DAYTON, Ohio (WDTN) — Montgomery County Alcohol, Drug Addiction & Mental Health Services (ADAMHS) has received a $3 million grant to support their crisis system.
The crisis hotline went into effect Jan. 2022, and after 12 months, ADAMHS reported over 12 thousand calls, which were calls that otherwise would have been sent to police.
ADAMHS sent out 600 mobile response teams to situations throughout the county, and now with the funding they are receiving, they are expanding those efforts and helping people with mental health issues avoid potentially scary encounters with law enforcement.
“The grant was written with the thought in mind that we could expand services, grow the team, be available more often in more communities so we can help go out into the community more often and meet people where they are,” Tina Rezash Rogal, director of strategic initiatives and communication at ADAMHS, said.
“The much better chance that will end with a positive resolution and that individual being connected to treatment as opposed to being taken to jail.”
The 3-million-dollar grant awarded by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration and the federal government comes after 18 months of research and planning by ADAMHS to fund the expansion of their Crisis Now system.
That system supports mental health with a 3-prong system including a crisis call center, mobile crisis response teams, and starting this summer, they will open a crisis receiving center.
ADAMHS said this grant specifically will expand the mobile crisis center, which sends out trained professionals to crisis situations and lowers calls to law enforcement.
Dayton police said they are grateful because it gets people in distress trained mental health support.
“I think mental health workers who respond to those that are in crisis provide a better response in some situations than law enforcement or other first responders can provide,” Major Chris Malson with the Dayton Police Department said.
“The police department has been working with ADAMHS for numerous years on improving the interactions of law enforcement, other first responders, as well as crisis now into the mental health and crisis situations. We look forward to continuing that relationship into the future with them.”
ADAMHS said they have trained professionals available around the clock if you or anyone you know is suffering for a mental health crisis. The number to call is 988.
