Marcy Patton stands in her office at the Columbiana County Mental Health and Recovery Services Board, where she’s served as executive director since 2017. She’s retiring June 27 after 45 years in the mental health/counseling field, all within the county. (Photo by Mary Ann Greier)

LISBON — For Marcy Patton, her 45-year career in the counseling field is all about the “starfish story” — making a difference, one person at a time.

She recently reflected on that story as she talked about her impending retirement June 27 as executive director of the Columbiana County Mental Health and Recovery Services Board.

“I’m kind of known for the starfish story,” Patton said.

She keeps copies of the story at her desk to hand out, she’s repeated it countless times over the years and even shared it with her eldest son, who used it for his high school graduation speech.

Also known as the “Starfish Thrower,” the story by Loren Eiseley tells how a man saw a boy picking something up and throwing it in the ocean, he asked what he was doing, and the boy said he was throwing starfish back into the ocean because the tide was going out and if he didn’t, they would die. The man told him there were miles of beach and hundreds of starfish, telling him, “you can’t make a difference.”

The boy, however, picked up another starfish and threw it back into the surf, smiling and saying, “I made a difference for that one.”

“The bottom line comes down to, did you help somebody?” Patton said.

Making a difference in people’s lives is her proudest accomplishment.

“Anytime we can make a difference is someone’s life, no matter what’s going on, that’s something to be proud of,” she said.

Now, though, she’s ready to slow down and spend more time with her family. Her husband, Dave, is a retired Columbiana police officer, and they have two sons, one in California who’s a retired Navy commander and one in Pennsylvania who’s a doctoral physical therapist. They also have five grandchildren. They have an RV and they’re ready to hit the road.

“We’re definitely going to do some traveling,” she said, including a trip to Hawaii that was canceled in 2020 due to the Covid pandemic. “We’re going to do some camping.”

She said they’re also looking forward to some day trips they haven’t been able to do and to pretty much “do whatever we want to do.”

“I just don’t want to have to make a lot of decisions or be responsible,” Patton said.

She doesn’t have anything planned, but said she’ll stay involved in the community as a lifelong resident of Columbiana and in her church, the East Palestine Church of Christ. She has more connections now in East Palestine since the train disaster, where the board helped establish the Resiliency Center on state Route 14 where residents can receive help with counseling, group sessions and other offerings.

Patton said the last few years have been very challenging, in large part due to what happened in East Palestine, noting “the impact on the community and seeing people struggle, because it was local and up close and personal. It was so much more impactful.”

Two of her passions have been the faith-based collaborative and the first responder wellness program. First responders, including police, fire, EMTs and dispatchers, deal with horrendous events sometimes and the support groups help them to talk about their experiences with others who have lived the same experiences. She said the first responders really appreciate coming to these support groups.

“There isn’t a week that goes by that we’re not dealing with something with first responders dealing with some type of trauma,” she said.

The faith-based collaborative includes church organizations throughout the county who support each other in supporting the communities. She said they’ve been a wonderful asset.

Patton is a big believer in collaboration, communication and cooperation, everybody working together.

“We really are blessed in Columbiana County. People work pretty well together. It’s been a wonderful place to work. A wonderful place to grow up and a wonderful place to have a career.” she said.

A Columbiana High School graduate, Patton earned her bachelor’s degree in psychology and sociology from Malone College in 1979 and started working as a substance abuse counselor at the Family Recovery Center when it was under a different name and was located in East Liverpool, then she came to the location in Lisbon. In 1988, she went to work at the Counseling Center of Columbiana County as the children’s program case manager, eventually becoming the supervisor when it became known as Project Focus, offering counseling, respite care, summer day camp and case management. By the time she left the counseling center in 2017, her title was Director of Youth Community Support Services and she had 20 staff members. From there, she joined the county Mental Health and Recovery Services Board as a person who had an understanding of the primary services due to her experience. At some point, she had also earned a master’s degree in community counseling at Youngstown State University.

On June 30, current CCMHRS Board Director of Treatment and Supportive Services Lori Colian will become the new executive director, taking over where Patton leaves off.

Her advice to Colian is that “it’s really about building relationships. So much of being successful is about having good relationships with people and listening to people, about being a team player. We all need to work together.”

To residents, she said to just remember, “we all face struggles at times. We all need to get help with things at various times of our lives. We just really need to reduce the stigma associated with mental health assistance so people will reach out for help.”

She’s looking forward to the next challenges in her life and said she couldn’t do anything without everybody’s help.

“I’m very grateful to have worked in Columbiana County and worked with all the people who have made a difference in my life,” Patton said.