Wednesday, January 15, 2025
1/15/2025
The Ohio Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services (OhioMHAS) will allocate funding from the Emergency COVID-19 grant to enhance existing crisis services and prioritize direct services to Ohio’s children and adults with Serious Mental Illness (SMI), Substance Use Disorder (SUD), and co-occurring SMI and SUD. OhioMHAS will also target the state’s frontline healthcare professionals as well as other Ohioans with less than severe mental illness who require mental health care as a result of COVID-19. Grantees will be required to split funding into the required sub-categories for providing direct services to healthcare providers (10%) and those that do not have an SMI (20%). Grantees will utilize the rest of their funding (70%) to reinforce the existing mental health crisis system. Funding will be distributed to six lead mental health and addiction Boards that represent established crisis collaboratives in different regains through the state. Each Board will work with their respective catchment area Boards and providers to determine where funding can be used to address gaps within existing crisis services. Targeted crisis services will include mobile crisis teams, children’s mobile response stabilization services, crisis stabilization centers, and crisis hotline services/call centers. Possible uses of funds could include: Crisis hotline services/call centers will be enhanced to provide the screening, brief therapeutic intervention and referral (SBIRT) model to identify then direct individuals impacted by COVID-19 to the appropriate level or care; Mobile crisis teams and children’s mobile response stabilization services will be expanded to provide additional services to the growing need; and Crisis stabilization centers will work with local hospitals and emergency departments (ED) to expand services for individuals in need of treatment and divert utilization of ED services. Evidence-based therapies will be available through brief intervention or individual therapy, and throughout the continuum of services, grantees will be required to expand the use of telehealth. With this project, OhioMHAS will reach a minimum of 1,500 Ohioans, with a focus on increasing the number of individuals who receive screening as well as increasing the number of available services and positive outcomes such as employment.
HHS’ Tracking Accountability in Government Grants System (TAGGS) website provides access to detailed descriptions of grants, loans, aggregated direct payments and other types of financial assistance awarded by the HHS Operating Divisions (OPDIVs) and the Office of the Secretary Staff Divisions (STAFFDIVs).