Mental health grant sought

The board should learn in October if its grant proposal will be considered.

By WILLIAM K. ALCORN

VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER

YOUNGSTOWN — Triggered by the Virginia Tech massacre, the Mahoning County Mental Health Board is seeking a $50,000 grant to train Youngstown State University personnel to recognize the signs and symptoms of mental illness.

It was on April 16, 2007, that 32 people were shot and killed, and many more wounded, in two separate attacks about two hours apart on the Virginia Tech campus in Blacksburg, Va.

The killer, Seung-Hui Cho, who committed suicide after the shootings, had been diagnosed with and treated for a severe anxiety disorder beginning in middle school, had been accused of stalking two female students, and was declared mentally ill by a Virginia special justice.

Toni Notaro, county mental health administrative director, said a letter of inquiry was sent to the Margaret Clark Morgan Foundation in Hudson about the grant. She said the board should learn early in October if the foundation will consider its proposal.

“If given the go-ahead, the board will submit a full grant application and be notified in February 2008 if we are successful,” Notaro said.

Immediately after the Virginia Tech tragedy, Notaro said, the board, in conjunction with YSU, began examining the safety and emergency preparedness of the community in the event a crisis should occur at YSU.

YSU sought collaboration

Notaro said YSU has good programs in place to handle such situations. But the consensus is that more planning is needed, and university officials asked the mental health board’s collaboration with training university personnel and designing an effective crisis communication plan, she said.

Notaro said the new program would be modeled after the board’s crisis intervention training that it provides to law enforcement personnel, including some members of the YSU Police Department, to help them deal with mentally ill people.

The mental health board is responsible for providing emergency mental health services to the community. And no matter where the students come from, when they are enrolled at YSU they are part of the local community, Notaro added.

alcorn@vindy.com