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Mark Your Calendar: 2025 Annual Conference Coming This Fall

October 29–30, 2025
Hilton Columbus at Easton | Columbus, Ohio
Theme: Believe, Lead, Repeat: Behavioral Health Leadership in a Complex World

We’re excited to announce the dates for the Ohio Council’s 2025 Annual Conference! This high-impact, two-day event brings together 300+ behavioral health leaders from across Ohio for meaningful learning, networking, and innovation.

Join chief executives, clinical directors, program managers, HR professionals, and finance teams from provider organizations statewide as we explore the future of behavioral health care in a rapidly changing world.

Registration and hotel details will be available soon!


Interested in Sponsoring?

Sponsorship opportunities are now available! This is a powerful way to connect with leaders in the behavioral health field, promote your brand, and show your support for community-based services across Ohio. Multiple sponsorship levels are available to fit a variety of budgets and marketing goals.

Click here to view and complete the 2025 Sponsorship Packet

For more information, contact Corinne Cowan at [email protected]

 

Ohio Can Revolutionize Our Understanding of Mental Health. Fund the SOAR study. | Opinion

Jane Grote Abell and Pat Tiberi

Guest Columnists

  • Jane Grote Abell is a founding family member, executive chairwoman and chief purpose officer at Donatos Pizza.
  • Pat Tiberi, the U.S. representative for Ohio's 12th Congressional District from 2001 to 2018, is the president and CEO of the Ohio Business Roundtable.

We’ve seen firsthand the toll that untreated mental illness and substance use disorders take on our teams, our companies and our communities.

Mental health challenges cost the global economy over $1 trillion annually. In the U.S. alone, depression and anxiety are responsible for 12 billion lost workdays each year.

And yet, the stigma persists. Our lack of understanding is holding us back.

The SOAR (State of Ohio Adversity and Resilience) study — funded through the generosity of Gov. Mike DeWine and the Ohio Legislature and led by Ohio State University with university and health system partners across the state — aims to change that.

This first-of-its-kind, multigenerational research initiative launched in 2024 seeks to uncover the biological, psychological, environmental and social underpinnings of mental health and addiction — and to significantly reduce deaths from suicide and overdose.

Think of it as a Framingham Heart Study for the mind. Just as the seven-decade Framingham study taught us much of what we know today about preventing cardiovascular deaths, SOAR has the potential to revolutionize suicide prevention and mental health care for decades to come.

When we first learned about the SOAR study, we both had the same thought: It’s about time.

The study represents a pivotal moment for Ohio to lead in mental health research, but data alone won’t drive change. True progress will require strong business voices advocating for solutions that reach beyond labs and policy briefs and into cubicles, breakrooms and Zoom calls.

People thrive with mental health support

Business leaders have a responsibility — and an opportunity.

At Donatos, our family business has prioritized mental health since 1990, when we launched an employee assistance program decades before such programs were common.

We’ve worked with team members navigating crises and trauma, and we’ve seen how people can thrive when they have access to mental health support. During the COVID pandemic, when emotional strain reached new heights, we added virtual therapy options for our associates and a paid sabbatical for our district and general managers.

It was the right thing to do — and it was good for business.

Helping employees with mental issues is good business

Three out of four people with mental health or substance use disorders are currently employed.

Replacing them is costly. Supporting them is an investment.

One of our managers, after 35 years of service, nearly left due to the emotional toll of the pandemic. Instead, we offered him a sabbatical to recover, and he returned ready to lead again. Multiply that story by hundreds of thousands, and you begin to understand the ROI of compassion.

At the Ohio Business Roundtable, we’ve heard from dozens of employers who see the same thing. Mental health issues show up as absenteeism, stress, turnover and lost productivity.

But too many small businesses, constrained by resources or insurance policies, struggle to provide the care their teams need.

This is where the public and private sectors must work together.

According to the Health Policy Institute of Ohio’s 2024 Health Value Dashboard, our state ranks 44th in health value. That’s unacceptable.

If we can’t do better by our people, we can’t expect them to do better for our businesses.

The SOAR study gives us a once-in-a-generation chance to learn what drives resilience and adversity. But the state must continue to fund this critical study, and business leaders must be ready to act on its findings — with policies, resources and partnerships that treat mental health with the urgency and dignity it deserves.

As one expert put it, mental health doesn’t just affect one in five Americans — it affects five out of five.

It’s not just your employee. It’s their spouse, their child, their coworker and you.

We encourage the Ohio Senate to support the governor's proposal and fully fund the SOAR study. We urge corporate and civic leaders across the state to join us in this request.

Mental health is good business. And it’s time we treat it that way.

Jane Grote Abell is a founding family member, executive chairwoman and chief purpose officer at Donatos Pizza.

Pat Tiberi, the U.S. representative for Ohio's 12th Congressional District from 2001 to 2018, is the president and CEO of the Ohio Business Roundtable.

 

Ohio Senate Added $100 Million Worth of Housing Provisions in the State’s Two-Year Budget

The Ohio Senate’s version of the state’s two-year budget fully restores the Ohio Housing Trust Fund, a big source of funding for local homelessness and affordable housing programs. 

Ohio Senate President Rob McColley, R-Napoleon, and Ohio Sen. Jerry Cirino, R-Kirtland, introduced the Senate’s version of the budget Tuesday and it took out language the Ohio House added that would have changed the Housing Trust Fund, created in 1991 and administered by the Ohio Department of Development. The Housing Trust Fund is funded by a portion of the fees collected by county recorders, with half of the fees staying with the county and the other half going back to the fund — which requires at least 50% of the funds be spent in non-urban areas. The House budget would have removed the requirement for county recorders to send the state Department of Development money to reallocate the funds, making it less effective across the state.

 

Ohio Legislature Closing in on Tweaks to Voter-Approved Recreational Marijuana Laws

Lawmakers in the Ohio House and Senate are working to close the gap in their chamber’s different approaches to recreational marijuana reform.

That gap has existed since Ohio voters approved recreational marijuana at the ballot box in 2023, with the Ohio Senate broadly pushing for more restrictions than the House was willing to tolerate.

The House adopted a plan to try to find the middle: Amend Senate Bill 56 to include large portions of House Bill 160 and Senate Bill 86.

Here’s the broad overview of the hodgepodge piece of legislation, as things stand:

  • There would be no ban on the sharing of recreational marijuana between of-age adults.
  • The state’s current flat 10% tax would be maintained on recreational sales and expanded onto intoxicating hemp products. Previous plans have sought to raise the tax to 15% or 20%.
  • Intoxicating hemp products would be banned from retail sales and only be purchasable at dispensaries. That’s except for low-dose THC-infused beverages, which could still be sold retail.
  • The state’s current host community financial kickback would be phased out seven years after the bill’s effective date. Previous plans have considered cutting out that funding immediately.
  • The limit of Ohio dispensaries would rise from 350 to 400.
  • The minimum distance between dispensaries would be one mile. Previous plans have looked at a half-mile limit.
  • Public use would be allowed in permitting concert venues. Bars and restaurants still would not have the authority to permit marijuana consumption on their patios or outdoor areas.
  • THC concentration in certain products would be capped at 70%, with Ohio’s Division of Cannabis Control having the regulatory power to bump it higher.
  • The bill is likely to see further amendments in the House Judiciary Committee over the coming weeks.
 

Now Open: Substance Use Disorder Treatment and Recovery Loan Repayment Program

If you're a behavioral health clinician, clinical support staff, or trained in substance use disorder treatment, the STAR Loan Repayment Program offers up to $250,000 toward student loans. In return, you’ll commit to six years of full-time service at an approved facility, bringing vital care to communities that need it most.

The application is open now through July 10 at 7:30 p.m. ET.

Learn More & Apply Now

New Security Feature: To start your application, you will set up an account in My BHW. My BHW requires multifactor authentication (MFA), which adds an extra layer of protection to your account and reduces the risk of fraud. With MFA, you must use Google Authenticator on your mobile phone or tablet each time you log in. Follow the Quick Start Guide to set up your authentication. 

Check Your Eligibility

To apply, you must meet these basic requirements: 

  1. United States citizen, national, or permanent resident
  2. Fully licensed, credentialed in an eligible discipline, a registered SUD professional

Full-time employee at a STAR LRP-approved facility

 

 
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