The Tri-County Board of Recovery and Mental Health Services has partnered with social service agencies in Miami, Darke and Shelby Counties to promote and enhance awareness of the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline by distributing grocery-sized tote bags to social service agencies.

“The 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, to take calls or texts from anyone experiencing a mental health crisis, suicidal or not,” said Brad Reed, Associate Director and Chief of Community Engagement with the Tri-County Board. “One of the requirements of the grant funder for this project was for Boards to collaborate with community partners where 988 may not be well known.”

The 988 Crisis Lifeline is a nationwide system. Calls are routed by area code or cell tower to a designated call center assigned to that geographic region. If the call center cannot pick up the call in timely manner, the call will roll over to a backup call center. Operators are trained in suicide and crisis de-escalation. In January, the Tri-County Board’s designated call center answered 381 calls from Miami, Darke and Shelby Counties.

The Board reached out to the Darke County office of the Miami Valley Community Action Partnership, the Miami County Community Action Council, and Bridges Community Action Partnership in Shelby County, among other agencies, to provide a total of 2,000 tote bags imprinted with the 988 information and a QR code for the Board’s “What to Do When You Need Help” web page. Production of the bags was funded by a grant from the Ohio Association of Community Behavioral Health Authorities.

Megan Campbell, Director of the Darke County MVCAP office, said, “This initiative aligns strongly with our MVCAP mission to support the continuous improvement and betterment of our local communities and is evidence of our collective dedication to helping people connect to various resources to help enrich their lives.”
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Reed said: “We appreciate the work the Community Action Partnership and similar organizations do to keep people safe and secure in their homes. The 988 Crisis Lifeline helps keep them safe when mental health crisis occurs.”

The Tri-County Board of Recovery and Mental Health Services has received a four-star rating certificate from Auditor of State Keith Faber’s Star Rating System for Ohio Sunshine Law transparency. The Tri-County Board has earned the “the Highest Achievement in Open and Transparent Government Award” in all six years of the StaRS certificate program begun in 2019.

The latest certificate is for the Calendar Year 2024 audit of the Board’s financial records and practices related to open and transparent government. To earn a four-star rating, government entities must demonstrate five or more of seven Best Practices as defined by the Rating System. Fewer than one in five public entities earns the Highest Achievement, according to the Ohio Auditor’s Open Government website.

Tri-County Board Executive Director Terri Becker credited the hard work of the staff for putting practices into place to not just be compliant but to excel at open and transparent government. “We are stewards of the public trust,” Becker said, “and we need to ensure that the public can see and understand that we are using public funds appropriately and efficiently.”
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The Tri-County Board posts State Audit reports as they are release by the Auditor of State and accepted by the Tri-County Board on its website at www.tcbmds.org/audits. Questions about the Board may be directed to Brad Reed, Associate Director and Chief of Community Engagement, at [email protected].

Nineteen officers and deputies from Miami, Darke, Shelby and Auglaize Counties, including probation and parole officers and carrier enforcement officers, completed the Tri-County Crisis Intervention Team Academy for Law Enforcement Professionals October 27-30, 2025.

During the four-day training, officers hear from a variety of professionals who work with persons with mental illness, substance use disorders and other special populations. Officers learn techniques for safely engaging with special populations and learn about resources available in the community with the goal of getting people the help they need and prevent unnecessary incarceration or other legal matters,

The October 2025 Academy is the 27th class in 20 years of the Tri-County Board's program. Ohio recently marked 25 years of CIT statewide. Almost 5000 law enforcement professionals have completed the Tri-County CIT Academy, with more than 300 still active on local law enforcement rosters.

The officers completing the training are: Donald Chiles, Chief with Cridersville Police Department; Timothy Lunsford and Mickala Powell-Lapidus, Deputie with Darke County Sheriff's Office; Justin Lande, Chief, and Randall Hagan, Cole Skelton, Alaura Holycross, and Chuck Runner, Probation Officers with Miami County Municipal Court; Jeremy Weber, Lieutenant, and Jackson Heath and Zac Smith, Officers with Piqua Police Department; Kaden DeMarcus, Deputy with Shelby County Sheriff's Office; Jane Braun, Probation Officer with Sidney Municipal Court; Bryden Mathis, Officer with Sidney Police Department, Alisha McWhinney, Officer with State of Ohio, Adult Parole Authority; Alexandra Giampapa, Officer with Tipp City Police Department; Doug Mowen, Motor Carrier Supervisor with Troy Commercial Enforcement OSHP; and Hunter Bradburn and Tanner Iverson, Officers with Troy Police Department. Law Enforcement Professionals in the October 2025 Academy class ranged in experience from new officers to 30 years in law enforcement.

More information about the CIT Academy

An Eagle Scout project that brought together mental health agencies with Miami County Park District promotes mental health crisis support by posting signage with the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline number and positive affirmations throughout Miami County.

Eagle Scout Candidate Piper Jackson of Troy conceived of a project to place signage promoting the 988 Crisis Lifeline in public spaces, to raise awareness of the resource. She reached out to Brad Reed, Associate Director and Chief of Community Engagement at the Tri-County Board of Recovery and Mental Health Services. Reed had previously worked with the Miami County Park District to place mental health-related Mindfulness signage along several bikeways, and connected Jackson to Miami County Park District Executive Director Scott Myers.

“The connection between quiet, green spaces and good mental health is well-established,” Myers said. “When Piper came to us with this proposal we were immediately interested.”

Jackson and Park District staff toured the parks and identified appropriate locations for the signage. Jackson also designed the signage using the official logo for the 988 Crisis Lifeline, and created four versions of affirmations: “You Matter,” “There is Hope,” “You Are Not Alone,” and “Life is Better With You.”

Jackson chose the project because she has been impacted by the suicide of a classmate’s brother, as well as others in the community, and has come to understand the need for people to have someone to call when they are having trouble seeing the light of hope. The 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline is a 24/7 talk or text line staffed by licensed mental health professionals. Calls are anonymous, and 80 percent of calls resolve the crisis while on the phone, according to statistics provided by the Tri-County Board.

“We immediately got behind this project when Piper first reached out,” Reed said. “The 988 Crisis Lifeline is still relatively new, so we look for opportunities to promote it. We had worked with the parks before and this was a natural fit.”

Because he provides administrative support for NAMI Darke, Miami and Shelby Counties, Reed was able to get approval from the local chapter of the National Alliance on Mental Illness to pay for the production of the 8-by-10-inch aluminum signs, using grant funds the chapter had recently received. “It was fortunate timing,” Reed said. “NAMI Ohio had just made these funds available to us, and this project fits perfectly with the mission to promote mental health and support families in crisis.”
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Jackson has been a Scout in Troop 5788 in Troy since 2019.  Her troop is active in the Scouting America curriculum and will be completing their second 50+ mile backpacking adventure in the Scout’s Philmont High Adventure Camp this coming summer (2026).  Scouting America (formerly the Boy Scouts of America) has been allowing girls to join since 2019 as single gender-troops (boys’ troops separate from girls’ troops) and work towards the Eagle Scout rank. This change was implemented to provide families with more inclusive options and was formalized by the organization's name change to Scouting America.  

The Commissioners of Darke, Miami and Shelby Counties and the Tri-County Board of Recovery and Mental Health Services have adopted resolutions to recognize Mental Health Awareness Month in May, Read the full text of the Board's resolution here...

The theme of Mental Health Awareness Month 2023 as established by Mental Health America is "Look Around, Look Within," emphasizing the importance of our environment to mental health, and reminding us to be mindful of how our surroundings are affecting our mood.

In addition to numerous health and information fairs in May and continuing throughout the summer, the Tri-County Board has partnered with Miami County Court of Common Pleas Judge Stacy Wall to set up a display at the Miami County Safety Building to recognize the Mental Health Court specialty docket.

Tri-County Board staff are also delivering packets of mental health-related books to public libraries in all three counties, and are delivering packets of pens and information to restaurants with table service wait staffs. "Food service and hospitality work can be stressful, and servers may encounter persons struggling with mental health or substance use concerns, so we wanted to support them in some way," said Brad Reed, Tri-County Board Director of Community Engagement, "and servers always need pens!"

The pens feature the Tri-County Crisis Hotline number 800-351-7347, and the national Crisis Text Line 741741. The packets also include cards with the Hotline and Text Line numbers plus the web address for a comprehensive directory of local resources, The pens, cards and the pouches they are packaged in were paid for with grant funds from the Ohio Association of County Behavioral Health Authorities to promote the use of the Crisis Text Line.

​Twenty three law enforcement officers from Miami, Darke and Shelby Counties attended the Tri-County Crisis Intervention Team Academy for Law Enforcement Professionals April 24-27 2023.

During the four-day training, officers hear from a variety of professionals who work with persons with mental illness, substance use disorders and other special populations. Officers learn techniques for safely engaging with special populations and learn about resources available in the community with the goal of getting people the help they need and prevent unnecessary incarceration or other legal matters,

The December 2023 Academy is the 22nd class in 18 years of the Tri-County Board's program. The training is held at the Tri-County Administration & Training Center at 1280 N. County Road 25A, Troy. More than 395 officers have completed the Tri-County CIT Academy, with more than 250 still active on local law enforcement rosters.

The officers attending the training were Michaela Clark and Steve Kreitzer, Darke County Sheriff's Office;  Jackie Barton and Matthew Ganiron, Greenville Police Department; Trent Cooper, Micah Karn, Ryan Lavy, and Tabitha Thompson, Miami County Sheriff's Office; Kyle Ingle and Madeline Ruetenik, Piqua Police Department; John Marshall and Brian O'Neal, Troy Police Department; Ben Davis, West Milton Police Department; Tyler Bowman, Brad Boyd, Austin Knight, Bryce Kohler, Madison Pierce, Josie Raterman, Rod Robbins, Seth Sargent, and Branden Schutte, Shelby County Sheriff's Office; and Kiarra Ibarra, Sidney Police Department. Officers in the April 2023 Academy class ranged in experience from less than 1 year to more than 30 years in law enforcement.

The Tri-County Board of Recovery and Mental Health Services will close its office on Wayne Street in Troy Friday afternoon to begin the transition to its new facility at 1280 N. County Road 25A, Troy. The office is scheduled to reopen Wednesday November 23 at the new location. Email and phone services will be unavailable during the move.

Persons in urgent need of care should continue to call the 24/7 Tri-County Crisis Hotline at 800-351-7347. The Hotline will not be affected by the move closure.

Also moving are Community Housing of Darke, Miami and Shelby Counties; Miami County Family & Children First Council; and NAMI Darke, Miami and Shelby Counties. Phone numbers for the Board and the agencies will remain the same at the new location.

​Offices will be closed for business Friday afternoon November 18 and through Tuesday November 22. The Board plans to reopen for business Wednesday November 23 before closing for the Thanksgiving holiday November 24 and 25. ​Regular business hours are Monday through Friday 8AM to 4:30PM.

When 16-year-old Bryce Warner took his own life in August 2015, just days before the start of classes at Milton-Union High School, his family and friends were devastated. But with resolve and a sense of purpose, they rallied together to raise awareness of mental health and suicide prevention.

Because Bryce had been a cross country and track athlete, the Free the Mind/Anchor the Soul (FMAS) 5K walk and run was inaugurated July 4, 2016, to raise funds and awareness, and has been held annually ever since.

The July 4 5K walk/run, now in its seventh year, directs proceeds to mental health and suicide prevention education, and to Bryce Warner Scholarship Fund. Registration is $30 on race day. Participants who pre-register by June 23 will receive a $3 discount plus a commemorative T-shirt. Teams of 7 or more can also get a discount.

Cash prizes are awarded for top finishers and in a number of age categories. For complete details and to register, go to freethemindanchorthesoul.com.

Since the start of the 5K, proceeds and donations have been used to fund Youth Mental Health First Aid classes, billboards promoting a Crisis Text Line (741741), nationally-known speaker Ross Szabo talking about mental health, and support for Hope Squad – a youth-led suicide prevention program – in Miami County schools, as well as numerous scholarships for local students going to college.

NAMI Darke, Miami and Shelby Counties has joined forces with FMAS to promote mental health awareness. NAMI is a grassroots organization that helps families and individuals living with mental illness through advocacy and education. For more information about the local NAMI chapter, go to NAMIofDMS.org.

NAMI and the Tri-County Board of Recovery and Mental Health Services will have information and resources at tables at the event, as well as in the registration packets.

The Tri-County Board of Recovery & Mental Health Services will accept public comments regarding the Board’s Calendar Year 2023 Budget between 4:00 pm and 4:30 pm on Wednesday, June 15, 2022 at the Board office, 1100 Wayne St., Suite 4000 in Troy. For further information or to request a copy of the Tri-County Board’s Calendar Year 2023 Budget, please contact the Tri-County Board at (937) 335-7727, extension 204.