The Ohio behavioral healthcare system is organized into three tiers. At the state level, there is the Ohio Department of Mental Health and the Ohio Department of Alcohol and Drug Addiction Services. These state agencies certify, monitor and fund not-for-profit and for-profit agencies, which provide services directly to the consumer. Planning, funding and contracting with the provider agencies is managed at the county level by mental health boards, and alcohol and drug addiction boards. In some counties the mental health and alcohol and drug addiction boards are combined into one organization. The boards do not provide any direct service to the consumer. Instead, they contract with the agencies to provide these services.

Ohio Department of Alcohol and Drug Addiction Services

Mission
The mission of the Ohio Department of Alcohol and Drug Addiction Services (ODADAS) is to provide statewide leadership for alcohol and other drug addiction prevention and treatment services for the health, safety and productivity of all Ohioans.

Continuum of Care
In light of the high monetary and social costs of substance abuse, the Ohio Department of Alcohol and Drug Addition Services (ODADAS) has placed a priority on developing a full continuum of care accessible to Ohio citizens who require services in the publicly funded treatment system. The full continuum refers to levels of care from outpatient and intensive outpatient services to residential treatment, ambulatory detoxification and acute hospital detoxification. The Department has broadened the concept of continuum to include not only levels of intensity of services, but also linkages with other services necessary to support successful treatment outcomes. These services include the availability of transportation, housing, child-care, education and employment training that help to ensure both accessibility to treatment and support in achieving and maintaining recovery.

Prevention of substance abuse is also a high priority for ODADAS. Services are targeted at youth from preschool to 20 years of age, parents/care givers, seniors, educators and gatekeepers. Ohio has created culturally specific prevention programming for African Americans, Hispanic Americans, Asian Americans, Native Americans and the deaf and hard of hearing.

ODADAS Funded Programs
Some of the specific programs funded include women’s programs, Drug Courts, Treatment Alternatives to Street Crime, Therapeutic Communities: Partnering with Corrections, Drug-Free Workplace, adolescent treatment programs, binge drinking prevention, underage drinking prevention, community anti-drug coalitions, Ohio violence prevention process, Urban Minority Alcoholism and Drug Abuse Outreach Programs, Child Welfare/TANF Families a Treatment Priority (HB484), Youth Mentoring programs, Head Start Prevention, SYNAR Amendment: Youth Access to Tobacco, Pride World Drug Prevention Conference, Partnership for a Drug-Free Ohio, and Statewide Prevention Resource Center.

For additional information on any of these programs please visit the ODADAS web site at: http://www.odadas.state.oh.us/ or contact the department at:

Ohio Department of Alcohol and Drug Addiction Services
280 North High Street, 12th Floor,
Columbus, OH 43215-2550
Phone: (614) 466-3445
Fax: (614) 752-8645
E-Mail: general@ada.state.oh.us
Web Site: http://www.odadas.state.oh.us/

Ohio Department of Mental Health

ODMH Mission
The primary mission of the Ohio Department of Mental Health (ODMH) is to ensure that quality mental health care is available in communities to all Ohioans, particularly individuals with serious mental illness. During 2000, Ohio's community mental health systems provided services to 250,000 people, including more than 75,000 adults who are severely disabled by mental illness and 70,000 children.

Community mental health systems are funded, reviewed and monitored by ODMH through 50 county-level boards. Established through legislation passed in 1967, these boards function as "Local Mental Health Authorities," funding, planning and monitoring services provided by nearly 500 not-for-profit community mental health agencies. Board areas consist of one to five counties, and most oversee both mental health and addiction services as Alcohol, Drug Addiction and Mental Health (ADAMH) Services Boards.

Ohio Mental Health System
The legislation passed in 1988 required each board-managed, local mental health system to establish a community support system which includes residential, crisis, vocational, case management and family support services as part of the community mental health system. Other human services providers, community leaders, public officials, clergy, educators, employers, families, and consumers themselves, as well as health and mental health care professionals, participate as part of community support systems. This approach to community care, which emphasizes local management, generates strong citizen involvement and leads to strong local financial support for mental health care.

The Department currently operates five behavioral healthcare organizations providing adult inpatient services at nine sites. ODMH staff also provide services in community settings through Community Support Networks via contracts with local mental health systems. Originally named State Operated Services, these programs were created as part of the 1988 legislation to ease the impact of down-sizing Department hospitals and enable qualified employees to continue their careers caring for people with serious mental illness. Since 1990, CSNs have developed a reputation for assisting formerly hospitalized individuals with creating a new life within their home community and have grown to include more than 600 staff serving 2,200 consumers.

For additional information on the Ohio Department of Mental Health please visit their Web site at: http://www.mh.state.oh.us, or contact them at:

Ohio Department of Mental Health
30 East Broad St., 8th Floor
Columbus, OH 43215-3430
Phone: 614-466-2176
Fax: 614-752-6474
E-Mail: uhricks@mh.state.oh.us
Web Site: http://www.mh.state.oh.us