Behavioral Health in Ohio: Improving Data, Moving Toward Racial & Ethnic Equity

This presentation will feature Ohio leaders with expertise in advocacy, policy, research, and organizational transformation around behavioral health and racial and ethnic equity. This multi-organizational collaborative team has worked together since early 2022 to conceptualize, design, and create a series of research reports analyzing the opportunities and recommendations for change to improve behavioral health for Ohio’s marginalized racial and ethnic populations. To date, the collaborative has produced two reports, the first presenting the big picture around racial and ethnic equity and behavioral health as an introduction to the topic; the second report focuses on the workforce, featuring a breakdown of the racial and ethnic composition of Ohio’s behavioral health providers and recommendations for improvement in data collection, policy, diversity in education, and more. The final reports are in-process and will focus on treatment and funding. Come learn about the reasons behind the project, its team structure and work processes, and the ways the research reports are already making an impact in Ohio.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES:

Analyze the opportunities for change to improve behavioral health for Ohio’s marginalized racial and ethnic populations.
Describe racial and ethnic composition of Ohio’s behavioral health providers.
List recommendations for improvement in data collection, policy, and diversity in education.

CERTIFICATES:

Registrants who fully attend this event or training will receive a certificate of attendance via email within two weeks after the event or training.

PRESENTERS:

Tracy Plouck

Tracy Plouck is an assistant clinical professor at Ohio University, where she works to support the Ohio Alliance for Population Health and cross-college health initiatives. As a part of this effort, Tracy works with local communities throughout the state to build population health capacity.

From 2011 to 2018, Tracy was director of the Ohio Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services. During that time, she also served as president of the National Association of State Mental Health Program Directors and as vice chair of the Council of State Governments’ Justice Center. For more than 20 years, Tracy held a variety of leadership roles for the state of Ohio, having served twice as the state’s Medicaid director and also deputy director of both the Ohio Office of Budget and Management and the Ohio Department of Developmental Disabilities.

From 2019 to 2022, Tracy was a member of the National Alliance for Mental Illness (NAMI) Board of Directors, where she served as Board Treasurer and Governance Committee Chair. She is currently a Board member of Del-Mor Dwellings, which provides permanent supportive housing for individuals with serious mental illness in Delaware and Morrow Counties.

Tracy completed her BA at Kent State University and her MPA at The Ohio State University.

Joan Englund

Joan M. Englund is the executive director of the Mental Health & Addiction Advocacy Coalition (“MHAC”) and has served in that position since February 2003. The MHAC is comprised of over 130 organizations around the state of Ohio, including: behavioral health agencies serving both adults and children, health and human service agencies, the faith-based community, government and advocacy organizations, major medical institutions, and the corporate arena. The MHAC fosters education and awareness of mental health and addiction issues while advocating for public policies and strategies that support effective, well-funded services, systems and supports for those in need, resulting in stronger Ohio communities. As the MHAC Executive Director, Ms. Englund has advocated extensively at the local and state levels regarding behavioral health public policy issues. Additionally, she provides administrative and strategic support for MHAC membership and leadership, working with consultants and local and statewide organizations and coalitions to achieve MHAC goals.

Prior to serving as the MHAC Executive Director, Ms. Englund was the director of Advancement and legal Affairs for Bridgeway, Inc., the legal director for the American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio, and a litigation associate withArter and Hadden. She obtained both her Bachelor of Science Degree, in Social Work, and her law degree from The Ohio State University.

Cory Cronin

Dr. Cory E. Cronin is an associate professor in Ohio University’s Department of Social and Public Health and director of the Appalachian Institute to Advance Health Equity Science. He received his PhD in medical sociology from Case Western Reserve University, and he has also earned a Master of Health Services Administration from Xavier University. Dr. Cronin has expertise in health care delivery and health care policy, and his research largely focuses on using quantitative data and administrative records to explore population health issues. He has particular interest in how health care organizations, policy, and environment promote or detract from health and health care access, and has published on a range of topics related to hospital community benefit efforts. Prior to beginning his academic career, Dr. Cronin held positions in hospital administration and health care consulting. In recent years, his research has been funded by the National Science Foundation, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and the National Institutes of Health.

The Great Lakes MHTTC is offering this training for individuals working in HHS Region 5: IL, IN, MI, MN, OH, WI. This training is being provided in response to a need identified by Region 5 stakeholders.

Event Type

Webinar/Virtual Training

Hosted by

Great Lakes MHTTC