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Mental Health Groups Launch 'First Mahoning County'
YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio -- A ribbon-cutting and dedication ceremonies were held last week for First Mahoning County at Turning Point Counseling Services. First Mahoning County is a team-based integrated, comprehensive early identification and treatment program for schizophrenia.
The program is a partnership involving Turning Point Counseling Services, the Mahoning County Mental Health Board, Compass Family & Community Services and the Best Practices in Schizophrenia Treatment Center in the psychiatry department at Northeast Ohio Medical University. Treatment services became available last Dec. 1.
Many individuals with schizophrenia suffer needlessly, waiting months -- even years -- before an appropriate diagnosis is made and treatment begins. Intensive intervention as soon as possible following a first episode of a schizophrenia spectrum disorder is very important: Emerging research suggests that intervening as soon as possible following an initial episode of psychosis can lessen its severity and promote a faster, more complete recovery from schizophrenia. First treatment includes medication management, individual counseling, family psycho-education, supported employment/education and case management, officials said.
Schizophrenia is characterized by hallucinations (seeing or hearing things others do not), delusions (firmly held false beliefs, such as paranoia), disordered thinking, limited emotional expression, problems with attention and certain types of memory, and loss or decrease in the abilities that allow people to plan and organize.
Anyone between the ages of 16 and 40 who is experiencing symptoms and/or has been on an antipsychotic medication less than 18 months may contact First Mahoning County team leader Amanda Kantaras at 234 201 2512 to learn more.
Turning Point Counseling Services, which has offices in Youngstown, Struthers and Sebring, offers a full array of programming to meet the needs of individuals who suffer the effects of mental illness and/or substance abuse or addiction.
Compass provides services that will empower, enhance and strengthen individuals and families of the Mahoning Valley through an array of services that respond to the changing needs of the community. Compass programs care for people from infancy through their senior years in Mahoning, Trumbull, Columbiana and Jefferson counties.
The mission of the Mahoning County Mental Health Board is to establish mental health and recovery from mental illness.
The mission of the Best Practices in Schizophrenia Treatment Center is to promote recovery and improve the lives of as many people with schizophrenia as possible by accelerating the adoption of evidence-based and promising practices.
Published by The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.