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Scioto Paint introduces director, counselor

The Times-Gazette - 5/24/2017

May is Mental Health Awareness Month and in light of that the Scioto Paint Valley Mental Health Center (SPVMHC) would like to introduce some of its local employees.

The SPVMHC is a comprehensive community mental health agency providing a continuum of services including outpatient counseling for mental health and substance abuse disorders, case management, psychiatric and medication management services, partial hospitalization, crisis intervention, residential treatment, ambulatory detox, medication assisted treatment and primary care in a five-county area.

The center’s executive director and site director who serves Highland County is Matt Markley, who has been the executive director of SPVMH since 2009. He is a graduate of The Ohio State University and holds a master’s degree in Health Services Administration from Central Michigan University. He is a certified behavioral health care executive and has worked in community mental health in Ohio for more than 35 years. He was formerly the executive director of the Marion/Crawford ADAMH Board from 1985 until 1997 and more recently executive director of the Paint Valley Alcohol, Drug Addiction & Mental Health Services (ADAMH) Board from 1997 to 2009. Markley was elected to the Chillicothe City Schools Board of Education in 2007 and served on the board until 2015. He and his wife Karen are the parents of two adult sons.

Gena Bates is a licensed professional clinical counselor with supervisory training designation and has been practicing in the state of Ohio as a counselor for over 10 years. She has a master’s degree in Community Counseling from Xavier University and a bachelor of arts degree in Psychology from Capital University. She has been Highland County clinic director since February.

Bates interned at Greater Cincinnati Behavioral Health Services and worked with severely mentally ill adults with dual diagnosis at a day treatment program and on a Forensic ACT team. She also worked as a therapist for two years at Centerpointe Health (Talbert House) on a specialized team working with children and adolescents who have experienced various types of trauma. She has been a team leader and therapist trainer at St. Joseph’s Orphanage’s ACT team, working with severely emotionally disturbed children, adolescents and their families in a home-based setting. From 2014 to 2017, she was a counselor with FRS Counseling in Hillsboro, where she served as a counselor and team leader in the Adams County Partial Hospitalization program for youth and was later promoted to behavioral health counselor supervisor at the FRS Hillsboro office. A native of Highland County, Bates and her husband are parents of a 3-year-old daughter.

Submitted by Darlene Ford, Scioto Paint Valley Mental Health Center.