OhioRISE holds open house at new location

STEUBENVILLE -- OhioRISE. A program which serves the community's youth, focusing on their mental and behavioral health issues.

OhioRISE works with various local resources to provide them with appropriate care to reach a positive outcome.

Program officials gathered for an open house Dec. 12 to showcase its new location. This Jefferson County Educational Service Center care management entity, is now housed at the Regional Programs Building, located at 600 Lovers Lane.

OhioRISE was previously located in the basement of the ESC annex, moving to its new site in November.

In addition to OhioRISE, JCESC programs housed at the Regional Programs Building include Engage and Help Me Grow Home Visiting.

The purpose of the open house was to provide the opportunity for community partners to see the new building and meet its staff members, officials noted.

Those attending the event were given the chance to hear all of the services OhioRISE provides to the community, in addition to touring the facility.

Assistant Director Lindsay Brandon stated the new space accommodates space for 24 coordinators, supervisors and directors.

"The program started on July 1, 2022, and has become an integral part of the community," Brandon said. "We've really flourished and became a community partner, which is nice to see."

Brandon explained the overall responsibility of OhioRISE care coordinators is to take the results from the youth's Child and Adolescent Needs and Strength assessment, and place them with those who can help them the most.

"The CANS assessment is a tool that gathers the child and caregiver's story to better understand their situation and determine the best ways to provide help," according to officials. The assessment is used to determine eligibility for OhioRISE and assist with care coordination.

She stated those at OhioRISE are a support system which helps youth and their family obtain appropriate services such as educational, developmental disability, cahild protection, juvenile justice or mental heal and addiction supports.

"OhioRISE brings all of these systems together to support the needs of enrollees through care coordination," officials said.

Care coordinators assist those who have been referred to them by either a parent or caregiver, a school counselor or therapist, a court, pediatrician or child protection or developmental disability staff member.

Brandon noted the importance of making people aware that OhioRISE is not a direct form of crisis support, but rather, the entity which directs enrollees to the appropriate support facilities.

Care Coordinator Jamie Spencer stated, "We work with families who have Medicaid or the Ohio Medical Card and who qualify for the program. If we feel they need therapy, mental health, physical therapy or occupational therapy, we will work with that therapist and see if they are hitting the goals they have to hit."

"We are there to coordinate the child's care," Spencer continued, providing the example of dyslexia and finding the proper resources to help the child obtain the proper resources for that disability.

Discovering what the issues are can be done through the CANS assessment, she noted, saying the in-depth testing is done by answering questions and takes approximately an hour to complete.

Mary Kakascik, an OhioRISE supervisor, said each supervisor works with eight care coordinators whose duties include, but are not limited to, checking charting, providing support, CANS assessments, accompanying youth and families on visits, providing outreach on caseloads, making informational calls, answering the crisis hotline.

Kakascik said there are many responsibilities and duties which are required of the care coordinators, as OhioRISE serves eight counties.

"We each work with the FCFC and attend monthly meetings," she stated. Meetings for Jefferson County are held bi-monthly, she added. "Six supervisors are responsible for one county each. We have three supervisors who handle the counties up north." The counties served are Jefferson, Belmont, Harrison, Monroe, Carroll, Columbiana, Stark and Tuscarawas.

In regards to those youth suffering from substance abuse, Kakascik said OhioRISE officials support the families which choose to keep the child in their home rather than place them in a facility or hospital.

"We take them food from the food bank so they can get meals and we attend their IEP meetings," she said of the some of the services offered.

She said referrals come from all sorts of entities, some of which are the parents of the youth, schools, probation officers, child protective services and the courts. "We reach out and set up their assessment once we receive their enrollment information," she said.

OhioRISE will continue to help those in need, with officials saying there are a number of ways in which to contact them to begin the enrollment process.

For program referrals and general inquiries, call (740) 792-4011. Visit the website www.jcesc.k12.oh.us/CareManagementEntity.aspx or download the referral form on the mobile app, which provides a QR code.