Vanessa Jensen Lambasts Mental Health Board

July 18, 2022 by Valerie S. Clause

Vanessa Jensen recently called the Geauga County Board of Mental Health and Recovery Services “extremely dysfunctional,” bullying, lying and insulting.

In Jensen’s resignation letter, addressed to Ohio Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services Director Lori Criss, she cited board dysfunction, intolerable actions and being personally insulted as reasons for her resignation.

“The board is extremely dysfunctional and I am not willing to continue to tolerate the actions, including personal insults of some members,” Jensen said.

A pediatric psychologist, Jensen served roughly eight months of a four-year term on the board, having been appointed by ODMHAS in October 2021. Her term should have lasted until 2025.

Disagreements between board members have been on public display for months, with many divisions emerging between board members who have mental health and addiction expertise and those who are not considered subject matter experts in the field.

“I cannot continue to listen to the lies and the judgmental comments made by specific board members who have no understanding of mental health and/or addiction, and who rely on bully tactics and untruths to make their points,” Jensen said in the letter. “If what I have seen is the way certain people act in a professional meeting with media present, I worry even more about what they are saying and doing behind closed doors.”

Jensen was direct in spelling out her concerns to the ODMHAS about the mental health board.

She gave examples of incompetence in understanding mental health issues, such as “a board member commenting that children cannot have mental health needs and that mental health providers should stop ‘indoctrinating’ children and causing mental illness.”

She also noted the opinions of some members that schools should not be permitted to talk about emotional issues and that evidence-based treatment, a standard in providing mental health services, was inappropriate.

Jensen further expressed a lack of understanding and sexist bias of board members who said “that the expertise of mental health professionals is ‘meaningless’ (after all, some say they raised children/grandchildren and ‘know’ about children), and that there were not mental health problems when ‘the men went to work and women stayed home.’”

She called into question the leadership of Jennifer Malainy, who, at the time, was board chairman. Jensen cited Ohio Revised Code violations in how meetings were conducted related to open meetings as well as the board’s own bylaws.

Malainy has since been replaced as board chair by Steve Oluic. Her term as chairman ended as a matter of regular process and appointment of board officers. She remains as a board member.

In addition, Jensen cast the recent release of longtime GCBMHRS Director Jim Adams as nothing less than an orchestrated conspiracy between Geauga County Commissioners and county-appointed board members.

“I have recently learned additional information about some board members that concerns me,” she said. “Several were appointed by the county commissioners specifically to remove Mr. Adams (with reports regarding the commissioners’ goal to ‘get rid’ of him as early as 2014).”

Adams served as director for almost 35 years before being placed on paid administrative leave in April, with no reasons provided for the action. At a July 8 special meeting, the board announced they had reached a release and settlement agreement with Adams.

Jensen said when it was time for the board members to vote in new officers, “the six county appointees who have been most vocal about removing Mr. Adams all voted to have Ms. Malainy continue.”

She added, “Earlier in the month, Ms. Malainy reportedly requested that the county commissioners reappoint the board members who had terms expiring this year even when those board members had not submitted applications. The commissioners apparently did not seek and/or accept other applications.”

Jensen’s observations reference actions taken by county commissioners at two different meetings in May. Commissioners originally had agreed unanimously to solicit applicants for the four board seats that were expiring. One week later, commissioners Tim Lennon and Ralph Spidalieri reversed that decision and decided to reappoint Mike Petruziello, Jimmie Lee Holden, Kathy Johnson and Mary Ruth Shumway.

Speaking in support of reappointing the seated board members, Spidalieri confirmed he had spoken with Malainy, which influenced him in making the motion to reverse the previous decision to seek applicants.

“I had a chance to even talk to the chair (Jennifer Malainy),” Spidalieri said. “Some of the members, you know, wanted to get past this and then, you know, put in a resignation of their positions at a later time – that we could reappoint at a later time – but I think there’s just a lot of moving parts in that department right now that it would probably make sense to retain what the current membership is, so we will be able to move forward if there’s anything that comes up with this.”

Commissioner James Dvorak opposed the reappointments.

“I respectfully disagree because we all agreed a couple weeks ago that we’d take applications and listen to — and try to reach out to — our over 96,000 people in Geauga County, so my vote is ‘no,’” said Dvorak.

This lack of a formal process for appointing board members has received scrutiny from the League of Women Voters of Geauga and others in the community. A press release from the league called on commissioners to a create and follow a written policy governing appointments.

Jensen said she remains skeptical that anything will be effectively accomplished by the mental health board until “there is a change in who the county commissioners appoint to this board,” and that the board “is able to find a qualified individual who is willing to serve as executive director, a difficult task given the dysfunctional board that currently exists.”

When contacted for comment, Malainy said, “I wish her the best,” and Oluic added, “(I) thank her for her service to the board and am wishing her the best in her future endeavors.”