PREBLE COUNTY — The Preble County Mental Health and Recovery Board has increased its funding by 68 percent through numerous grants.
According to Amy Raynes, Executive Director of the Mental Health and Recovery Board, the Preble County board has received a grant through Montgomery County for Narcan — not only for first responders, but also for families of addicts. The grant is for $2 million from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.
The four-year funding will develop a program that mobilizes first responders and provides wider access to naloxone. Project Save Miami Valley will provide overdose prevention, education, and overdose reversal medications to first responders in Montgomery, Darke, and Preble Counties.
“We will be doing training and families will be taking kits with them,” Raynes said. “Narcan needs to be distributed more widely, because none of us know when we’re going to come upon somebody who is overdosing. We could save someones life, who could then end up in recovery one day.”
Another collaboration between Preble and Montgomery County is the Youth Recovery Project. Montgomery County Alcohol, Drug Addiction, ad Mental Health Services (ADAMHS) has received $85,000 per year for two years from the Ohio Department of Mental Health & Addiction Services to create the Preble-Montgomery County Youth Recovery Project.
This project will expand access to evidence based treatment and recovery support approaches for youth and young adults ages 12-25 with co-occuring substance use and mental health disorders.
Another youth based program is Engage 2.0. According to Raynes, the Southwest Region has access to $4 million for four years.
“We are going to be able to support crisis services for our youth population,” she said. “That will be very important, because we are putting a specific focus on teens who are in crisis, when normally it pertains to adults. We are still not sure how Preble County is going to use those dollars, but we are actively discussing it.”
All three of the above grants were directed through other boards. There are two additional grants directed through other boards: the Withdrawal Management Centers and Crisis Stabilization Centers.
The board received $1 million for detox centers for the Southwest Collaborative (Preble, Montgomery, Warren, Clinton, Clermont, Butler, Hamilton, and Brown Counties) for two years. According to Raynes, this will allow the board to purchase detox beds.
They also received $250,000 for two years for a Crisis Stabilization Center.
As for funds directed through the Mental Health and Recovery Board, they have received five: 21st Century Cures Grant, 421 Line, Safe Families/Strong Communities, Recovery Housing, and HUD Housing Grant.
“We did receive a 21st Century Grant. Only counties who had large rates of overdoses received those dollars, so that’s sad on the one hand that we got it. Those dollars are going to fund a perinatal program through Sojourner here in Preble County. Women who are pregnant up to their babies turning a year old are able to utilize those funds for treatment, but also for parental support,” Raynes said.
The grant is for two years in the amount of $155,000.
For the 421 Line, the state provided Preble County with $75,000 to support current programming.
The board received the Safe Families/Strong Communities grant in the amount of $92,864.80, which they are putting towards the Success Liaison Program provided through Butler County ESC, parenting classes, professional development trainings, and Pause respite through Development Disabilities.
“The respite program is really awesome. They provide a fun night for the kids. Parents can come and drop off their kids with development disabilities and their siblings, so the parents get a night out,” Raynes said. “The night is really fun, so the kids really enjoy it.”
They also received $47,058 in order to open a recovery house within the city limits of Eaton. That project is slated to finish at the end of December of this year.
For housing for individuals with mental illness or addiction, the board received a HUD Housing Grant in the amount of $202,941.
“This overall, coming into our next biennium of funding, I feel like we are able to expand services. We are working very hard to get all these programs up and running,” Raynes said.
“The services we were providing were basic services. Now with these grants we will be able to increase the services we are providing to Preble County citizens and hopefully begin to reduce our overdose rates and provide support services for mental illness. We are really looking at preventing drug use through our youth programs.”
Not only does the Mental Health and Recovery Board accept donations, but they are actively seeking new grants in order to expand their services even more.
