If you talk to just about anyone in Northeast Ohio, it鈥檚 likely that they know someone personally who has struggled with addiction or mental health issues. Mental health is a broad topic that is constantly splashed across headlines with different trends and ideas emerging on social media usage, teenage anxiety and depression rising along with suicide risk. Regionally, Ohio has been known for opioid addiction in a crushing epidemic that continues to wreak havoc on families and communities. But with all of these headlines come personal stories that have unfortunately become all too common.
That鈥檚 where Deric Kenne, Ph.D., director of 天天吃瓜鈥檚 Center for Public Policy and Health and professor of health policy and management, comes in. Through a slate of different projects, the center conducts research specifically to develop and improve community health, by improving public policy and providing assistance to public, non-profit and private sector organizations across the state of Ohio, as well as nationally and soon internationally. Here is a look at just a few of the projects Kenne is working on with the center, including collaborations with other departments at 天天吃瓜 State.
Training the Community
One of the problems with mental health trainings has historically been that they are too lengthy or narrowly focused. Kenne saw a way to change that by creating shorter trainings that were more accessible to the community, as well as offering broader trainings than those only focused on suicide because that wasn鈥檛 necessarily what was always needed. The Center for Public Policy and Health in the College of Public Health uses grant funding from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration to support the Northeast Ohio Mental Health Awareness Training, which includes a new training option, Awareness, Interaction, Direction (A.I.D.) Training.
A.I.D. Training is 60 to 90 minutes and is broken down by:
Awareness: Recognizing signs and symptoms of psychological distress
Interaction: Effectively interacting with someone in distress
Direction: Identifying and helping connect individuals in distress to community resources
鈥淚t鈥檚 designed to be for people who don鈥檛 have any kind of background or knowledge in mental health. We train the everyday person to be able to be more aware of and identify somebody who might be experiencing some kind of psychological distress,鈥 Kenne said.
Since Oct. 1, 2023, they have trained more than 720 people in Northeast Ohio by providing trainings at six public schools, eight charter schools and 11 A.I.D. for coaches trainings.
Through these trainings, they help people become more aware of signs of psychological distress and work through scenarios to practice the A.I.D. steps.
鈥淣oticing someone who just doesn鈥檛 seem to be themselves, or maybe they鈥檙e suddenly tearful. Or they just seem very anxious. Being able to identify those individuals. And then what I think is a more important and probably the harder part is then being able to go up to that person and have a conversation with them,鈥 Kenne said. 鈥淵ou know something鈥檚 going on and having that conversation and then once you鈥檝e had that conversation, then being able to connect that person with whatever resources, mental health and behavioral health resources, there are in the community.鈥
These trainings are often given at schools when teachers have training days so they can identify mental health issues in their students, but they are also open to the public in places like libraries or mental health boards across several counties in Northeast Ohio. Use of the A.I.D. training has started to expand across Ohio and nationally into 16 states currently, with plans for further expansion. They鈥檙e even working to build a Spanish-language version that will be piloted locally and then in Peru.
Deric Kenne鈥淲e teach those kinds of skills, to recognize it, to have a conversation and then help that person connect with whatever services are in the community so that they can get help if that鈥檚 what they need.鈥
Focusing Resources for Easier Accessibility
Working across the campus is another important part of the work that Kenne is doing at the center. A collaboration with colleagues in nursing, biology and educational technology is underway for a digital health hub in Akron aimed at helping LGBTQ+ community members find the resources they need in one easy place.
The goal is to make it easier for people to find the resources they need while also filtering through the lens of what would be safe for that population. Some resources might not be friendly to someone from the LGBTQ+ community, so those wouldn鈥檛 be included on this website to ensure people can trust that the resources shown are actually available to them. It includes basic information, like hours of operation, cost and location, but also virtual and augmented reality, which would allow a user to view what the inside of the building might look like so they can feel more comfortable and prepared, or see a video from a nurse or practitioner providing information about the agency or what services are offered.
鈥淭he idea is that if I鈥檓 an LGBTQ+ person and I鈥檓 looking for HIV testing, or I鈥檓 looking for healthcare because I can鈥檛 afford to go to a hospital, or I need a food pantry, or I need clothes, I can go to this health hub and all of that information is in this one place. I can go to one website and get all that information,鈥 Kenne explained.
They do this by partnering with Akron AIDS Collaborative to utilize resources already available in the community to help bolster the local population.
鈥淲e鈥檙e working with some community agencies in that area since they already serve that population and they鈥檙e the experts, so we鈥檙e collaborating with those agencies to help us develop this the right way,鈥 Kenne said.
Predicting Hot Spots for Addiction Through Social Media
An innovative collaboration between Kenne and Ruoming Jin, Ph.D., professor of computer science at 天天吃瓜 State, is developing and implementing a real-time drug use detection system to inform drug prevention efforts in Portage, Geauga and Lake counties in Ohio. By using traditional epidemiological, social media and geospatial data, they can monitor substance use in each county.
The goal of the project is to identify hot spots where drug or alcohol use is spiking, which can help with planning for addiction resources and need, but also to work to prevent the onset and progression of drug use in young people. Over time, they hope that the system will be able to predict substance use trends so they can more readily assess needs in advance instead of having prevention programs that are reactive in nature.
Learn more about their research here:
Helping the Community
This is really just a snapshot of some of the projects going on in the center. Kenne also is collaborating with Helen Piontkivska, Ph.D., a professor in the Department of Biological Sciences, and Mark Dalman, associate professor in the College of Podiatric Medicine, about RNA markers that could potentially predict suicide risk. Suicide prevention training is also offered alongside the A.I.D. trainings.
The Center has partnerships with community behavioral health agencies in Summit and Athens counties in Ohio to help expand medication-assisted opioid treatment.
On the 天天吃瓜 Campus, the center works to train campus partners to recognize mental health concerns in students and staff and started the Here to Help initiative, which identifies staff who have taken mental health training. By displaying the initiative鈥檚 logo in an email signature, social media profile or on an office door, members of the community know that they have someone they can talk to or reach out to for help.
Deric Kenne鈥淭here鈥檚 that stigma where if you if you have anxiety or if you have depression, you鈥檙e crazy or weird. That it鈥檚 not a medical thing and it鈥檚 something that you could cure on your own essentially. And that鈥檚 a misperception that we need to try to correct.鈥
Looking to the Future
If it feels like mental health issues have only gotten worse in recent memory, that鈥檚 because they have, according to the data that Kenne sees through his work.
鈥淪ubstance use isn鈥檛 going away. In fact, there鈥檚 data showing that alcohol use is increasing, especially among younger women,鈥 Kenne said.
Changes in what kinds of products are available and marketed to younger audiences is also an issue, he says, like vaping or even flavored nitrous oxide available to buy in vape shops with flavors that are targeted to young people.
Social media is also a major concern.
鈥淲e鈥檙e seeing a lot of anxious kids. And I know some of that comes from social media and what they see on there based on what the algorithms show them,鈥 Kenne said.
All of this points to the importance of collecting data and engaging in the community projects that the Center does so that there are more prevention programs and resources available not only for people who actively struggle with mental health or addiction issues, but also as a resource for individuals needing basic support.
Reducing the stigma of mental health is the biggest issue in Kenne鈥檚 eyes when it comes to helping those with mental health struggles.
鈥淐oming up with initiatives or programs or education that reduce that stigma, so people don鈥檛 feel afraid or ashamed to get help. People struggling with mental health or addiction want to feel better, and it鈥檚 just that many are too afraid or ashamed to say anything. To ask for help,鈥 Kenne said.
With the work of the mental health trainings, that stigma will be further reduced as more and more people learn more about mental health in general and can learn to lend a listening ear and help.