Over the past five years, the Alcohol, Drug and Mental Health Board of Franklin County (ADAMH) has navigated significant changes in the behavioral health landscape, from the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic to the expansion of crisis care services in Franklin County. As Women's History Month highlights the contributions of women in leadership, ADAMH CEO Erika Clark Jones and Board Chair Donna Zuiderweg reflect on the agency’s progress, the evolving needs of the community and the role of women in shaping the future of behavioral health services.
In this conversation, they discuss key milestones, ongoing challenges and their vision for ensuring ADAMH and its partners continue to provide equitable, accessible care for all.
Over the past five years, what would you consider to be some significant milestones
ADAMH has achieved?
Erika: It’s been an incredible five years. I think the pandemic illuminated many opportunities for people to seek care and for systems to adapt more swiftly to meet their needs.
In 2020, voters approved additional millage for ADAMH’s levy, which was the first increase in levy funds ADAMH received in 29 years. It was a significant milestone for the agency, and the board needed it. Since the pandemic, the need for ADAMH provider agencies to be healthy, whole and ready to serve all kinds of people, has been pivotal. Having a responsive behavioral health safety net and system that collaborates with other systems is required if individuals are going to get and stay well, because we need healthy people to contribute to our community's economy.
Another huge milestone for ADAMH was adopting the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline as the one number to call in a mental health crisis. I am so proud of the providers and ADAMH staff who came together and decided to adopt 988, to invest in mobile crisis and make those initiatives a reality in Columbus and Franklin County. We want to connect with people and address their wellness needs and be able to start that relationship from the very first phone call.
And then, finally, not only did ADAMH plant its flag in the ground for the Franklin County Crisis Care Center that is planned to open by summer, the agency did it in a major way and in collaboration with partners across the community. ADAMH helped design a facility that expands the crisis bed-capacity in our community by more than 350%, ensuring there is an alternative to jails and hospital emergency departments to have behavioral health needs addressed.
Donna: I feel like a significant milestone the agency has recently achieved was earning the “Culture of Quality” certification from the Ohio Association of County Behavioral Health Authorities. The board of trustees has always felt that ADAMH had very significant and thorough ways of going about business, but the opportunity to demonstrate that through this accreditation is just another way of affirming that the work ADAMH is doing is the right work in the right way.
This milestone should continue to show our community that ADAMH is responsive to the work that needs to be done, as well as responsive to our partners in a way that is important.
I’d also add that the way ADAMH went about securing funding for the crisis care center and the amount of support we received from different stakeholders and donors in this community who have an appreciation for the value that the crisis care center will bring was also a significant achievement.
The COVID-19 pandemic had a profound impact on mental health and addiction services. How would you say ADAMH has evolved to meet the shifting needs of the community since the pandemic?
Donna: One of the outcomes of the pandemic that I've appreciated has been the restructuring of our System of Care, which has helped streamline budgeting and resource allocation. The System of Care is an important way to identify the various areas of need within the community, ensuring that ADAMH takes a strategic and thoughtful approach to prioritizing services.
Erika: ADAMH did not lose any provider organizations during the height of the pandemic. At a time when the future was uncertain and people needed services most, ADAMH created a strategy that preserved services in the community no matter what, and I think that was huge.
When the pandemic brought a level of uncertainty to our community, ADAMH took a step back and prioritized the availability of services. During that time, the agency revised its mission and vision statements to emphasize that everyone can and should have access to care. No matter what someone’s background, ethnicity or ability to pay is, they should be able to access the services they need, which is why ADAMH and its provider network have worked hard to make sure access to lifechanging, critical services is available.
Given the shifting national landscape, what do you see as the greatest challenges and opportunities at the local level for the work ADAMH does?
Donna: To me, the most pressing challenge is the community's capacity to support all the critical service areas. As a community, we have continued to shift the burden of support for so many aspects of care onto our community through taxes and levies, and that's challenging. We know it's burdensome for individuals on the property tax side, but we need to have the resources available to keep our community strong.
Erika: Funding for services is definitely an issue. There is significant discussion about reductions to Medicaid.
If we are living in a time when residents are finally accepting that they need care and want to get connected to a licensed therapist or clinician, ADAMH wants to ensure that access to care will be guaranteed without adequate Medicaid coverage. This is more difficult to achieve. I believe our Franklin County Board of Commissioners and members of the Ohio legislature understand this.
If we look at some of the data, one of the metrics that we pay close attention to is the suicide rate in Franklin County, which is another challenge. The rising suicide rate among seniors, among men of color – particularly of African descent, among immigrant communities and among others shows that there are specialized populations in need of attention. Not only is this an issue, but it's also an opportunity for us to do better.
The behavioral health field has long been driven by women in frontline roles, yet leadership positions have not always reflected that representation. As women leaders of a behavioral health-focused agency, what steps do you believe are still needed to achieve greater gender equity in leadership within the field?
Erika: I think it’s about making sure that young women and women in related fields see behavioral health and community-based behavioral health careers as options. We have to break the mold and start searching for professionals in adjacent fields because there are a lot of people now who are accessing service who want to see providers who look like them and have similar experiences to them.
Donna: I am where I am in my career because someone took an interest in me. I had mentors who believed that I was capable of things that I didn’t even fully appreciate, so I try to give back in that same way.
When I think of women in general and what we can do to encourage more women into positions of leadership, it means taking an interest in someone who you believe can do great work and has a great future in front of them. It means believing in them when they don't believe in themselves and finding opportunities to lift them up. In my experience, it's not a hard thing to do but it is something you have to do intentionally.
As the first ADAMH CEO of color, what does this milestone mean to you?
Erika: I appreciate this acknowledgement and I try not to put the focus the milestone, yet I understand the responsibility that comes with it, and I'm honored. I've inherited a legacy of a lot of trauma when it comes to the history of people of color, especially African Americans in our country. But I’ve also inherited an incredible legacy of resilience, and that's what I bring to work every day.
I bring that perspective of lived experience for individuals who have been on the margin and aren't always evaluated, heard or have their opinions considered in the same way with the same weight.
I try to serve with integrity, transparency and inclusion because everyone has something to contribute. I think when you bring different perspectives to the table, you get a solution that actually meets the needs of more people, so I'm honored to be able to serve in this capacity. The best is yet to come.
As we look to the future, what are your priorities for the agency, and how do you envision ADAMH’s impact growing in the coming years?
Erika: As ADMAH continues to grow, I want to make sure the board prioritizes closing care gaps in the behavioral health safety net through data-informed decision making. I want ADAMH to have a robust system that shows where we’re successful and where there are holes that need filled. This will allow ADAMH to make better decisions and better investments.
Aforementioned, the board has a keen interest in strategic collaborators and partners to help close those gaps so that no one falls through the cracks. When I say no one, I'm talking about seniors, young adults and individuals who are marginally housed because of behavioral health diagnoses or challenges.
Overall, I think ADAMH needs to get to a place where it is investing in services that are efficient and effective and can document that. Once that is done, then ADAMH has additional investments that could go into other spaces, therapies and care that our community typically hasn't had. There's a ton of challenges that ADAMH is willing to address, however, doing so in a data-informed way is the best way to proceed.
Donna: I think from the board’s standpoint we’re eager to see the Franklin County Crisis Care Center launch and become an important linchpin of crisis response in our community. In order for the crisis center’s phased-in approach to be successful, the board knows being thoughtful in how we secure funding and how we work with our partners is a huge priority.