No Action Taken to Advertise Region IV Director Job

By Josh Mitchell

Corinth Today News Editor

The Region IV Mental Health Board met in closed session to discuss the interim director position on Thursday afternoon.

After the meeting, the next steps the agency would take to obtain permanent leadership remained unclear.

No action was taken in the closed session, said Phillip Whitehead, attorney for the mental health board, which oversees five counties.

Corinth-based Region IV offers an array of mental health services, including drug and alcohol programs, and has been without a permanent leader for a year and a half.

Jason Ramey has been serving as interim director for more than a year.

Corinth Today has repeatedly questioned the mental health agency for more than a year on whether the agency plans to advertise the vacant executive director position.

Board Chairman Greg Collier said this month that the board has still not advertised the position and said it may not be advertised.

Meanwhile, Collier has said that Ramey remains a strong candidate to receive the position on a full-time basis rather than just an interim.

The board may appoint a permanent director early next year, according to Collier. Collier has said that Ramey was trained by the prior longtime director, Charlie Spearman.

It is unclear why the mental health board may be reluctant to advertise the position nationally to ensure the most qualified person for the job is secured.

Mississippi Department of Mental Health standards state that an executive director of a community mental health center such as Region IV must have a master’s degree in mental health or other related education credentials.

Ramey’s educational background does not conform to those standards, which means the local mental health board would have to submit a waiver request to the state in order to appoint Ramey.

“If the board chooses to name him (Ramey) as a permanent executive director, they will be required to request a waiver,” state DMH spokesman Adam Moore said in a statement last week to Corinth Today.

Ramey’s bachelor’s and master’s degrees are in business, not mental health.

Ramey said this month that he is “not opposed” to pursuing a master’s degree in a mental health field if needed but said he is currently not doing so. Region IV employs several hundred people and has a multimillion-dollar budget.

While Ramey appears to lack the required degree under the state operational standards, he does have more than 13 years of experience working in the mental health field, he said.

Ramey has worked for Region IV for two and a half years. His mom, Judy Ramey, was previously a Prentiss County representative on the Region IV board. But Jason Ramey said his mom resigned from the board when he started employment with the agency in July of 2016 to avoid a conflict of interest.

Prior to his employment with Region IV, Ramey said he ran the inpatient psychiatric unit for geriatric patients for Horizon Health at Baptist Memorial Hospital in Booneville. With Horizon, he also traveled throughout the nation to help establish psychiatric programs and train directors. He was also a master instructor for the company’s crisis intervention program.