DEAR EDITOR:

The Trumbull County Mental Health and Recovery Board is comprised of 18 board members from across the county. The current statute ensures that individuals and family members who have experienced mental illness and substance-use disorders have a voice on local Alcohol, Drug and Mental Health Services Boards. A budget provision passed by the Ohio House and currently under consideration in the Ohio Senate would eliminate the required appointments and potentially reduce the board’s size. Under this new law, the board’s size could go from 18 members serving on local boards to seven to nine members.

For a county with more than 190,000 people, the diversity in race, ethnicity and geographic region would not be met the way it is now with a board so small. It would also be nearly impossible to meet all requirements the committees of the board perform. Reducing community control over issues as important as mental health and addiction services and its financial oversight is a bad idea. Trumbull County is on track to experience more overdose deaths this year than any year in its history. The increased demand for both mental health and addiction services can be most effectively managed by keeping the board large, diverse and with members who know what it is like to experience behavioral health issues.

Our board members are appointed by the county commissioners and the Ohio Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services, and they serve without compensation. They volunteer to serve because they have a passion to assist people with mental health and addiction issues to get the help they need.

This effort to limit local decision-making and to marginalize the voices of the individuals and families we serve should not proceed. We are imploring Ohio’s senators to remove this provision from the budget bill and maintain the current law.

TOM HARWOOD

president,

Trumbull County MHRB