Community Counseling Services reports rise in crisis work, asks Oktibbeha County for larger share of regional funding

Sweetening Wilcox, a Community Counseling Services representative, told the Oktibbeha County Board of Supervisors on May 20 that the agency served hundreds of local residents in the 2024 fiscal year and is requesting an increase in county funding to keep pace with growing demand.

"In fiscal year 2024, we served 592 adults, which is an equivalent of 5,303 therapy appointments," Wilcox said, listing additional services including more than 4,000 case-management visits and about 1,200 psychiatric appointments. She said the agency served 213 children in 2024 and noted specialized programs including an I-CORP intensive program for people repeatedly hospitalized and a PSR program serving about 19–22 clients per day.

Wilcox described a sharp rise in pre-affidavit assessments tied to a change in the commitment process. "What used to be where a family went straight to chancery court," she said, "now anyone can come to our office and fill out a pre-affidavit application," and staff must assess the person on site. Wilcox said the county office did 30 such assessments between July and December 2024, where the historical typical yearly workload was about 16. She said the program is on track to do roughly 60 assessments in the current year and that the change has helped divert some people from jail or unnecessary state hospitalization.

Wilcox also provided service and finance figures for the seven-county regional provider: a combined annual fiscal budget of $22,600,000 and roughly 300 staff across the region, with the local site budget listed at about $2,500,000 and a local staffing level of 64 full-time employees. She said Oktibbeha County currently contributes 1.8% of the regional budget (listed in her materials as $45,500) and that Community Counseling Services is requesting an increase to 2.2% (listed as about $55,705 in her packet). Wilcox asked the board to consider that increase during upcoming budget workshops and offered to provide the necessary paperwork.

Wilcox described other program activity in 2024: 21 local residents were sent to the crisis residential unit, 10 to residential drug- and alcohol-treatment programs, the I-CORP team currently serves 25 county residents, and staff responded to about 50 crisis calls (with the MTSER response team dispatched to 27). The agency reported housing assistance for about 80 people and $77,548 in services in 2024 that went unreimbursed by insurance, Medicaid or grant funds.

She also highlighted new or expanded services: an adolescent-offender treatment group tied to youth court and a senior daily-treatment program that began in 2024.

Board members asked clarification questions about discharge planning from state hospitals and coordination with the Department of Mental Health. Wilcox said the provider is supposed to receive notice "at least one to two weeks before discharge" so staff can set up intake and appointments, but she described repeated cases in which the provider received notice the day of discharge or paperwork arrived only after a person had left the hospital, complicating transitions to community care.

Wilcox closed by repeating the funding request and providing the board a budget breakdown showing the county's current and requested share.

Why it matters: the county's decision on millage or budget support would affect the local provider's ability to maintain crisis diversion, residential placements and expanded programs for youth and seniors; several supervisors said they would review the request during the budget workshop cycle.

Provenance: first related remarks begin when Wilcox presented service numbers and program details; the funding-request material appears later in her presentation and during follow-up board questions.