The following is an update from Ada school superintendent, Meri Skilliter.

We continue to miss our students terribly and understand that this situation can be a strain on everyone’s mental health.

The Mental Health and Recovery Services Board (MHRSB) of Allen, Auglaize, and Hardin Counties has worked hard to reconfigure some of their services to accommodate people during these unusual circumstances.

I wanted to share some of these services and the contact information for each one:

HOPELINE
 I mentioned the HOPELINE in a March update, and that line is still a good one for mental health crises and/or referrals. That number is 1-800-567-4673. Here are two other traditional behavioral health services for our area and contact information. Both have trained their staffs to be able to provide behavioral health services via telehealth, so they can serve people during the quarantine.

Family Resource Center
 Contact at 419-222-1168 for connection to appropriate services Monday-Friday from 9:00 am-5:00 pm, including: care navigation, psychiatry, counseling, etc.

SAFY Behavioral Health
 Contact at 419-222-1527 for connection to appropriate services Monday-Friday from 8:30 am-5:00 pm, including: counseling (play therapy, trauma treatment, etc.), case management, etc.

 After hours calls: 1-800-532-7239

 Virtual Youth Drop-in Center: All services provided by Video Conferencing systems: call 419-695-3050 or 419- 222-1527

Gatekeepers (Ada Mental Health Alliance High School Group)
 Prevention Awareness and Support Services (PASS), the group who facilitates Gatekeepers, is planning to facilitate meetings of this group via some teleconference platform. Members of this group should watch for information about this in their emails or on their high school announcement emails in the near future.

Daily Brain Break
 A daily 30 minute virtual program on topics such as mindfulness, goal setting, managing difficult emotional situations, coping with stress, and decision making. These sessions will be formatted using an existing program already delivered to some area schools.

 The sessions will be offered Monday through Friday at 1pm EST. This will begin Wednesday April 8th.

 The link to join will be in students’ school email announcements from Mr. Lee

 Fun Fact: This program is facilitated by Kendra Vermillion, daughter to our own school nurse, Marlene Vermillion.

 This is a great session to help students learn skills to cope with the stress of our current local, state, and national circumstances.

 It begins April 8, 2020, at 1:00 PM Eastern Time, Monday through Friday.

As always, if you have any concerns about your student, contact their principals or school counselors. We hope everyone continues to be well, until we get to be together again.