Florence City Council awarded the Children’s Home of Northern Kentucky, known as CHNK, $100,000 to address mental health issues and substance use disorders.
CHNK Executive Director Rick Wurth accepted a symbolic oversized check from the council at its Aug. 26 regular business meeting.
“There are two fundamental poisons in our groundwater as Kentuckians and these poisons keep haunting us,” Wurth told council. “The two poisons that I’m referring to are untreated mental health issues and untreated substance use disorder treatment needs.”
The money comes from the city’s share of opioid settlement funds. “This is not taxpayer dollars,” City Administrator Joshua Hunt told councilmembers. “There are restrictions as to how those funds can be spent.”
Treatment for substance use disorders is one of the allowable uses. “The Children’s Home of Northern Kentucky is an excellent provider in that arena and we’re happy that we can have this partnership with them,” Hunt said.
It took two years to cobble together an agreement to release the funds. Hunt thanked Human Services Administrator Katie James, who spearheaded the project for the city.
“We would definitely consider this a major investment in our treatment,” Wurth told LINK nky ahead of Tuesday’s meeting. “This investment is certainly going to assist us in creating an easier path to mental health by removing barriers to treatment access that many individuals often face.”
CHNK traces its history to the founding of the Covington Protestant Children’s Home.
“We have had a major focus on populations that have been dealing with some pretty difficult circumstances since the 1880s, and we remain committed to that,” Wurth told councilmembers.
Wurth noted that one-third of all Kentucky residents rely on Kentucky Medicaid cards for healthcare services, including mental health, behavioral health and substance use disorders. He explained that people needing help must navigate a daunting gauntlet of barriers to receive essential help.
“There’s sometimes a lack of providers willing to treat Medicaid cardholders in Kentucky,” Wurth said. “That’s been a big emphasis for us to focus on those populations who are experiencing more barriers to care.”
CHNK has the only Level 1 residential psychiatric care facility in Northern Kentucky. They offer inpatient and outpatient care, including counseling. “If we are not the right answer to the family, we will make sure that you get to the place where you need to be,” Wurth said.
Wurth explained that many problems, from school absenteeism to workforce development to the number of people incarcerated in Kentucky, can be traced to mental health and substance use disorders.
“There are two fundamental poisons in our groundwater as Kentuckians and these poisons keep haunting us. And the two poisons that I’m referring to are untreated mental health issues and untreated substance use disorder treatment needs,” Wurth said.
“We are thrilled to have CHNK in our schools,” Kathy Reutman, Boone County Schools Executive Director of Student Services, told councilmembers. According to Reutman, CHNK helps more than students.
“We’ve also been able to refer many of our adults who need mental health assessments or need some therapy themselves,” Reutman said. “We’ve been able to refer some of our staff there. So, we’re — it’s been a godsend to be able to work with them.”