Mental Wellness Strategic Plan and Alliance

About the Program

Category: Health (Best in Category)

Year: 2021

During the Spring of 2016, Summit County faced the deaths of two middle schoolstudents as a result of the synthetic opioid “Pink.” Serving as a catalyst, the SummitCounty Health Department, along with members of the Summit County Council,Sheriff’s Office, County Attorney, various community non-profits, religious leaders,school districts, parents, youth, businesses, local municipal governments, andbehavioral health clinicians formed the Summit County Mental Wellness Alliance (MWA)to address issues of mental health and drug addiction within the community. Theprimary goal of the MWA was to identify gaps in services and programs and develop acommunity strategic plan to improve the state of behavioral health in the county.Ratified by the County Council in November of 2017, the Summit County MentalWellness Strategic Plan is the guiding community document on improving the overallsystem of care for behavioral health within Summit County. It serves as a communityroadmap, allowing for community partners and the Health Department to utilize a datadriven approach in addressing the needs and critical issues facing our community asthey relate to behavioral health through the establishment of community committees,goals and objectives, and measurable metrics.