Hamilton County will again host a statewide gathering focused on diverting people with mental illness and substance use disorders away from jail and into treatment, as the Ohio Deflection Association brings its annual conference to Cincinnati next week amid renewed uncertainty over federal behavioral health funding.
The 5th Annual Ohio Deflection Association Conference will run Jan. 21–23 at The Summit Hotel in Madisonville, drawing law enforcement leaders, clinicians, recovery advocates and policy officials from across the state. It is the fourth consecutive year the event has been held in Hamilton County. County Commissioner Denise Driehaus and Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost will make opening remarks Wednesday, according to conference materials
“Deflection” programs are designed to create alternatives to arrest by connecting people in crisis with treatment, peer support and social services, often through partnerships between police, fire departments, courts and health systems. The three-day conference will feature sessions on harm reduction, reentry after incarceration, trauma-informed care, data sharing and the role of people with lived experience in outreach efforts.
The conference comes just days after the White House added and then removed federal mental health and addiction funding from the chopping block. On Jan. 13, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services notified roughly 2,000 recipients that about $2 billion in Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) grants were being terminated, citing “non-alignment” with the Trump administration’s priorities. The move triggered bipartisan backlash and alarm from providers who rely on the funds to operate crisis services, treatment programs and prevention initiatives.
“My understanding is that there has been an intervention at the White House,” Sen. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis., told reporters as the controversy unfolded. “It might be a one-day issue.”
Administration officials reversed course and restored the grants within 24 hours, but SAMHSA has faced other changes under Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s leadership. A Kaiser Family Foundation tracker of key mental health and substance use policy actions shows that, alongside the recent funding hiccup, federal priorities have shifted toward a more law-and-order framework.
“Many of these policy directions are consistent with themes highlighted in President Trump’s campaign materials and are aligned with proposals in Project 2025,” reads the KFF report.
Conference organizers have not publicly linked the event to the federal funding scare, but several scheduled sessions focus on sustaining deflection and diversion programs. Dan Meloy, president of the Ohio Deflection Association, is slated to address the “state of deflection” in Ohio during a Thursday conference speech.