Attorney General Mike DeWine’s Sobriety, Treatment and Reducing Trauma (START) Program
for families battling substance abuse is expanding to more than a third of
Ohio, even as some areas of the state hardest hit by the opioid epidemic have
dropped out of the adult recovery and child intervention initiative.
The Ohio Attorney General’s Office announced Tuesday that START, which
launched as a pilot project in March 2017, will combine $3 million from the federal
Victims of Crime Act (VOCA) with federal State Opioid Response (SOR) funding from
the Ohio Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services (OhioMHAS) approved
this week by the state Controlling Board to add 17 counties to the program, for
a total of 34 counties representing all regions of the state. (See The Hannah Report, 3/22/17, 10/29/18.)
“The focused, individualized support families in the Ohio START program receive
can truly make a difference, and I am pleased that even more counties will
start offering this program,” DeWine said in a statement. “The dedication of
the case workers, family peer mentors and others has supported parents
struggling with addiction and helped keep families together. I look forward to
following the success of more families as the Ohio START model is implemented
in more communities across the state.”
Administered by the Public Children Services Association of Ohio (PCSAO), START
unites children’s services, juvenile courts, behavioral health providers and
peer mentors to support families struggling with co-occurring substance abuse
and child maltreatment. Children receive intensive trauma counseling, while
parents pair with a recovery coach. Mentors have personal experience with
addiction, have achieved sustained recovery, and have previous experience with
the child welfare system as a child or a parent.
“Investing in prevention and addressing the impacts of addiction on families is
an important step on our road to defeating the opioid epidemic in Ohio,” said
OhioMHAS Director Mark Hurst. “The Ohio START program provides families
struggling with addiction and mental illness an opportunity to remain intact,
and to move forward in a way that is healthy and recovery-focused. The use of
peers in this model is especially important and is something that echoes the
Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services’ commitment to expanding
access to peer services across the state.”
Program Director Fawn Gadel noted, “Ohio START is an innovative children
services-led program that has given our pilot agencies the ability to partner
with other local agencies and connect with the families we serve in a
meaningful way, allowing the family to heal from their trauma and provide safe
and stable homes for their children. This year, we are very excited to double
the number of counties participating in the pilot, so we can reach twice as
many families and children.”
START originally targeted central and southern Ohio and now is adding other
parts of the state. New counties include Ashtabula, Butler, Carroll, Delaware,
Erie, Hardin, Lorain, Mercer, Morrow, Muskingum, Ottawa, Richland, Seneca,
Stark, Summit, Trumbull and Washington.
Since 2017, Adams, Clermont, Perry, Pike and Scioto counties in southern Ohio
have withdrawn from the program, while Franklin, Hamilton, Meigs and Warren
counties have signed on. Other counties participating in START include Athens,
Brown, Clinton, Fairfield, Fayette, Gallia, Highland, Hocking, Jackson,
Lawrence, Pickaway, Ross and Vinton.
The attorney general’s office explained program attrition since the launch of
START.
“Some counties that originally expressed an interest in being an Ohio START
county found they weren’t in a position to join the pilot program. PCSAO made
the opportunity to join available to other counties that expressed an interest
and ensured they could be a part of the original pilot counties so this program
could help as many families struggling with addiction as possible,” AG
spokeswoman Breanna Almos told Hannah
News.
Along
with VOCA and SOR grants, START draws funding from Casey Family Programs,
OhioMHAS’s federal 21st Century Cures grant, United Healthcare Community Plan
of Ohio, PhRMA and the HealthPath Foundation of Ohio.
Ohio State University’s College of Social Work and Ohio University’s Voinovich
School of Leadership and Public Affairs are donating time and resources to
conduct a full evaluation of the pilot to be published at its conclusion.