Board creating vocational program to help people with mental health issues find jobs

Al Lawrence
Correspondent
Joe Trolian

The Richland County Mental Health & Recovery Services Board will have conversations this month with employers to develop a vocational program to help people recovering from mental health and substance addiction problems find jobs.

As part of the recognition of September as National Recovery Month, Executive Director Joe Trolian told Richland County commissioners Tuesday the first step will be to start having conversations with employers who are supportive and ready to learn about recovery.

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“I see business owners who need workers and people in recovery who are at the point in their recovery who are ready to go back to work or enter the workforce for the first time,” Trolian said. “I want to find a way to bring those two groups together.”

Trolian said the first step is to develop a catalogue of employers who are supportive and willing to learn about recovery and then give that catalogue to each mental health agency.

Five-year strategic plan in the works

The ultimate goal is to write into the agency’s five-year strategic plan a vocational track in all recovery processes so service providers are sending people who are looking for a first job to employers who have an idea what things to look for in order to help reduce job stress.

Trolian said one of the top five reasons for relapse in recovery from mental health or addition problems is vocational stress.

“Vocational stress can be either not being able to find a job, finding jobs that are not in a field you’re not comfortable with, not getting along with your supervisor or co-workers,” he said. “These can all be mitigated by working with just the education of what to look for on both sides of the fence.”

Trolian said general activities for the monthlong observance will be limited because of the resurgence of COVID. The Mental Health and Recovery Board will do ads on radio and television to promote mental health and the board’s two new walk-in mental health clinics.

There also will be an in-person session Saturday at the Crossroads Church to discuss mental health and church in general along with ways to develop care teams. Officials also are holding breakfast meetings Oct. 8 and 15 at Kingwood Center to provide details of the work force project and to help businesses position themselves to deal with issues in the workplace and still have policies that are recovery supportive. Information and registration on both programs is available on the mental health website.

Commissioner Cliff Mears read a proclamation that National Recovery Month has worked for over 30 years to improve the lives of those affected by mental illness and addiction disorders by raising awareness of the diseases and educating communities about prevention, treatment and recovery services.

Locally, it recognized Catalyst Life Services and Family Life Counseling for opening Richland County’s first behavior health urgent care services.

The proclamation pointed out 8,000 county residents received mental health or addiction services between July 2020 and June 2021. Services were provided by 11 agencies, including Catalyst, Family Life Counseling and UMADAOP (Urban Minority Alcoholism and Drug Abuse Outreach Program).

Trolian said while that figure is down 10-15% because of COVID, it is significantly less than the 60-70% drop in other counties because Richland County has a good mental health infrastructure.

“I want to make sure we have enough services and capacity to serve at least 10% of our population,” Trolian said. “People don’t access services if they’re not available. We’re ranked in the top 10 counties in the state for services per capita.”

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Commissioners OK jail boiler purchase

In other business, commissioners approved a $39,980 contract with Standard Plumbing and Heating Company of Mansfield to install a new 99% efficient, 200 gallon Lochinvar water heater and storage tank at the county jail. The new heater will provide hot water for showers and other facilities and will replace an existing boiler and tank that are leaking.

Maintenance Director Chuck Minich told the board if the new system works well, the plan is to use it as the primary system, replace a second boiler in 2022 with a second new system that will serve as a backup and eliminate the use of a third existing boiler.

“These are so efficient and recover so well we could run off of one,” he said.

Minich noted that replacing one boiler in the current system was projected to cost around $65,000. Funding for the project will come from $192,000 remaining in an old jail fund.