MHARS Board adds four staff members to clinical treatment team

SHEFFIELD TWP. — The Mental Health, Addiction and Recovery Services Board of Lorain County has added four new staff members to its clinical team. The team is essential to the board's mission of planning, funding and monitoring a network of mental health and substance abuse services for Lorain County residents. Interim MHARS Board Director Elaine Georgas said she was "pleased to tell the community community about the talented individuals who will be working on their behalf at the board." The new staff members are • Mark Johnson, community services director. Johnson is a licensed independent social worker-supervision, with a master's degree in social administration from Case Western Reserve University. He started his career as a therapist serving children and families. Johnson has held several roles, including clinical services director for more than two decades for a community-based mental health and substance abuse with multiple Northeast Ohio sites. • Tonya Birney, dissemination and implementation officer of prevention services. Birney earned her master's degree in mental health counseling from Walden University and is a licensed independent chemical dependency counselor, Ohio certified prevention consultant and licensed profession counselor and trainer for multiple programs. She previously provided administrative oversight and supervision for behavioral health and public health, including alcohol and drug outpatient treatment, behavioral health prevention, and harm reduction services. Birney lives in Grafton. • Rebecca Jones, child and adolescent services director. Jones is a licensed professional clinical counselor-supervision with a master's degree in community agency counseling. Most recently, she served as a clinical director at the largest mental health care provider in the MHARS Board network. She has worked in community mental health for 20 years, with extensive experience in providing clinical oversight of behavioral health services to diverse populations. Jones lives in Lorain. • Amanda Divis, treatment and recovery services director. After graduate school at Case Western Reserve University, Divis began her career conducting in-home community-based therapy for adolescents with co-occurring substance use and mental health concerns. She has addressed mental health and recovery needs with people of all ages and from diverse backgrounds in the individual, group and family-based settings. Divis lives in Avon Lake.