Editor’s Note: This article was updated on Aug. 6, 2024, at 8:55 a.m. to reflect that Pathways of Central Ohio does not respond to 911 calls.
MOUNT VERNON—For 54 years, Pathways of Central Ohio has helped individuals in crisis or seeking information. It has also provided crisis support in Knox County for two decades.
Last week, Executive Director Kristin McCloud reviewed the nonprofit’s programs with the Knox County commissioners.
Pathways of Central Ohio started in Licking County in 1968 and incorporated in 1970. Its first program was a crisis hotline and information center.
Pathways brought its hotline and information services to Knox County in the mid-2000s. In 2008, the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio designated the organization as the 2-1-1 provider for Knox County.
“We have been providing 211 to Knox County since 2008. I think we need to do a re-introduction again,” McCloud told the commissioners.
In 2022, the State of Ohio designated the agency as one of 19 providers for the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline.
“The call volume is certainly increasing,” McCloud said.
The center also provides after-hours support to Behavioral Healthcare Partners of Central Ohio, The Main Place, New Directions, and other organizations.
Crisis support for Knox County
McCloud encourages individuals to call 211, especially after hours.
“Our main goal is that if someone is getting into a really bad place, we want to keep them out of the hospital,” McCloud explained.
Between July 1, 2023, and June 30, 2024, Pathways responded to 35,691 contacts. Of those, 2,845 (7.971%) came from Knox County.
The majority of Knox County calls involved information and referral. Topics ranged from help with legal problems to animal services.
“Financial assistance is always high,” McCloud said. “Homelessness is now building. … I am very worried about that.”
For crisis support calls, McCloud noted anxiety, panic, and loneliness, not necessarily suicide, top the list. Crisis calls totaled 473 (16.62% of Knox County calls).
“That really spiked during COVID, but it’s still there,” she said.
First-shift calls trend toward financial assistance requests. Second-shift calls trend toward anxiety and panic-type calls.
McCloud said she wants to work with police and fire personnel to ensure they know about 988 or at least 211.
“It’s not unusual for other organizations to do their own resource list,” McCloud said. “What we really try to do is encourage people to hand out 211 cards. That’s the most up-to-date list.”
Funding for Knox County crisis support
In 2019, the United Way funded 211 for $37,500. In 2021, funding declined to $5,000, but on appeal, the United Way raised the funding to $15,000.
For 2022 and 2023, the United Way provided $10,000 to Pathways but discontinued its funding in 2024.
“We’re operating the program at a deficit this year. United Way was unable to fund us,” McCloud told the commissioners. “Our sole funder for 211 in Knox County is the Mental Health and Recovery Board.”
Pathways has contracts with several organizations, including United Way, to provide 211 services in other counties in its coverage area.
“Knox and Licking counties are the only places we’ve had to apply for funds,” she said. “Other counties look at it as being a needed resource.
“I think we have to think about 211 and 988 as the firehouse model where you have to be ready if a call comes in,” she added.
Commissioner Teresa Bemiller questioned whether funding the resource navigator position affected 211 funding.
According to McCloud, the City of Mount Vernon funded the resource navigator position for two years using American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) money. That funding ended in June.
Unlike 988, the State of Ohio does not fund 211. However, officials are working toward that goal, which McCloud said would be helpful.
“I have always believed 211 should be funded from a variety of sources,” she said.
