CINCINNATI — Deaconess Associations Foundation gave grants to 18 local organizations totaling $635,000, and one of those organizations is using their money to help give mental health resources to minority communities across the Tri-State.
The Healthcare Connection is an organization that provides health services to underserved and uninsured people in the area. They received about $100,000 from Deaconess Associations Foundation, and they plan to use that money to hire three new mental health providers to their team.
They will hire a director of behavioral health who will oversee mental health services, and a case manager who looks at social determinants, like race and socioeconomic status, to help improve access to care.
The third position will be a behavioral healthcare specialist at their school-based center in the Princeton School District. This specialist will help screen students for mental and behavioral warning signs so they can catch issues and treat them early.
"We have just started to see the challenges the pandemic has brought forward," Jolene Joseph, CEO of the Healthcare Connection, said. "The physical health is not in isolation of what we are seeing of the mental health, substance use issues. So intervening with the youth early is incredibly important.”
Some of the other organizations which received some of the grant money include the Greater Cincinnati Behavioral Health Services, Children's Home of Northern Kentucky Behavioral Health and Lighthouse Youth and Family Services.
