By JULIE CARLE
BG Independent News
The Wood County Alcohol, Drug Addiction and Mental Health Services Board this week approved more than $13 million to support local mental health and substance use disorder services from July 1, 2025, through June 30, 2026.
The funds comprise the System of Care budget that provides Wood County residents a range services from local agencies.
The budget allocations included:
- Children’s Resource Center—$2,695,325.90 from state, local and federal funds to provide behavioral services for Wood County youths.
- Wood County Educational Service Center—$1,1675,777 from local, state and federal funds for behavioral health services and facilities in Wood County, including the after-school program known as Community Learning Center STARS program.
- Harbor—$3,644,047.63 from local, state and federal funds to provide behavioral health services and facilities for Wood County residents
- NAMI Wood County—$312,633.48 from local funds to provide behavioral health, education, advocacy and support services for Wood County residents
- OhioGuidestone—$276,021 from local, state and federal funds behavioral health services and facilities
- Unison Health in the amount of $1,480,011.23 state local and federal funding
- ZEPF—$173,500 from local, state and federal funds to provide behavioral health services and facilities for Wood County residents.
- Mercy Health St. Vincent Medical Center LLC on behalf of Mercy Health St. Charles Hospital—up to $50,000 paid at a rate of $850 per day for inpatient psychiatric services.
- Arrowhead Behavioral Health—up to $35,000 at a rate of $800 per day from state and local levy funds to provide inpatient psychiatric hospitalization and sub-acute detoxification services.
- Ridgeview Behavioral Hospital—up to $35,000 at a rate of $750 per day for indigent inpatient adult psychiatric and co-occurring substance use disorder treatment.
- Healing Hearts Residential—$22,752 from local levy funds to provide community addiction, mental health services, including the continuum of care, prevention, support and rehabilitation services and opportunities. $
- CT Quality Care Adult Care Facility—up to $19,200 from local levy funds to provide probation, community addiction and mental health services.
- Truvision Homes—up to $21,600 from local levy funds for an adult care facility agreement to provide community addiction and mental health services including a continuum of care for prevention, support and rehabilitation services and opportunities.
- Assisted Outpatient Treatment Attorney Contract with W. Alex Smith—up to $7,500 to provide attorney services to assist individuals suffering from mental illness who require treatment and have a history of noncompliance that impairs their ability to be safe within the community.
- Carla B. Davis—up to $5,000 at a rate of $135 per hours from local levy funds to provide the board with legal representation for mentally ill individuals who are being considered for hospitalization by court order.
- Fairfield GOSH Great Office Solutions Helper—$21,000 from local levy funds for use of claims management software that the board uses to reimburse providers for services rendered.
- H.O.P.E. in Fostoria—$13,755 from local levy funds in partnership with Hancock and Seneca counties to address substance use issues by fostering fostering education and awareness within the greater community area.
- Memorandum of Understanding with the Wood County Commissioners—up to $21,000 for two years (through June 2027) to utilize pass-through funding to pay for treatment of jail inmates with serious mental illness and substance use disorders, and absorbing remaining cost with state or local funds.
- George Mason University Re-Entry Assistance Program—$20,194 for two years (through June 2027) to access reports from the Center for Advancing Correctional Excellence, which has expertise in the field of advancing research, practice and policies to help reduce recidivism in the criminal justice system.
- Versaterm Amendment—up to $337,250 from local levy and federal funds for case management software that coordinates and integrates school and law enforcement information and services. The contract amendment reduced the number of school districts included in the subscription and extended the subscription service for an additional year.
- BG Police Department—$6,000 from local levy funds for Bowling Green enforcement officers to safely transport persons with mental health needs to a hospital.
During the contract approval process, WCADAMHS Executive Director Amanda Kern updated the board on concerns with proposed changes to Unison Health’s services.
The Mobile Response Unit’s contract does include a reduction of hours between midnight and 7 a.m. While Unison’s mental health assessments will not be available out in the community or at hospitals during those hours through the mobile unit, assessments can still be handled at the Crisis Stabilization Unit ont Poe Road.
“Poe Road is still operational. This contract doesn’t impact the Crisis Stabilization Unit contract at all. It still has the requirement to have 24/7staffing capability,” she said.
The phone service is also available 24/7 and will always be answered by a mental health professional.
WCADAMHS and Unison are still in conversation about how they can “creatively intermingle mobile crisis and the crisis stabilization unit since a lot of those services do overlap,” Kern said. “I think we can mis the two together, so it is an exercise fiscally and clinically to make sure that we’re covering everything.”
Kern also reported there are still budget concerns as the Ohio Legislature finalizes the next biennial budget and other state and federal legislation is targeting property taxes and Medicaid Expansion funding, all of which are critical to providing services at the county level.
“We will be watching carefully to see what happens,” she said.
In other business, the board:
- Elected the new officers, effective July 1. Karen Baron is board chair, with Frank McLaughlin as vice chair, Matt Battiato as treasurer, and Lindsay Durham as secretary.
- Evaluated the executive director and approved a 3.5% cost-of-living pay increase as of July 1.
- Accepted a piece of artwork that was collaboratively created by visitors during the recent WCADAMHS Behavioral Health Resilience Art Show at OhioGuidestone’s Expressive Arts table.
- Heard NAMI Wood County is hosting its annual Mental Health Conference Series on May 29 at BGSU Levis Commons, focused on “Supporting Mental Health in Aging.”
