The Delaware-Morrow Mental Health and Recovery Services Board is used to working behind the scenes. The organization uses local, state, and federal dollars to fund, monitor, and maintain behavioral health services and programs, and uses a roster of healthcare providers and other organizations to provide them to Morrow County residents.
“We’re not in it for the glory, that’s for sure,” said Deanna Brant, the DMMHRSB Executive Director. “Really it’s about finding these services that people need, making sure the provider is able to be there in the county, and then monitoring how people are responding.”
While the board staff would be comfortable letting providers take credit for all the successes, they occasionally have to run levy campaigns to ensure the funding for these in-demand services is there. Morrow County voters will have the opportunity to vote on their latest funding request on Nov. 2.
Though there are federal and state funds, the majority of the DMMHRSB’s funding comes from this levy.
“It’s usually right around 80 percent of our revenue,” said Brant. “We like to keep things local: local funds, local services.”
The DMMHRSB has worked to increase their presence in Morrow County in the last few years. With providers like Southeast, Maryhaven, and HelpLine already established in the area, other providers have been setting up in the county as well.
“More providers in the area, more services available, it all adds up to more people getting help and fewer people having to leave the county for services,” said Brant.
The DMMHRSB levy issue is on the ballot Nov. 2 in Morrow and Delaware counties, and is asking for a renewal of the 1-mill current levy with a .5-mill addition.
Recently, Morrow County’s population growth and the COVID-19 pandemic have driven up the demand for behavioral health services.
“I think people are hurting,” said Mike Schnell, on-air personality for WXVG, local EMT, and the Morrow County Chair for the DMMHRSB levy campaign. “We had a lot of isolation and fear, and when I’m doing EMT calls we’re seeing more and more people needing mental health services along with emergency medical. That’s why I came aboard with this.”
