If you or someone you know needs support now, call, text or chat the 988 Lifeline.
Operators of group homes for Ohioans with mental illness gathered in Columbus this week to hear about where care and funding are headed for some of the neediest Ohioans.
The Ohio Adult Care Facilities Association is a statewide trade association representing operators of adult group homes for those with severe and persistent mental illness. The group sprang from the National Alliance on Mental Illness of Ohio, a nonprofit organization.
About 100 homeowners and operators attended the association’s annual conference to learn about topics ranging from funding and Medicaid cuts to finding new residents and administering critical psychiatric medications.
While they come from different backgrounds and parts of the state, group homeowner operators have one thing in common: They are not in it for the money. More often than not, owners struggle to pay for home upkeep, feeding, transporting and caring for residents, many of whom don’t have family members to depend upon.
Richard Barnes Jr., who operates Barnes Caring Services in Toledo, received the association’s Resiliency Award after he took on second and third jobs to pay for home repairs.
Dawn Campbell Lavey, operator of three facilities in the Lancaster area, got the Lifetime Achievement Award for decades of advocacy for those with mental illness.
“She has changed the world for many people in need,” her award nomination said.
Lavey was first exposed to mental health issues when she was 13 and working in a nursing home. After she graduated from Baylor University, she saw a real need for helping mentally ill patients.
“My passion has always been for the indigent and the mentally ill,” she said.
Raven Oglesby, executive director of the Ohio Adult Care Facilities Association, provided some troubling news about funding in view of federal cutbacks, but followed it up with a pep talk.
“We are advocating for you, and you should start advocating for yourself,” Oglesby said.
She urged home operators to look to state psychiatric hospitals, county jails, homeless shelters and mental health agencies to find residents to fill empty beds in their homes.
The group homes are predominantly located in five urban areas of the state — Cleveland, Columbus, Cincinnati, Dayton and Toledo. Many parts of Ohio have no designated group homes.
The need for homes for adults with mental illness developed quickly about 20 years ago when the state closed 10 psychiatric hospitals, pushing some of the most vulnerable, severely ill people into homeless shelters, private homes, hospitals, jails, and the streets.
As a result, Residential Class 2 Adult Care Facilities were established, mostly private businesses or through faith-based organizations. Funding has been a problem since day one.
Money to operate the homes comes from private payments, Supplemental Security Income (SSI) funds, scarce local dollars from county mental health boards, private fundraising and the Residential State Supplement program operated by the Ohio Department of Behavioral Health (formerly the Ohio Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services).
The residential state supplement allocation is $1,600 per month per resident. The state is paying $23.3 million annually for the supplement to about 2,500 home residents.
Sonya Durosinmi-Etti, the association’s board president and a Columbus home operator, said she is motivated by helping others not making money from her business.
“We have such a passion for what we do. We love our work. We love our residents,” she said in an interview.
Officials from the Ohio Department of Behavioral Health updated conference attendees about ongoing programs, including the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline, which received 592,294 calls and text messages for help in the first three years of operation. It takes an average of 23 seconds for an operator to answer calls and texts at one of 19 call centers around Ohio.
Roma Barickman, head of Housing and Homelessness Policy and Programs for the state, has worked for many years with people who provide homes for those with mental health issues who might otherwise have nowhere to go.
“I love the passion in this room,” she said. “I love what you do for your residents. But you are also a business. You have your compassion hat and you have your business hat.”
More information about the Ohio Adult Care Facilities Association is available online at ohioadultcarefacilities.org.
This story was originally published by the Ohio Capital Journal and republished here with permission.