MCADAMHS receives grant to launch new Black youth mental health initiative

DAYTON, Ohio (WKEF) -- Montgomery County’s Board of Alcohol Drug Addiction and Mental Health Services (MCADAMHS) is receiving $400,000 from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Office of Minority Health to launch a new initiative to demonstrate policy effectiveness to promote Black youth mental health.

Helen Jones-Kelley, executive director of MCADAMHS, said this was a very competitive grant, and they’re only one of eight organizations in the nation chosen to receive a portion of the Health and Human Services' $3 million award.

MCADAMHS will be working with area organizations to implement new early intervention screening technology called ACE’s Aware which they said is now only being used in California, to help our most impacted youth.

“Black and brown children deal with trauma on a daily basis. That is part of their life. If they were able to talk about a daily walk in their shoes, but certainly the epidemic has increased the level of trauma as well as stress within their households, within classrooms, and in general for them,” Jones-Kelley said.

MCADAMHS reports Black children under 13 are twice as likely to die by suicide compared to their white peers and noted it’s of growing concern as youth who have a peer commit suicide are more prone themselves.

MCADAMHS provided data that shows in 2020, suicidal ideation was the second most common complaint among youth ages 11-17 without Medicaid in the Dayton Children’s Hospital emergency department and the fourth most common chief complaint among youth ages 11-17 with Medicaid. During that time, Dayton Children’s saw 700 youths who had suicidal ideation in their emergency department.

Additionally, Jones-Kelley explained suicide rates in Montgomery County are higher than Ohio’s rates.

“What we came up with was looking at childhood trauma, which hasn't been done that often before, and addressing issues such as child abuse, child neglect, and some things that we call household dysfunction. What we're able to do with that is really work to reduce stress among young people because it changes their brain,” said Trystyn Ball, director of Prevention & Early Intervention Services with MCADAMHS.

Ball applied for the grant and said MCADAMHS is matching it. She explained they'll use that total of $800,000 to train staff at partner organizations such as the Victory Project, Children Services, and Dayton Children’s Hospital to launch ACEs Aware.

Ball explained if a young person is experiencing abuse or neglect, their brain is wired to see things as a threat, even when it's not threatening. She said the goal is to make sure that they’re rewiring at-risk children’s brains so that they understand when they're safe, and are able to thrive.

“We're actually building the system, we're working with a company or really a group that helped the state of California set up their, what they call ACEs Aware Adverse Childhood Experiences Aware. And what it has allowed the state of California to do is implement universal childhood trauma screening throughout every single pediatricians' office. And so we are going to scale that to Montgomery County... . And really be intentional about this and create a system that is trauma responsive and promotes the mental wellness of young people,” Ball explained.

Ball said the higher a child scores on the screening, the more likely they are to experience mental health concerns later in life, she said the technology will allow agencies to implement more robust early intervention.

“We are training staff to implement stress buster plans to focus on some of the stressors that young people may be experiencing. And it focuses on things such as nutrition, sleep, mental wellness, mindfulness, time outside, just different things like that, that we know what we should do, but making it tangible and really tailoring it to each family and each young person,” Ball added.

Here is a full list of local agencies and organizations MCADAMHS is working with to implement the new initiative:

• Montgomery County Juvenile Court
• Montgomery County Children Services
• Victory Project
• Montgomery County Board of Developmental Disabilities
• Omega Community Development Center
• Miami Valley Child Development Centers
• Boys and Girls Club of Dayton
• Dayton Children’s Hospital
• YWCA Dayton
• Wright State University
• Montgomery County Educational Services Center
• Fudge Foundation
• The Dayton FoodBank
• Board of Montgomery County Commissioners
• Greater Dayton Area Hospital Association
• Community Health Centers of Greater Dayton

“Being able to address the encounters that they have with stress, with traumatic situations, with having to start over if you can imagine that for young kids. This grant is going to address some of those fears and some of the sense that they may have, they created a situation that was totally out of their control, to be honest,” Jones-Kelley explained.

Jones-Kelley added it's a three-year grant, and as MCADAMHS demonstrates outcomes, they will have an opportunity for an additional $400,000 annually for the next three years from Health and Human Services.

“Our dream, especially the dream of our team member who actually conceived this idea, is that we're going to transform the way in which health care and mental health services are delivered in our community. I'm on board with that. I think we have an opportunity here to really make a difference for the way that we're interacting with youngsters who are expressing a great deal of trauma. This system, really early intervention, you can really pinpoint those high-risk indicators,” Jones-Kelley said.

Help is available if you’re struggling with your mental health. Call Montgomery County’s 24/7 crisis hotline at 833-580-2255 (833-580-CALL).