Carole Ballard

Board Member - Ohio

Carole is a licensed independent social worker in Cleveland, Ohio with over 40 years of experience. She has a Bachelor’s degree in social work as well as a Masters of Social Science Administration from Case Western Reserve University. Her background consists of work in the area of behavioral health services for youth and adults providing case management, counseling and crisis work. She is currently the Director of Training and Education for the Alcohol, Drug addiction, and Mental Health Services of Cuyahoga County (ADAMHS Board). Before her promotion to her current position of director, Carole was the CIT coordinator for Cuyahoga County for 14 years. In that role, she developed much of the training groundwork used today by the county for officers across the City of Cleveland, area suburbs, sheriff’s office, courts, hospitals and colleges. In addition, Carole works as a member of the Mental Health Response Advisory committee which assists with the coordination of the progress related to the Cleveland Division of police consent decree.

Carole has also facilitated specialized CIT training for emergency dispatchers, corrections officers, EMS and the courts. To aid her in the development of specialized trainings, Carole also participated the Cleveland FBI Academy and Cuyahoga County Sheriff’s Academy. To further her message about the importance of crisis intervention training, she became a member of the Ohio Statewide CIT Committee to provide training for new CIT Coordinators. She is also certified as an Ohio Peace Officer Association Trainer in the field of Human Relations which allow her to conduct trainings for new police recruits in crisis intervention. Carole is passionate about issues related to equal access to high quality mental health treatment, cultural humility and inclusion for everyone in need of support.