ASHLAND – When it comes to response to mental health and addiction issues in the Ashland community, two people leading the charge are Mike Riley and Dennis Dyer.
Based on the comments from people who have worked with them, Riley (Ashland High School’s principal) could be viewed as a successful sprinter while Dyer Ashland County Council on Alcoholism and Drug Abuse director) can be seen as a steady marathon runner.
Both men were recognized by the Mental Health and Recovery Board at the board’s annual dinner Tuesday. Riley was awarded the Martha Jorden Beacon Award in memory of Martha Phillips Jorden. Dyer, a past recipient of the award, was honored once again as he prepares to retire at the end of the month.
In the three years since Riley arrived in Ashland, he has led a cultural transformation within the high school. His passion for trauma-informed communities and for building resiliency as a response of adverse childhood experiences has infected the entire community with a greater sense of empathy, Mental Health and Recovery Board director Steve Stone said.
Riley has applied what he has learned from the Adverse Childhood Experiences study from Kaiser Permanente and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to identify students who have a low sense of purpose in life. He then pairs these students with educators who shower the students unconditional affirmation, helping them to improve resilience and feel better about themselves.
By the end of the second year of the program, students who were “adopted” in this way showed a 20-percent increase in purpose-and-meaning scores on an assessment.
Dyer, for his part, has been at the helm of ACCADA for 30 years. He has been a force of stability in the treatment community, approaching addiction treatment with evidence-based response and keeping emotion out of his decision-making process, MHRB associate director David Ross said.
Despite his unwillingness to be swayed by fads, Dyer led his agency to be the first in the state to use medication-assisted treatment, which is now considered the standard of care for people recovering from opiate addiction.
Dyer was also described as a great friend, mentor and boss who never turns anyone away and who is one of few agency directors to maintain a caseload of clients.
In addition to recognizing the work of Riley and Dyer, Stone reviewed the board’s work from the past year.
MHRB does not provide services directly, but instead works through agencies, including Appleseed Community Mental Health Center, ACCADA and Catholic Charities.
Appleseed offers mental health and crisis services, housing services, help for domestic violence victims and school liaison services. ACCADA provides treatment and recovery services for clients with addictions, including many jail inmates. Catholic Charities offers mental health counseling and mentoring.
During the 2018 fiscal year, the board’s budget was $4.2 million. State and federal funding accounts for about $2 million of the board’s revenue. Ashland County taxpayers covered about $1.9 million of the board’s costs for the year through a mental health levy.
