“We have a big crisis in mental health in the community,” said Parobek. “Not just here, but it's nationwide. We have a lot of agencies that are working hard, but I don't think we're working as closely together as we can. Because resources are so scarce, I wanted to try to get all the agencies together, so we can lean on each other and use our services better. If we can gain some efficiencies, we can spread the resources around better.”
Parobek explained, the first meeting of the summit was about getting the agencies together to talk about issues and get feedback from all the agencies involved, looking first at mental health, developmental disabilities and addiction challenges for just adults as a first step. Summit organizers plan to take the information from an agency questionnaire and meet again on October 7th to share results and solutions to potential open-ended problems that still need solved, with the goal of presenting those solutions to the community on October 20th at Marion First Church of the Nazarene.
The group hopes to present collaborative solutions to the community, said Parobek. “Here's how we're going to work better together,” he said. “Here's how they can get information to better care for those who are navigating mental health issues, addiction or developmental disabilities.”
Ohio State Marion Dean & Director, Dr. Jennifer Schlueter shared the importance of what the campus brings to the region in terms of preparing students for careers in counseling, mental health, addiction services and developmental disabilities. “First and foremost, the academic pipeline. We offer psychology, social work, sociology and criminology, and education right here in Marion,” Dr. Schlueter said.
She also emphasized the importance of involving Ohio State Marion students as active participants in the summit. “Several of our students served as scribes and observers, but because the people in that room know things our students need to learn, and the fastest way to learn them is to sit still and listen to professionals do their work.”
Schlueter noted that the summit marks the beginning of sustained collaboration. “This is the first of three gatherings, probably more. What we’re hosting isn’t an event. It’s the start of a working relationship among agencies that serve the same people and don’t always have a table to sit at together,” she said.
Dr. Schlueter described partnerships like the summit as essential to Ohio State Marion’s identity and responsibility. “Because a campus that only serves the people who walk onto it isn’t doing the job a land‑grant university signed up for,” she said.
According to President and CEO of the Marion Community Foundation, Julie Prettyman, the issue of behavioral health and addiction is essential to work on for our community.
“Marion is really collaborating around that issue. The Community Foundation is thrilled to be a part, to be one of the partners that is looking for and working towards solutions,” said Prettyman.
“It’s not going be just the foundation that does that,” she added. “It's going to be numerous agencies that come together and work towards the betterment of our community.”
When looking at the overarching message that came out of meeting one, Prettyman felt it was specifically the act of so many agencies sharing and collaborating toward a common goal.
“Today was really wonderful,” she said. “We got to hear from the agencies, the organizations that meet the needs of individuals in our community. It wasn't one nugget that I heard. It was the opportunity to hear from the people, the businesses, the organizations that are out there working with individuals who are in crisis, who need those mental health services.”
Organizers all echoed the same sentiment, that the best thing to come out of the opening round of the Mental Health, Addiction and Developmental Disabilities Summit at Ohio State Marion was the ability to collaborate and share, with the opportunity to continue this discussion in the future and with the community at large.
