Currency is a term that is used to reference money. Dollars and cents are our national currency.

We have all heard the saying “All that glitters is not gold,” which means that not everything that looks precious or true turns out to be so.

We at the Wayne/Holmes Board have changed that saying just a little to be

“All that glitters doesn’t have to be gold”. By this we mean that there are other things that can serve as currency besides shiny metal.

For us, two of these are good planning and collaboration.

The Mental Health & Recovery Board of Wayne and Holmes County has been recognized has having one of the most extensive collaborative networks in the state of Ohio. We live in a time when paper and metal money (currency) are not as available as they were at one time. So, we have turned to working with other organizations in the community, in reciprocal fashion, as a means of turning relationships into another form of exchangeable currency or value. We call this collaboration.

Collaboration as Currency

The business world is driven by enterprise, innovation and profit.  This is a good thing as the better business does in our community, the better the Mental Health & Recovery Board of Wayne and Holmes County is able to serve the public.  The Board is equally interested in the value it is able to add to the community through its work.  Collaboration with other organizations in the local community and around the state is a way to produce “value added” results.  Another view of this value added dimension of collaboration is that collaboration is actually a form of currency, and exchange of ideas and labor that produces profits in the amounts of service that can be offered, or the quality of the services.  In a time when public expenditures must be done very carefully, finding ways to add value is very important.