MONTGOMERY COUNTY, Ohio — Montgomery County’s Alcohol, Drug Addiction, and Mental Health Services (ADAMHS) department recently received $3 million in federal funding.
The money came from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, which is part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
Over the next four years, the money will be used to enhance and add to the county’s mobile crisis response team.
“If the crisis requires an in-person response, the crisis teams will send a two person response team to the individual in the community no matter where they are. It could be at home, it could be at the library, it could be at the grocery store,” said Tina Rezash Rogal, Director of Strategic Initiatives and Communication at ADAMHS. “We don’t know where these crises are going to happen. So we want to be sure these two-person teams are ready to roll into the community, 24 hours a day, seven days a week.”
Montgomery County’s ADAMHS was one of 13 agencies and boards to receiving funding.
When a person with the mobile crisis response team heads out to meet somebody needing help, the interaction is very discreet. They don’t drive marked cars with sirens and lights, and they don’t wear uniforms.
“We got to take what we need and be on our way,” said Jackie Allison, a mobile crisis response team member, as she packed a bag to head out for the day.
She’s been on the team for almost a year now.
“It’s always an adventure. I love it,” she said.
Day or night, she’s always prepared because she could be called at any time.
The car is her office, and it’s how she gets to people who need help.
“Every person, every situation is different,” Allison said.
Along with being on the mobile team, she’s also a certified peer supporter.
“I spent the majority of my life, over half of my life, living and using substances to try to make myself feel the way I wanted to feel or feel better. It got to a point where I was ultimately was faced with a choice: either continue what I was doing and I was going to die, no doubt, or I could decide to do something different,” she said.
Allison spent a lot of time living on some of the same streets that she now drives when responding to someone in crisis.
“I wanted to use all that pain and ugliness and turn it into something beautiful to help other people,” she said.
In Jan. 2022, in partnership with RI International, the county’s Crisis Call Center opened.
When a call comes in, Allison maps out what could happen.
“I’m trying to imagine what it’s going to be like to meet the individual, to kind of get a baseline understanding of and what kind of resources or support they’re going to need,” she said.
Allison says the other thing she does on the way is pray for the person, herself and her family.
She credits her faith in God for where she is today.
She’s providing a full life for three children and studying for her degree in Social Work.
“You don’t have to do it alone, there are people out there who help and there are people out there who have been in your shoes and can provide that hope and support while you integrate into that new life, the life you want to live,” she said.
Within the first year of the Crisis Call Center opening, clinicians received more than 12,000 calls and the mobile team made more than 600 visits to people in crisis.
If you or anyone needs help, you can reach the crisis line at (833) 580-2255.
