Iris J. Meltzer, M.A., M.P.H., of Kent, is one of the newest members of the Mental Health & Recovery Board of Portage County. She was appointed by Portage County Commissioners to a four-year term.
A 36-year resident of Portage County, Meltzer is passionate about community service and the field of mental health. She decided to join the board because of her great interest in making Portage County a healthier community in which to live and work.
Meltzer has extensive academic and professional experience in the field of mental health and addiction services, and working with non-profit agencies, which she said prepared her for Board membership.
She recently retired from Akron Children’s Hospital after almost 28 years, where she held the position of Administrative Director of Adolescent Services for ten years. Prior to her retirement, she was licensed both as a Professional Counselor and an Ohio Substance Abuse Prevention Specialist.
She also worked as a consultant for the Center for Community Solutions. Located in Cleveland, the Center for Community Solutions provides strategic leadership and organizes community resources to improve health, social, and economic conditions through applied demographic research, nonpartisan policy analysis and advocacy and communication.
Although Meltzer is retired, she believes that “serving as a member of the Mental Health & Recovery Board will allow me to continue to work on behalf of my community.” To Meltzer, meeting the needs of the community is the most important responsibility of a public entity.
“The Mental Health & Recovery Board and system create a structure and mechanism through which the community’s prevention and treatment needs can be met in ways that assure accessibility, affordability and appropriateness to the community as a whole and clients and their families in particular,” Meltzer said.
A Kent resident, Meltzer is involved in her community as the secretary of the Kent Environmental Council and the president of League of Women Voters of Kent.
Meltzer received her B.A. in Psychology at the University of Michigan, M.A. in Psychology at Western Carolina University and M.P.H. at Kent State University. She is a member of the American Public Health Association and the Ohio Public Health Association.
-30-
This post was contributed by a community member. The views expressed here are the author's own.
We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here
The views expressed in this post are the author's own. Want to post on Patch?