As teen mental health, substance use diagnoses rise in Stark, providers scramble to help

When Ashley Collins opened her mental health and addiction clinic, AVO Behavioral Health and Recovery in August 2020, it was amid growing national attention toward mental health in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

In the year and a half since, the clinic's staff of four has tripled, spurred by a growing need for mental health and addiction care in Stark County. 

"Our adolescent program is growing at a pretty rapid pace," Collins said. "Substance use and just mental health in general right now are obviously very, very detrimental to our future and our community. And there's not a lot of treatment out there for kids."

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Now, the clinic is looking to further its mission thanks to a $50,000 donation from the family of the late Dr. John Botti, past chief of surgery at Mercy Medical Center. His daughter, Margaret Botti, said he had a deep interest in the mental health of children. 

The donation specifically went toward Arika's Angels, a nonprofit connected to AVO that helps provide supplementary needs — snacks during sessions, clothing or personal hygiene items to patients who may need them, housewarming items and even gift cards — to clients in AVO's programs. 

"Dr. Botti always said that he hated to see kids in the hospital struggling from substance use," Collins said. "And then when they closed the psychiatric unit, there was really nowhere for kids to go, and that was really his passion, to be sure that kids had help if they need it."

Collins said the donation will help grow the clinic's child and adolescent intensive outpatient reach and partial hospitalization program. 

Even as she's seen more patients come in for treatment, Collins said her concern is that there are still so many people left to reach and limited resources to reach them with. In 2020, Stark County reported 184 emergency department visits for suspected overdoses among residents ages 11 to 24, out of a total 751. 

"I should have a flood of people coming in for addiction treatment, and it's my job to figure out why they're not because I don't want to keep seeing this rate increase," Collins said. "I don't want people dying at a rapid pace in our community."

Increases in substance use, mental health diagnoses among Stark County children and adolescents

Across the country, children and adolescents are struggling with their mental health, in an ongoing crisis that's only been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. 

At Stark County mental health nonprofit Child & Adolescent Behavioral Health, providers have seen a 32% increase in anxiety and depression diagnoses in the last year. From 2019 to 2021, they saw a 33% increase in youth diagnosed with more common substance use diagnoses, such as marijuana, alcohol, hypnotics and nicotine.

Karita Nussbaum, Gemini Program manager at Child and Adolescent Behavioral Health, said that the county is in need of more ongoing recovery programs for teens.  

"With adults, we can send them to [Alcoholics Anonymous] or [Narcotics Anonymous]," Nussbaum said. "From when I talk with kids, we don't have good ones for kids. The kids are going to the adult meetings. And I hesitate to send a 14-year-old in a room of a bunch of adults."

Alongside substance use, she said she frequently sees adolescents with other mental health challenges, like anxiety and depression, and that the Gemini program works to treat both challenges together.  

One of the challenges, though, is staffing. 

Melissa Coultas, chief advancement officer at Child and Adolescent Behavioral Health, said they're dealing with the problem from both ends — there's a greater need for services from the community, and a shorter supply of qualified practitioners to provide them. 

"I'm not gonna lie, yes, it is a challenge," Coultas said. "However, if there's a serious problem, obviously you still want to have the child reach out for services. We are doing everything in our power to hire therapists." 

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Much of Child and Adolescent Behavioral Health's focus is on preventative education to help youth and families learn healthy coping skills before crises occur, with programs including Ohio Preschool Expulsion Prevention Partnership, Positive Parenting Program (Triple P), and Coping and Support Training. 

Ahead of Mental Health Week, high school students spread awareness

Their attention now is turning toward awareness, with the launch of this year's Stark County Student Mental Health Champions campaign. 

Twenty-seven students from 15 high schools will be featured in videos to spread peer-to-peer mental health messaging ahead of the county's Mental Health Week, slated for May 2. 

Caleb Ruffin, a senior at McKinley High School, is one of the champions. He plays football, and said he got involved to bring the sports health perspective to the campaign. 

"Mental health wise, there's always something with CTE, coming from that football background, and that suicidal part coming from CTE and past NFL players that have passed on through suicide," he said. 

He said that hearing professional athletes talk about their mental health helped show the importance of paying attention.

Coultas said the initiative is largely an effort to let kids know they aren't alone.

"There's still a stigma around mental health," Coultas said. "I think the more and more that we can have these conversations ... and the more that we're able to get to the younger generation and talk to the kids about it, the more helpful it is." 

Sam Zern can be reached at szern@cantonrep.com or 330-580-8322. You can also find her on Twitter at @sam_zern.