Mental Health and Recovery for Licking and Knox Counties will have a Stepping Up Ohio countywide meeting, taking place virtually on May 31 from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., and featuring presentations on mental illness and the criminal justice population.
The meeting will provide updates on the work Knox County has done since becoming a Stepping Up county and will be a chance for state partners to share information about resources available to Knox County.
Stepping Up Ohio, a chapter of the national Stepping Up initiative, is a statewide effort to break the cycle of jail being the de facto mental health hospital.
Stepping Up Ohio assists counties in unifying existing community support for people with mental illness as well as connecting them to new or previously untapped free state and national resources. The Stepping Up Ohio team will convene a cross-section of local stakeholders, including behavioral health treatment providers; law enforcement; specialty court dockets; and housing, veteran, and other support services providers. State partners will co-present with local leaders on topics such as:
The meeting is free and open to the public. Contact Lynn Snider at lsnider@mhrlk.org for registration information.
For more information about Stepping Up Ohio, visit https://mha.ohio.gov/wps/portal/gov/mha/community-partners/criminal-justice/stepping-up-initiative/stepping-up-initiative or email Melissa Knopp at knoppm@steppingupohio.org.
To learn more about the Stepping Up initiative in this community, contact Emily Morrison at emorrison@mhrlk.org or Kay Spergel at kspergel@mhrlk.org.