Thirteen officers from Miami, Darke and Shelby Counties completed the Tri-County Crisis Intervention Team Academy December 6-9 2021.

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 2021 Academy is the 19th class in 16 years of the Tri-County Board's program. More than 330 officers have completed the Tri-County CIT Academy, with more than 225 still active on local law enforcement rosters.

The officers completing the training are Brandon Johnson, Cameron Keiser and Morgan Styles, Fort Loramie Police Department; Angie Spitler, Piqua Post Ohio State Highway Patrol; James Hunt, Tipp City Police Department; Ragan Williams, Edison State Community College Police Department; Jesse Penwell, Miami County Park District; Adam Coe and Logan Welbaum, Piqua Police Department; Sam Conley and Trevor Robbins, Greenville Police Department; Ryan Ormberg, Troy Police Department; and Cody Stemley, West Milton Police Department.

For more information about the CIT Academy, see www.tcbmds.org/cit-academy.

Good afternoon Chairman Huffman and members of the Committee. Thank you for the opportunity to speak to you today. My name is Mark McDaniel and I am the Executive Director of the Tri-County Board of Recovery and Mental Health Services. We are the ADAMHS Board that serves Miami, Darke and Shelby Counties. I have been the Executive Director of the Board for over 17 years and have worked in the behavioral health system for over 36 years. Over the span of those years I have provided direct clinical services, managed treatment teams and worked with families with both mental health and addiction issues.

To examine how the role of ADAMHS boards – and behavioral health care itself – is changing, I would like to briefly review where we have been, where we are now, and where we must go in the near future to meet the needs of the communities we serve in the most efficient and cost-effective ways possible.

Timely clinical services are crucial to effective treatment of individuals with mental illness and addictions; but that effectiveness is tempered by what happens the other 23 hours of the day.  Housing, employment and other support services play a crucial role in an efficient system of care focused on long-term recovery.

Those who do well in recovery – that is, those who relapse less often, recidivate at a lower rate, and access fewer crisis services – are persons who have stable housing, meaningful employment, and social, emotional and wellness supports. Without these supports, those addicted to substances, and persons with severe mental illness, tend to follow the very inefficient path of living from crisis to crisis, taxing the most expensive point of interaction with emergency medical services; law enforcement, court and jail involvements; and emergency shelters.

In recent years, ADAMHS Boards in general and the Tri-County Board specifically have spent significant resources on the expansion of client supportive services, housing options and vocational training. 

One example of social supportive services, SafeHaven is a client support program that is now available in all three counties and open to individuals who need help with their personal recovery and opportunities at socialization.

In terms of vocational support, the Board maintains a contract with Opportunities for Ohioans with Disabilities that serves all three counties.  This provides assistance to clients with job preparation and search.

To provide stable and safe housing, the Tri-County Board owns houses and apartments in all three counties as well as maintains relationships with private landlords.  We also maintain contracts for Adult Care Facilities and mental health residential services.

Since access to Medicaid was extended in Ohio, the Board’s focus has shifted to providing 24/7 staffing at existing recovery homes to increase accountability and have expanded other recovery housing options.

To aid in early recovery, Vivitrol projects are now active in all three counties to help with the heroin issue. Detox and residential substance abuse services are accessible through our treatment services providers. Trained Recovery Coaches will be introduced for the first time in our system in the coming months.

Telemedicine was mentioned in several of the previous presentations.  We now have telemedicine available in each of the three counties which has expanded access to doctors for patients.

The Board has invested in reentry programs at both the prison and local jail level. This is a proactive approach to transitioning individuals returning to the community in a very structured and planned way.

To give just one example, with support of the Tri-County Board, Community Housing Inc. has for more than two years implemented a prison in-reach reentry program to assess needs and connect inmates with services prior to their release. In that time, Community Housing has worked with 58 people. Just 7 of those – 12 percent – re-offended, compared to more than 27 percent statewide. Given the high cost of arresting, prosecuting, incarcerating and monitoring an offender, any opportunity to reduce recidivism by half or more – while at the same time helping those persons be productive and healthy citizens - must be seen as an efficiency.

There is much more that needs to be done and the Tri-County Board has a plan. In the very near future we will be announcing the opening of a one-stop shop facility in Miami County which will offer a single point of entry for mental health and addictions, crisis, housing, vocational, consumer support, prevention and wellness, medical and even dental services under one roof.  The overall goal of this plan is to streamline and create efficiency for access by individuals and families, and for those who refer.

To reduce the impact of addictions and mental illness over the long term, prevention and wellness planning and programming are vital. ADAMHS Boards are uniquely positioned to anchor coalitions of vested interests to assess community behavioral health needs, plan activities that can effect change over the long term, and evaluate those activities for effectiveness. To be clear, prevention and wellness programs move the needle on the scale of years, not months. We want to see our communities becoming healthier over generations.

Are prevention and wellness efforts efficient? Effective ones are. The Board is committed to supporting evidence-based prevention practices in our schools and in our communities. Being good stewards of the public trust means optimizing resources – both time and money – on prevention practices that meet national standards of effectiveness. In this way we maximize longterm outcomes and avoid using public resources where there is scant evidence for real change.

We’ve all heard the phrase “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” Nowhere is that more true than in community behavioral health. Preventing one person from reaching a mental health crisis, or from becoming addicted, or even delaying first use of substances by young people until they are adults and physically and emotionally better prepared to make good decisions, all have significant benefits in dollars NOT spent over a lifetime. While it may be impossible to tally to a specific number, there is no question that effective prevention is an efficient use of public funds.

Yes, clinical services are the linchpin of behavioral health services. But what happens to that person in recovery the other 23 hours of the day are crucial to the effectiveness of treatment and the reintegration of that person into the community as a productive, tax-paying citizen. Safe, healthy communities are a goal we all share. The Tri-County Board is dedicated to finding ways for the people of Miami, Darke and Shelby Counties to work, live, laugh and love, free from the challenges of mental illness and addiction, and to do so efficiently and responsibly as a steward of the public trust.

I would be remiss if I didn’t speak to two programs we have had great experiences with in our tri-county area.  They have been mentioned in previous testimony but I wanted to speak to them.  The first is Mental Health First Aid; many of us in this room have taken CPR/First Aid from the Red Cross.  Mental health first aid curriculum is somewhat parallel to this widely established program in that it provides education to individuals about mental health, how to recognize the symptoms and what to do about it.  The second program is the Tri-County CIT Academy.  This collaboration between our system and the law enforcement agencies in our area has been a very strong one.  I am proud to state that this last spring the CIT Academy celebrated its tenth anniversary while graduating its tenth class.  The Miami, Darke and Shelby County area has 198 CIT trained officers and that is pretty good.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman, for this opportunity, and for your time and I will answer any questions.

Understanding the teenage mind and recognizing the signs of mental health crisis was the focus of a three-day Crisis Intervention Team workshop for teachers, administrators and staff of Upper Valley Career Center. The training was presented by the Tri-County Board of Recovery and Mental Health Services at the Career Center in Piqua June 10-12.

CIT is a nationally recognized program that teaches law enforcement officers safe and effective approaches to handling crisis incidents involving a mentally ill individual. The CIT Companion Course for Teachers provides teachers and other school personnel with the knowledge and skills needed to respond effectively when a student is experiencing a behavioral health crisis. The training is conducted under the instructional supervision of local behavioral health professionals and law enforcement officers.

The program consists of a review of mental illness types, causes and symptoms; services and resources available in the community; structured de-escalation techniques; and scenario-based training.  The workshop is led by Jodi Long, LISW, LICDC, Director of Clinical Services and Evaluation and CIT Coordinator for the Tri-County Board. Long was joined all three days by Mike McRill of the Sidney Police Department, and Karen McRill of Sidney City Schools. Other presenters included representatives from courts, mental health providers, other law enforcement agencies, and persons living with mental illness.

"Teachers spend so much time with our young people, and at such a critical age in their emotional development, it is extremely important that they recognize when a situation is more than 'kids being kids' and to involve mental health professionals when appropriate," Long said. "What we hope these teachers come away with is a better appreciation for the outward signs of mental health crisis in young people, a sense of empowerment to de-escalate a situation, and knowledge of the local resources available to deal with a crisis."

After two full days of presentations, much of the third day is spent in role-playing scenarios. Volunteer students from Troy acted out scenes depicting various types of mental health crises. Teachers and staff were challenged to identify and de-escalate the situation in line with the training techniques, to ensure the safety and well-being of the student in crisis, other students in the area, and the teacher and staff. While the scenarios played out, the rest of the class watched and listened via two-way video, and the actions were critiqued by mental health and law enforcement professionals.

In addition to the school staff companion course, more than 170 law enforcement officers and professionals in Darke, Miami and Shelby counties have completed the Crisis Intervention Team Academy, and companion courses have been presented for emergency dispatchers, jail and corrections personnel, and mental health workers. CIT training is made possible by funds from the Tri-County mental health levy.

Twenty three law enforcement officers from Darke, Miami and Shelby Counties completed the Crisis Intervention Team Academy April 28-May 1, presented by the Tri-County Board of Recovery and Mental Health Services.

Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) Training is a nationally recognized program that teaches law enforcement safe and effective approaches to handling crisis incidents involving a mentally ill individual. The intensive 4-day training is  conducted under the instructional supervision of local CIT-trained police officers, mental health professionals, consumers, and family advocates and offers practical techniques for de-escalating crisis situations.

CIT Coordinator Jodi Long, Director of Clinical Services and Planning for the Tri-County Board, said, "The CIT Academy and the companion courses have been extremely successful. Officers tell us they now feel better equipped to handle calls involving mental health crises, and those of us involved with mental health services have a better understanding of what the law enforcement officers deal with in the field."

The class of 2014 is the ninth law enforcement group to complete the program in the Tri-County Board's service area, bringing the total number of trained officers to 173. The training is underwritten by the Tri-County Board's mental health levy, by grants from the Ohio chapter of the National Alliance for Mental Illness, and by in-kind donations of food by local vendors.

The Tri-County Board also presents CIT companion courses for mental health professionals, dispatchers, and teachers, among other groups. For more information about the CIT Academy or companion courses, see the Tri-County Board's website at www.mdsadamhs.mh.state.oh.us/community

Thirteen 9-1-1 dispatchers from Darke, Miami and Shelby counties, including Sidney and Greenville police dispatchers, completed an all-day training seminar in recognizing and dealing with emergency calls from persons with mental illness or in crisis. The training was conducted by the Tri-County Board of Recovery and Mental Health Services at the Board’s Marianne Helmlinger Training Room in Troy March 13.

The program consists of a review of mental illness types, causes and symptoms, structured de-escalation techniques, and scenario-based training.  The main presenter was Jodi Long, LISW, LICDC, Director of Clinical Services and Evaluation for the Tri-County Board. Speaking on de-escalation techniques from the perspective of a law enforcement officer was Sgt. Stephanie Black of the Tipp City Police Department.

Also addressing the class was Meredith Grosvenor of Troy and volunteer for the National Alliance for Mental Illness (NAMI) chapter in Miami County, who related the experience of mental health crisis involving 9-1-1 dispatchers and police officers from the perspective of the person in crisis. 

Long said the purpose of the training is to “provide information and techniques for handling crisis calls involving a person in or experiencing a mental health crisis. It’s a small fraction of the total number of calls dispatchers handle in any given shift, but the stakes may be very high, such as in a threatened suicide, where the safety of the caller or responding officer or EMT may depend on a quick and accurate assessment of the situation.”

In the scenario-based training, staff from the Tri-County Board, from SafeHaven, and from Darke County Recovery Services placed simulated 9-1-1 emergency calls from persons exhibiting various symptoms and severity of mental health conditions. Each training participant had to quickly engage the caller, assess the situation and resolve the crisis.

The training for 9-1-1 Dispatchers is a companion course to the Crisis Intervention Training (CIT) Academy for Law Enforcement Officers. The four-day intensive training will be April 28-May 1. The CIT Academy and companion courses are presented at no charge by the Tri-County Board, with additional support from NAMI Ohio. The training is funded by local levy funds.

CIT training is a partnership between the Tri-County Board and local law enforcement agencies. Since the first area CIT Academy in 2006, 150 law enforcement officers from all but four law enforcement agencies in Darke, Miami and Shelby counties have completed the training. Companion courses for dispatchers, for college personnel, and for mental health professionals strengthen and broaden the understanding and cooperation among agencies to help law enforcement responders be more effective in dealing with persons in mental health crisis, and with placing those with behavioral health needs into the appropriate treatment and recovery environments.


For information about the Crisis Intervention Team training or companion courses, contact Brad Reed, Director of Community Resource Development, 1100 Wayne Street, Troy, or visit the Board’s website at www.mdsadamhs.mh.state.oh.us.

Greenville Police Chief Dennis Butts was named the Ohio CIT Law Enforcement Administrator of the Year at the Crisis Intervention Team Advanced Training Conference October 28 in Columbus.

The Crisis Intervention Team process trains law enforcement officers in how to recognize and deal with persons exhibiting signs of mental illness or substance abuse and addiction, and how to divert them into appropriate treatment and recovery as an alternative to the criminal justice system.

The Greenville Police Department, through the efforts and advocacy of Chief Butts, is the first department in the Darke, Miami and Shelby County service area to have 100 percent of its officers complete the Tri-County Board’s Crisis Intervention Team.

Presenting the award was Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine. In presenting the award, DeWine noted that Butts has “built strong, collaborative relationships with mental health and addiction agencies in Darke County.”

DeWine quoted Greenville Police Sergeant Scott Drew, saying CIT “has resulted in better service to the public by having knowledgeable officers correctly assess people in crisis and getting them the help they so desperately need,” adding that CIT techniques result in fewer officer man-hours spent on crisis calls, and fewer officer complaints, calling it a “win-win for everyone.”

Chief Butts serves as a member of the Tri-County Board of Recovery and Mental Health Services.

Other area officers recognized include Troy Police Department Patrolman Tom Gibson and Detective Chris Madigan. The two received special recognition for "exceptional contributions to the Ohio CIT movement" in the past year. The officers, both trained in the Tri-County Board's CIT program, were instrumental in preventing a suicide attempt at the State Route 41 overpass of Interstate 75 in August.