For Immediate Release
September 21, 2022
Media Contact: Tina Rezash Rogal – trezash@mcadamhs.org

MONTGOMERY COUNTY, OH – Montgomery County ADAMHS has been chosen by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of Minority Health to be one of the recipients of more than $3 million in grants to eight organizations for a new initiative to demonstrate policy effectiveness to promote Black youth mental health.

“Over the past decade, Black children under age 13 years are twice as likely to die by suicide compared to their White peers,” said RDML Felicia Collins, M.D., Deputy Assistant Secretary for Minority Health. “With this new initiative, we intend to identify specific policies that exhibit a meaningful impact on mental health for Black youth and to spread the word about these effective policy efforts.”

“Montgomery County ADAMHS is dedicated to providing mental health resources to all citizens living in Montgomery County and has a special focus on those who are our most vulnerable populations, including children. The combination of natural disasters, violent crime, and a global pandemic have negatively impacted the mental health of our children in the past three years. We are grateful to HHS for trusting us with this initial $400,000 grant to allow us to increase our efforts to support Black youth in Montgomery County,” said Helen Jones-Kelley, Executive Director of Montgomery County ADAMHS.

The $400,000 grant will be matched with an additional $400,000 from Montgomery County ADAMHS to launch ACEs Aware. This innovative approach to improve youth mental health will increase access to screening tools for local providers to determine the number of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) a child has been exposed to, and how that ACE score can impact their mental health. ACEs include events such as abuse, neglect, and various other impactful events that are experienced during childhood. For each additional ACE a child has experienced, the child is nearly twice as likely to attempt suicide, have suicidal ideation, or engage in self-harm.*

“Research is clear that the higher a child scores on the ACE screening, the greater the impact on mental health and physical health as the child grows. The earlier we can intervene with treatment and support, the better the outcomes are for the child,” said Tristyn Ball, Director of Prevention & Early Intervention for Montgomery County ADAMHS.

Read more about the goals of the grant and the additional award winners by clicking here. Please contact Tina Rezash Rogal at trezash@mcadamhs.org to schedule interviews.

*Duke NN, Pettingell SL, McMorris BJ, Borowsky IW. Adolescent Violence Perpetration: Associations with Multiple Types of Adverse Childhood Experiences. Pediatrics 2010; 125: e778–86