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Supreme Court of Ohio Justice Evelyn Lundberg Stratton spoke Feb. 29 to a group of local, state and federal professionals devoted to transforming how mental health services are provided in Ohio. The group met at the Ohio Judicial Center.
Justice Stratton, who serves as a member of the Transformation State Incentive Grant Working Group leading this effort, underscored the importance of this work in her remarks. “We need to find new ways to change the lives of persons with mental illness so that they can have a chance to recover and live a life of meaning that we all want,” said Justice Stratton, who chairs the Supreme Court’s Advisory Committee on Mental Illness and the Courts. “We have recognized that jails and prisons have become the de facto mental health hospitals of our day. By our involvement we seek to shatter the revolving door that has developed. Our mental health courts, diversion programs and re-entry efforts will help with that transformation.”
In October 2005, Ohio was one of nine states to receive a five-year, $12 million federal grant, whose overarching goal is to improve collaboration across the multiple state and local agencies in health care, criminal justice and education that provide services to persons with mental illness. It is hoped that through this transformation, persons with mental illness will be able to live, work, learn and participate fully in their communities.
The grant program is part of the federal response to the President’s New Freedom Commission on Mental Health. The commission was charged by President Bush to make recommendations to improve mental health care and overcome the fragmentation of health and mental health care. Kathryn Power, director of the U.S. Center for Mental Health Services for the Substance Abuse Mental Health Services Administration, a division of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, also spoke at Friday’s meeting. She is the top mental health professional for the federal government.