by Brandon Lichtingfil:
The Geauga County Board of Mental Health and Recovery Services highlighted several recent accomplishments and positive developments during its Sept. 17 meeting, including the statewide rollout of mobile response and stabilization services.
The Geauga County Board of Mental Health and Recovery Services highlighted several recent accomplishments and positive developments during its Sept. 17 meeting, including the statewide rollout of mobile response and stabilization services.
While MRSS launched nationwide on Aug. 15, the service has been available in Geauga County since 2022 through Ravenwood Health, said GCBMHRS Executive Director Christine Lakomiak during her report.
However, the service was previously funded by local boards or individuals’ insurance plans, and will now be paid for by the state, ensuring access for all Ohioans, she said.
“It’s a no-cost service that provides behavioral health crisis support for youth ages 20 and under,” Lakomiak explained. “It’s really focused on (care) models that are in-person and community-based in times of crisis.”
County residents can quickly access MRSS by dialing 988 and will then be linked to MRSS providers in the community, she said.
“When an MRSS responder arrives, the responder will calm the crisis, then they are going to make a safety plan and provide resources for ongoing support for the family, and they are also able to include up to 42 days of continued in-home services after the initial call,” Lakomiak said in a follow-up interview.
The service has become a priority for Ohio Gov. Mike Dewine and Ohio Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services Director Leeane Comyn due to its demonstrated success in helping young people access care close to home with as little potential disruption as possible, Lakomiak said.
“It’s not a long-term service, but it’s there to help individuals under 20 and their families to support them in times of crisis,” she said in the followup interview. “It’s designed to help individuals not have to go to the emergency department visits or to in-patient admissions or having to be in an in-patient hospital. Across the state where this has been implemented, what they’ve discovered is that, maybe there weren’t as many adoptions that were disrupted, or as many situations where juvenile justice had to be involved.”
The MRSS has been contracted through Ravenwood Health and will serve Geauga, Ashtabula and Lake county families, as well as area schools, she added.
Culture of Quality Certification
Lakomiak also highlighted the mental health board’s Three-Year Culture of Quality certification, the highest possible rating, through the Ohio Association of County Behavioral Health Authorities – a distinction she described as a “huge deal.”
“The certification promotes community confidence in mental health and behavioral (health) boards,” explained Lakomiak. “When you receive the COQ Standard and Quality Improvement Certification, it shows that we’re in compliance with the Ohio Revised Code, ORC 340, for mental health and recovery services boards. There are 150 standards (assessed), including quality improvement, fiscal standards, mission and program governance, and operations. It’s showing that we are in compliance with all of those standards.”
The board has done a great job educating the community about available resources, maintaining a strong presence and making meaningful efforts in the county, Lakomiak said, referring to remarks from the OACBHA.
“They also thought we had a really strong use of our data” and are “good stewards of our public funds,” she added.
Lakomiak thanked staff members Michelle Maneage, Jim Mausser and Teresa Slater for all the work and hours they gave to achieve the certification.
In a follow-up interview, board Chair Steven Oluic also acknowledged the hard work of staff and board members that led to the recognition.
“If you have good people, let them do their job,” Oluic said. “Don’t question them at everything. Let them loose and they will succeed, and we’ve been very lucky with that. It’s not any one individual, it’s everyone working together and once an organization has that accomplished, they can do almost anything within their mandate.”
New Website Launches
The GCBMRS was also slated to launch a new website Sept. 19 to provide a more streamlined way for county residents to access resources.
“Our website was very outdated and we needed to provide updated information,” Lakomiak said during the follow-up interview. “One of the other things important to us was ensuring that it had information for when people are in crisis. We have done a lot of work with our crisis teams in disaster planning, so there’s a lot of really good information regarding how to access services if someone is in need or in crisis. There’s also information for pre-plan work to do, prior to being in a crisis. We have information regarding how to create a safety plan. We also have updated information for all our service providers, links to their organizations and how to access specific services.”
In her report Sept. 17, Lakomiak outlined other board successes this past summer, including hosting· a Live Well Festival at Claridon Woodlands Lodge Jun 4, which aimed to provide education for suicide prevention and attracted over 300 attendees.
The board also partnered with the Ohio State Highway Patrol for Operation New Beginnings, a program to help individuals cited for impaired driving find treatment, and hosted the Planting Hope in Recovery event, which commemorated Overdose Awareness Day with the planting of a tree at Lake Geauga Recovery Services’ recovery house in Chardon.
The GCBMHRS also held its first kickball game in Munson Township on Sept. 20, where board staff and Munson Township Trustees planned to face off against members of the Geauga County Sheriff’s Office and first responders.
The initiative was an opportunity to have fun and build connections among the community of mental health caregivers in the county, Lakomiak said.
Both Lakomiak and Oluic praised the work of the board in follow-up conversations.
“Absolutely, our board is moving in a very positive direction. Our board of directors are working very well together,” Lakomiak said.
Oluic also singled out Lakomiak in his remarks.
“The last two years have been very good. Christine has been a wonderful executive director,” he said. “It’s hard to find someone so skilled in her profession. She knows the mental health care system inside and out. She has a lot of experience. Not only that, but she’s also a great person to work with, she’s a team member.”
He cited the COQ certification and passage of last year’s renewal levy as indicators of increased voter confidence in the board’s work.
“We’ve developed the board into an agency that (really) does do something for the community,” he said.
