Provide
The Ohio mental health system’s mission is two-fold: establish mental health as a cornerstone of health in Ohio and ensure that quality mental health care is available to all Ohioans at all stages of life. The Ohio Department of Mental Health (ODMH) provides multiple services to meet these goals.
ODMH provides quality inpatient and outpatient services in five regional psychiatric hospitals in seven locations across the state. Over the past two decades, these hospitals have become smaller, more specialized facilities, providing short-term and intensive treatment linked to community needs and priorities. They also provide care to patients committed by criminal courts.
ODMH also provides training, technical assistance and resources focused on promoting mental health, including clinical best practices and community-based supports. In addition, the department plans and implements capital projects and ensures compliance with federal and state requirements. ODMH also provides multiple goods to state facilities, county health departments and community mental health agencies, such as grocery and paper products, pharmaceuticals and medical and laboratory supplies.
These community services are made possible by ODMH:
Ohio’s Mental Health and School Success Network
Ohio has been recognized nationally as a leader in building and expanding collaboration across education, mental health and family-serving organizations in developing a shared agenda for children's mental health and school success.
Early Childhood Mental Health
Early childhood mental health is the social, emotional and behavioral well-being of children birth through five years and their families. This includes the developing capacity to experience, regulate and express emotion; form close, secure relationships and explore and learn about the environment. Early childhood mental health is influenced by several factors, including physical characteristics of the young child; the quality of adult relationships in the child's life; his or her care-giving environments and the community context in which the child and family lives.
Transition-Age Youth Mental Health
Transition-age youth are adolescents and young adults (ages 14-25) who have a diagnosable mental illness that has led to impaired functioning in one or more of their life domains. Examples of life domains include housing, education and employment, quality of life, as well as functioning and life skills. Best practices for serving transition-age youth incorporate the principles of recovery, resiliency and cultural competence. In addition, the overall care must be youth-guided and family-driven.
Hospital Services
Ohio’s five regional psychiatric hospitals are dedicated to caring for people in need by providing innovative, quality and effective psychiatric health services. Health care professionals focus on maximizing the potential for recovery so that people with mental illness will be successful and satisfied with the level of support needed and wanted.
Warehouse and Pharmacy Goods and Services
ODMH provides goods and services to designated community agencies, including food, paper products, pharmaceuticals, medical and laboratory supplies, dental supplies, forms and sundries.
Forensic Services
The interface between the mental health and criminal justice systems is significant. ODMH collaborates with involved constituencies to develop forensic policies, propose programs, assist in legislation, provide clinical and organizational consultation and provide education and training.
Housing
ODMH is committed to ensuring that an array of safe, decent and affordable housing options is available for Ohioans experiencing mental illness.
Employment
ODMH helps consumers of mental health services locate, obtain and maintain employment.
Faith-based Initiatives
Faith-based initiatives offer great opportunities for organizations to partner with institutions of faith to share information with parishioners on recovery and resiliency for overall wellness.
Emergency Preparedness
A number of materials are available to assist Ohioans in understanding the behavioral health effects that children, youth, adults, the elderly, first responders and emergency workers might experience during and after a traumatic event.
Assertive Community Treatment (ACT)
This nationally recognized, evidence-based practice addresses symptom management and everyday problems of people with severe mental illness who are not well engaged in traditional services.
Intensive Home-Based Treatment (IHBT)
This service for children and youth helps them live and function successfully in their homes, schools and communities. It is intended to prevent or provide transition from out-of-home placement.
Older Adults
As the population grows older, mental illness among older adults is becoming a more widespread problem. However, there has been rapid growth in the number of clinical, research and training centers dedicated to the mental health-related needs of older people.
Trauma-Informed Care
Trauma survivors are likely to have histories of physical and sexual abuse and other types of trauma-inducing experiences, and this often leads to mental health and other types of co-occurring disorders, such as health problems, substance abuse problems or eating disorders.