As The Valley and the nation continue to struggle with addiction, our local mental health professionals continue to work to meet the moment.
The Mahoning County Mental Health and Recovery Board hosted its annual awards luncheon Friday.
Several awards showcased the connection between the mental health field and what police encounter on many of their calls.

"We've spent a lot of time and effort working with our local police departments, we've partnered with them, we provide training quarterly to police," says MCMHRB director Duane Piccirilli.

One of this year's honorees - Boardman police sergeant Chuck Hillman.
He's part of the Critical Incident Stress Management team working hand in hand with the board.

"Those individuals, we need to have resources in the community to, once that immediate crisis is over, to provide services for them and get individuals the help they need," Hillman said. 

Washington is working to invest in those resources.
The House just passed millions to help police departments with de-escalation training and mental health services.
A big focus - cutting down on deadly encounters between police and people with mental illness.

"We don't want police officers to become social workers. We want to keep police officers safe, to know that sometimes the way you approach somebody, the way you de-escalate something may keep people calm and save lives," Piccirilli said.

Despite the urgency to get it done, the Senate won't vote on that federal money until after the November midterms.

The 2022 Mental Health & Recovery Board honorees are:

Adult Advocate of the Year, Kassandra Kornbau of DNP
Children's Advocate of the Year, Erica Brown-Fire of ACLD
Crisis Incident Stress Management Award, Sgt. Chuck Hillman of the Boardman Police Dept.
Crisis Intervention Training Officer of the Year, Sgt. Robert J. Vukovich of the Mill Creek Police Dept.
Eagle Award, Mark Lyke of Mahoning Valley Dispute Resolution
Front Line Staff of The Year (VanGuard Award), Sean Robinson of Meridian Health Care
Leader of the Year, Joe Shorokey of Alta Behavioral Healthcare
Program of the Year, Mahoning Valley Mobile Market - Jeff Magada of Flying High Inc. and Rose Carter of Action Youngstown
Support Staff of the Year (Pillar Award), Ashley Mariano of the Educational Service Center of Eastern Ohio