$3.6 million grant focuses on mental health for inmates and elementary students

TOLEDO, Ohio (WTVG) - Unison Health received a $3.6 million dollar grant to fund mental health support services for Lucas County Jail inmates and TPS elementary students.

The majority of the money will be used to fund mental health medications for jail inmates and provide counseling and transitional services.

Once a person is incarcerated, their Medicaid funding stops and that means sometimes expensive mental health medications do as well. The jail cannot fund these medications, so the grant will. The goal is to keep people on their medications so they don’t lose valuable ground in their treatment. That way they leave the jail with mental health issues under control and their risks of re-offending go down. This money will also pay for medication-assisted drug therapy to help people detox from drugs and alcohol. Again the goal is to reduce a person’s chances of winding up back in jail on a never-ending cycle.

The funds will also be used to evaluate and refer elementary students to appropriate mental health services so they can avoid problems later in school.

This is a two-year grant that will start by the end of the year.

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