MAHONING CO. SCHOOLS Teen suicide screening requested

Each school would run its own screening program with a consultant's aid.
By HAROLD GWIN
VINDICATOR SHARON BUREAU
YOUNGSTOWN -- The Mahoning County Mental Health Board is being asked to finance a one-year student suicide screening program for county schools.
D & amp;E Counseling Center of Belmont Avenue would coordinate the program.
Greg Cvetkovic, D & amp;E executive director, told the Mental Health Board on Thursday that the program would be school-based and screen for students at risk for suicide.
The project cost is estimated at $76,450.
The board took no action on the proposal, but Ronald A. Marian, executive director of the mental health board, said he thinks the program is needed.
Mahoning County has had many teen suicides and attempted suicides, he said.
Position needed
The program calls for the funding of a mental health liaison position to pay a counselor to visit schools to help them set up their own programs.
Three types of screening would be offered and schools and their counselors can pick the one they think will best serve their students, he said.
Once the program is operating, the liaison would serve as a consultant to the schools, he said.
The Mahoning County Educational Service Center and Help Hotline Crisis Center Inc. have endorsed the project, Cvetkovic said.
Marian said the Mental Health Board will likely fund part of the project cost and ask D & amp;E Counseling to share in the program expense.
In other business, the board:
ULearned that a draft purchase agreement has been received for the sale of its former Eastern Community Adjustment Program building at 880 Indianola Ave. Carl Vaccar of Lincoln Place, a counseling center that already occupies the building, is offering $280,000 for the property. The Mental Health Board hasn't used the building for more than two years. Eastern Community, which is now part of Turning Point Counseling, put some improvements into the building and Turning Point is asked for $160,702 in reimbursement for that work.
UAuthorized spending an additional $3,000 to promote passage of the Issue 6 Mental Health Levy renewal on the November election ballot. The 0.5-mill levy generates between $950,000 and $1 million annually for mental health programs. The additional spending brings the campaign finances to $58,000.
UIntroduced the two latest board members appointed by the Mahoning County commissioners. Laura Lyden of Canfield and Delphine Baldwin Casey of Campbell both began their four-year terms last month.
gwin@vindy.com