2019 Awareness Day Final Report 2019_ADay_FinaReport_FINAL_pages | Page 10

LEFT: starkmhar.org
StarkMHAR supports wellness and recovery
through innovation in funding, collaboration,
education, and advocacy in Stark County, Ohio.
STARK COUNTY MENTAL
HEALTH & ADDICTION RECOVERY
“We were hit real rough last year with a wave
of young people taking their own lives. And it
took us by surprise. We’re getting education to
teachers, to youth, to their parents.”
SYSTEMS OF CARE
— MAX DOLL
Stark County Mental Health and Addiction Recovery
A 2016 SAMHSA report showed that
one year following the intake of a child
or youth into a system of care, rates of
suicidal thoughts were reduced by 43
percent, and rates of suicide attempts
were reduced by 45 percent.
In Stark County, Ohio, Stark County Mental Health & Addiction Recovery
(StarkMHAR) administers the local Suicide Prevention Coalition. Following
a suicide cluster in the county starting in 2017, the Coalition formed a
coordinating committee and a care coordination committee; worked with
local school districts and the Stark County Educational Service Center on
prevention programming in schools; and coordinated a community-wide,
yearlong Zero Suicide academy featuring mental health care providers
and local hospitals.
SUICIDAL THOUGHTS REDUCED
43%
45%
StarkMHAR also created Stark County’s Youth Mobile Response Team,
a team of professionals trained in crisis intervention, information, and
referral who administer age-specific health interventions to preschool-
and school-age children in the community. Through crisis intervention,
youth are assessed, screened, and placed in appropriate hospitalization or
outpatient services. The program has been busy since its establishment,
with suicide risk representing the top concern (60 percent) of all calls.
SUICIDAL ATTEMPTS REDUCED
10
2019