Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine announced Aug. 28 the award of $90 million in American Rescue Plan Act funds aimed at strengthening mental health and addiction crisis services statewide, according to a news release.
The Mental Health, Addiction and Recovery Services Board of Lorain County will receive $4,508,705, the release said.
A total of 37 projects will receive funding through the Ohio Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services.
“Across Ohio, people of all ages and their families are seeking care in record numbers for substance use and mental health concerns,” DeWine said in the release. “I am proud of the work we are doing in Ohio to make services more visible, accessible and effective for all Ohioans faced with mental health and substance use crises.
“By expanding access to a full array of crisis services, more Ohioans of all ages will receive the care they need in their local community so that they can recover and reach their full potential.”
Ohio MHAS will oversee coordination of the grants in collaboration with county Alcohol, Drug Addiction and Mental Health boards, according to the release.
As a part of the planning process, boards were required to work with community partners (service providers, law enforcement, hospitals) to identify local needs and gaps in their regional crisis systems and to develop collaborative projects to add capacity statewide, the release said.
The resulting awards will fund a mix of capital improvement projects (26 projects, $74.5 million) and infrastructure projects (11 projects, $15.5 million), closing locally identified gaps in care such as short-term residential beds, behavioral health urgent care, mobile crisis response teams and facility/IT improvements, the release said.
Specifically, the funding will add more than 225 new residential beds for Ohioans in crisis; establish five Behavioral Health Urgent Care clinics; support two new Crisis Intervention and Observation units; launch six new mobile crisis services teams; assist with four technology upgrade projects; and support two crisis consultancy projects.
