Commissioners back consolidated Mahoning County Mental Health and Recovery Board

YOUNGSTOWN

The Mahoning County commissioners passed this morning a resolution to consolidate the county’s Mental Health Board and Alcohol and Drug Addiction Services Board into a new Mahoning County Mental Health and Recovery Board.

In September, those boards voted unanimously to consolidate.

“Many of their functions overlap, and their mission is the same, and that is treatment,” said Commissioner Anthony Traficanti, who holds a master’s degree in counseling.

“Through collaboration of both boards, it brings a wider spectrum of treatment community professionals” together to address the related issues of mental health and alcohol and drug addiction recovery, he added.

The merger makes sense because many of the clients of mental health and addiction recovery agencies have dual diagnoses of mental illness and substance abuse, Traficanti said.