409 Altair Parkway, with in-person and virtual options. Workshops will focus on advocacy and public policy, best practices in child welfare and/or behavioral health diversity, equity, and inclusion, and strategy, innovation and leadership. Click HERE for more information. The deadline for workshop proposals is Monday, Feb. 7.

In the News

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1.28.22 | Scioto Post Pickaway Addiction Action Coalition Awarded $625K Federal Grant

1.28.22 | WEWS-TV New Canton behavioral health center to expand services to children and teens

1.28.22 | Jackson Courier Hopewell Health Centers aims to aid youth, young adults

1.27.22 | WEWS-TV Ohio House passes HB 428 to establish Adverse Childhood Experiences study commission, off to Senate

1.27.22 | WKRC-TV COVID-19 and your mental health: early signs it’s time to ask for help

1.27.22 | SpectrumNews1 Two powerful drugs now adding to U.S. overdose crisis