MHARS Board Announces New Talent on Clinical Team
The Mental Health, Addiction and Recovery Services (MHARS) Board announces four new members of its clinical team. The team is essential to the Board’s mission of planning, funding and monitoring a network of mental health and substance use services for Lorain County residents.
“I am pleased to tell the community about the talented individuals who will be working on their behalf at the Board,” said Interim Director Elaine Georgas.
 | Mark Johnson now leads the team as the Community Services Director. He is a Licensed Independent Social Worker-Supervision, with a Master of Science in Social Administration from Case Western Reserve University. He started his career as a therapist serving children and families. Then, he held several roles including Clinical Services Director over two decades for a community-based mental health and substance use disorder treatment agency with multiple Northeast Ohio sites. He now brings his clinical and administrative aptitude to his work in Lorain County. |
 | Tonya Birney joins the team in a new role as Dissemination and Implementation Officer of Prevention Services. Birney earned her Master of Science in Mental Health Counseling from Walden University. She is a Licensed Independent Chemical Dependency Counselor, Ohio Certified Prevention Consultant, and Licensed Professional Counselor, and a trainer for multiple programs. In a previous role, she provided administrative oversite 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. |
 | A resident of Lorain, Rebecca Jones joins the team as the Child and Adolescent Services Director. Jones is a Licensed Professional Clinical Counselor-Supervision with a Master of Education 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. She is known for developing and implementing best-practice clinical programming to meet the needs of the community. |
 | Amanda Divis will serve as the Board’s Treatment and Recovery Services Director. Following 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. She is dedicated to community-based mental health, addiction recovery and harm reduction programming. Divis is a resident of Avon Lake. |
