Mahoning officials: ‘We want the whole county to look at things differently’

YOUNGSTOWN — Work being done now by Mahoning County officials and a long list of local partners could fundamentally change the county's approach to behavioral therapy, addiction recovery and juvenile justice.

County Juvenile Court Judge Theresa Dellick and Duane Piccrilli, executive director of the county's Mental Health and Recovery Board, want to create a "trauma-competent" community. That means teaching social workers, educators, civic officials and others to see how unresolved trauma can lead to destructive or unlawful behaviors later in life.

"Living in poverty is trauma. Racism is trauma. Sexism is trauma. Gender issues are trauma," said Judge Dellick, a state-trained trauma-informed care educator. "A lot of times what you do is brush it off but you really have to acknowledge it."

The work of the court- and mental health board-led "trauma-competent community" committee — which includes representatives from dozens of area school districts, healthcare providers and social agencies — will create a comprehensive plan to educate others in the social work or educational fields, a model for the rest of the county.

The countywide plan would be the first of its kind in Ohio.

Piccirilli said the urge to form the committee grew out of the county's annual summits on opioid addiction.

"What became clear to us at those summits is a lot of [drug] consumers — a lot of their family members were talking about unresolved trauma, that a lot of the issues started with opiates at a younger age or older age, but it was [due to] trauma they never dealt with," he said.

"We want the whole county to look at things differently."

Judge Dellick said not only does this new perspective offer those treating or rehabilitating behavioral problems a direct way to empathize with that person, it reframes traditional approaches to correcting bad behaviors or punishing criminal ones like drug rehab or prison — approaches that don't work because they're "not dealing with the core problem of trauma."

"The key thing is: instead of saying, 'What's wrong with you?' It's 'What happened?' Or, 'He's giving me a hard time' — he's not. He's having a hard time," Judge Dellick explained.

A 2016 presentation on trauma-informed care by the Ohio Domestic Violence Network suggests a traditional approach to trauma would recognize it as an "isolated event," when it should be considered a "core life event that can change the way people understand themselves and the world."

Problems and symptoms of bad behavior should be viewed as responses or trauma or coping mechanisms.

"What you're finding is you have people who have to let go of stereotypes and biases," Judge Dellick said. "You find out that what you thought wasn't right — it was just based on stereotypes and biases."

The county's committee and others in Ashtabula County and Findlay have been chosen to deliver a nationwide webinar on trauma-informed care for a Massachusetts-based behavioral health firm, coordinated through Ohio Mental Health and Addiction Services, which Judge Dellick said is "ahead of the game" in that methodology.

The committee is preparing to release its countywide comprehensive plan and will have its annual meeting later this month.

"We want to put some of our funding that we have into launching it ... to get more people involved and more people learning about it," Judge Dellick said.

"This has to be community-wide. … We'll be a healthier community if we become trauma-competent."

This story was originally published January 10, 2020 at 4:04 AM with the headline "Mahoning officials: ‘We want the whole county to look at things differently’."