Handle with Care Partners Meeting-The Ashtabula County Educational Service Center along with the Ashtabula County Mental Health and Recovery Services Board presented the trauma- informed, cross systems, collaborative program, “Handle with Care. ” The Partners meeting was held at the Ashtabula County Commissioners meeting room and started off with opening remarks by County Commissioner Kathryn Whittington. The meeting was attended by school personnel, local behavioral health agencies, health departments, social services agencies, and first responders such as; law enforcement officers, EMS, Ashtabula County EMA.
The informational meeting discussed how the program started, basic information on how the program works and the steps needed to be taken in order to launch the new program county wide. The program will help connect first responders with schools so that when a child experiences a traumatic event the first responders can give the schools a simple “handle with care” memo the next morning. This will allow the schools to be aware that a child may be struggling that school day and simple to complex interventions may be needed.
The program will continue to expand with more in-depth trainings in the near future with hopes that the program will be ready to begin at the start of the 2024-2025 school year.
“OhioHWC is directed by Hopewell Health Centers and supported by the Ohio Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services, Ohio HWC collaborates with communities across the state to implement HWC to fidelity. Please visit https://handlewithcareoh.org for more information.”
For questions about Ashtabula County
Handle with Care please contact:
Alex DeGeorge: alexandra.degeorge@ashtabulaesc.org
Cailin Rose: cailin.rose@ashtabulaesc.org
Kaitie Hart: kpark@ashtabulamhrs.org
Christy Fisher: cfisher@ashtabulamhrs.org
