25th Anniversary
The Path
"Guiding People on the Path to Change"
A Publication by PA Treatment & Healing
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25th Anniversary
The Path "Guiding People on the Path to Change" A Publication by PA Treatment & Healing
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www.pathtochange.org |
July 2008, Volume 1, Issue 11 |
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| From the Corporate Business Manager’s Desk… |
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Board
of
Directors Joseph
Pugliese Chairman Timothy
Gage Vice Chairman Jerilyn
Keen President Fred
Martin Director Mary Tiffin-McGarrity Director Chris
Bing Director Dr. Chris Boyatzis Director Stacey
Kifolo Secretary Gene
McCarty Treasurer
Advisory Committee Jerilyn Keen Scott Constantini Stephen Gaito Robert Vanderwall William Rossnock Joseph Talarico Dr. Elizabth Ciaravino Thomas Bell Captain William Weber Larry Weidman John Gigunto Matthew
Yonkin
Consultants Dr.
Vikas
Passi D&A Medical Director Dr. Frederick Maue Mental Health Director Dr. Matthew Emery Psychological Consultant Dr. Hugh Smith & Associates Psychological Consultants Dr. Antoinette Hamidian Psychological Consultant Karen Livingood Psychological Consultant Roger
Smothers & Twin Tier
Psych.
Services |
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Path
to Change
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Your life path may have a
lot of potholes, mud puddles, and unexpected surprises or painful
tragedies. Or, it may be
relatively smooth, like newly paved roads. Chances are, it has been a
mix of the ugly and the neat. We love the smooth roads. The ride is nice
and we can enjoy the ride, because the path is easy. It’s not hard to
change for the better then. But, hit some relationship ruts, blow a tire
from being betrayed, or become an emotional wreck from bad news or
happenings, and it isn’t so easy to change for the good. Keith Keith Bingaman. Corporate Business Manager |
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News
from our Corporate Office… |
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We
welcome Keith Bingaman as our new Corporate Business Manager! Keith wrote
our featured article this month and has been trying to learn all the ins
and outs of his new position. Keith has over 17 years of experience in
leadership and management. He
is an experienced motivational speaker, teacher, trainer with a background
in individual and family counseling. He possesses excellent communication
and people skills. We are confident that he will be a tremendous asset to
our team! Keith served as a Pastor from 1991 to 2007, has taken a break
from ministry for a year and is now eager to make a difference at PA
Treatment & Healing! For
those of you who may remember, Keith is the husband of our long time
friend and former employee Nicole Bingaman. It’s been so great to have
such a positive, and helpful team member with fresh new ideas and a
willingness to serve! |
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The
Office of Mental Health & Substance Abuse Services (OMHSAS) has
approved our request for the Halfway House to be enrolled in the PA
Medical Assistance Program to participate in HealthChoices Behavioral
Health. We are a step closer
to full Managed Care approval! |
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This
is “What’s Happening” at our Centers… |
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PATH - East Stroudsburg: Lisa Alfieri, Program Manager, Pete Charney, Dean of Students, & Steve Gaito, Regional Manager, recently met with all of the Principals from the Pocono Mtn. West School District to help promote our Alternative Education Program. They also spoke with a local doctor’s office that is very interested in the Intensive Adolescent Program and would like to be educated about the services we provide and the referral process. The Day Treatment clients continue to participate in regularly scheduled team building events and activities. We have been holding monthly field days where all of the clients work together to complete tasks and events. The clients continue to be amazed at what they are capable of achieving with a little bit of support and encouragement! The staff all had positive feedback regarding the new Relationship-based CBT Training and have all been working hard to implement it and help the clients begin the process. We recently said goodbye to Social Worker, Shaun Crump, who left to pursue different career choices and are very pleased to welcome Josephine Castellano as his replacement! Josephine comes to us with a Master’s degree in Psychology and years of experience in the field! |
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PATH - Honesdale: Our After School Evening Program welcomes new Social Worker, Brian Edwards, and has also been blessed with the return of Tracy Greco to step into the role of Day Treatment Supervisor. Things have been going very well at our center throughout this transition! We are excited to have received referrals for both the IA and ASE Programs! Our After School Evening staff have been focusing on keeping consistency in the program which includes both accountability and rewards for clients, as well as structured days. Tracy and Gina, Clinical Supervisor, have been working diligently to ensure that therapeutic groups and activities are being conducted daily. Alternative Education referrals are slowly starting to come in and regular contact has been made with the District representatives. Our center is happy to be finishing up the final paperwork with the Swartwout’s who will be becoming Foster Parents for Honesdale PATH! The staff have been doing a great job in working towards providing the best services possible to our clients! Way to go team! Recently, our clients completed Community Service at the Honesdale and Hamlin Senior Picnic. They helped in the serving of food and drinks to the Senior Citizens and got involved in some of the festivities. The organizers of the picnic were extremely appreciative of all of the hard work the clients did! |
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PATH
- Middleburg: It has been a busy
summer with Title One day trips, time at the pool, D&A Treatment,
and also a hand full of clients working at their summer jobs! The
other clients are ready for school to start. Currently we have our
new PATH sign in the ground and looking amazing! We are really
excited for our new furniture that should be arriving shortly! We
are also looking forward to welcoming our new D&A Counselor, part time
teacher, and a new support staff in a couple of weeks! With our
Title One funding, we were able to take our clients to Gettysburg for a
day of tours and education! We, as a treatment team, found out that
none of our clients had
been to the Gettysburg Battle Field and then
decided to target our education treatment around the Gettysburg theme. On
July 19th, our staff took the clients to the physical location
of Gettysburg, PA as a grand finale and everyone
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PATH - Milton: The Milton Center has been keeping busy throughout the month of July! The After School Evening and Intensive Adolescent Programs continue to operate with a great deal of success. Our staff have been hard at work ensuring that high quality services are delivered to all clients. Tiffany Hessek, Dean of Students, has been busy getting ready for the upcoming school year. She has been contacting all school districts and it appears that the Milton Center will be starting the school year with a higher number of students then ever before! |
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PATH - Scranton: The Scranton Center is busy interviewing potential teachers for the upcoming school year. We have planned an Open House on August 22nd and already have over 20 confirmed guests from CYS, J.P.O., and representatives from several judges’ offices! As this event draws near, we are concentrating our efforts on giving the center a “face-lift”! The staff, headed by Dean of Students, Bob Mattiolli, have done a remarkable job not only painting and cleaning the center, but also adding borders, colors, and design to our hallways and classrooms! |
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PATH - South Montrose: The staff at South Montrose would like to welcome Courtney Lange to our team as the After School Program’s newest Social Worker! Courtney is an enthusiastic employee and her energy could not have come at a better time as our clientele is continuing to grow each month. Courtney is already demonstrating that she is a reliable co-worker who offers immense support for all clients and staff and we are happy to have her! Our clients are continuing to develop stronger living and social skills as they have taken part in multiple self-esteem groups each week, completed job applications, and practiced interviewing during mach sessions organized by the staff. Also, our clients have been taking part in several projects in the neighboring communities including a roadside clean-up for the town of Jackson, PA in the Susquehanna Community School District and a day at the Montrose Area School helping their custodial staff prepare for the upcoming school year. |
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PATH
- State College: Over
the past month, the State College Center has been making fabulous
changes! Regional Manager Bob Vanderwall has been working tirelessly to
help the new, yet eager staff of: Clinical Supervisor Jessica
Montrella, Social workers Chris and Autumn, Dean of
Students, MikeYoung and Secretary, Lyndsay Chandler, learn
the ins and outs of running an effective and well organized PATH treatment
center. Bob can't say enough good things about this team of staff who are
ready to take the program to a whole new PATH level! President
Keen extends her thanks to Bob Vanderwall, Erica Frey, Jon Sharpe,
Denise Scott, Jamie Yonkin, and all of the Milton and Williamsport staff
for their positive and helpful attitudes and willingness to do whatever necessary
to get the State College Center running on par with all the other PATH
programs. Bob assures us that he is very optimistic about the
potential of the team that has been assembled. Best Wishes and tons
of prayers have been going out to Program Manager Jack Schreck as he
recovers from open heart surgery. Rest and recover Jack! Bob and the
team are working hard to make you proud! |
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PATH - Williamsport: As the summer comes to an end, the AEP is preparing for the start of the 2008/2009 school year! Intakes have begun and final touches are ready to be added to the curriculum. We are looking forward to our Day Treatment numbers increasing with the start of the school year! “Be Challenged” Coordinator, Todd Puderbaugh, has been looking into hiking trails on the Loyalsock Trail. This area is closer to our facility and would allow us to use less time on travel and more time on hiking! We would also like to wish Jeremy Eck best of luck in the future as he is leaving our Center to pursue his Master’s degree as a school counselor! |
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OUr Management Team |
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Each month we feature a member of our Management Team as a way to honor their dedication and commitment to making our Agency the very best it can be! This month we highlight Jodee Strine, Program Manager Bloomsburg Treatment Center. |
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Jodee is a Youth leader for FUSE at First United Methodist Church in Williamsport where they have approximately 70 kids they work with. She is also a member of First Church’s softball team. She enjoys spending quality time with her husband, sewing, reading, playing soccer, walking her puppy Bella, traveling to different countries and experiencing foreign cultures, singing praise and worship music, and dancing and singing to Beatles music!!! |
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Jodee’s thoughts on PATH’s mission are: “PATH
sets out to help kids from various extreme backgrounds to overcome their
inability to function in society and to ultimately succeed in life.
This one statement is my life passion. PATH does an amazing job at encompassing
both individual and group counseling sessions in order to give clients
different perspectives as well as different types of opportunities to
practice coping skills. Helping kids learn values that they hold
important in their lives and begin to live out is a key focus in assisting
them in making a positive impact on society. In addition, requiring parental
and/or family counseling is integral to the success of the child in all
areas of their life, as well as the lives of those closest to them.
We not only help the child, but the family as well.” |
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Accolades |
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The
Safety Committee made up of Roger
Zettlemoyer, Sally Edler, John O’Brien, Lisa Alfieri
and Stephanie Rice would like
to encourage all employees to take the time to read through the safety
committee meeting minutes each month. For those who aren’t aware, this
committee meets every month for approximately one hour to discuss and come
up with proactive plans to eliminate safety concerns and hazards in our
treatment center environments. We would like to have one member
represented from every office. New Corporate Business Manager, Keith
Bingaman will be taking over as the Chairman of the Safety Committee next
month. If you are interested in serving on this committee please give
Keith a call. We are able to
join you into the monthly meetings by conference call should the location
of the meeting prevent anyone interested from attending.
A special thank you to Clinical Supervisor, Gina Mavromatis, for conducting a training this month on Depression, Anxiety, and Panic Attacks. The evaluations indicate that the participants learned so much that day about these disorders. We are proud of the quality of professionalism that Gina brings to the table through her trainings! Erica
Frey & Jerilyn Keen
conducted a day of training entitled "Individual
and Group Therapy- done the PATH way"! The training was a
huge success as expressed through evaluation responses from the staff.
Erica and Jeri have over 30 years of experience conducting individual
and group counseling which was evident by how well they addressed all
of the questions and made the training very useful to relationship
healing. Regional
Managers Scott Constantini and Steve
Gaito breezed through another Normative
Systems training for PATH staff recently. The feedback on their
training is always excellent and the participants relay how much they
enjoy all of the stories of first hand experience that these
guys have had through the years in working with our youth up close and
personal! Thanks guys for making it real! Monumental Accolades go out to Bob Vanderwall for his Never Give Up Attitude, His Unfaltering Determination and his Charisma and Charm! Bob has given so much of himself to the State College Center over the passed month! There are no words to truly express just how thankful we are to you. Thanks also to Jamie Yonkin and Jon Sharpe and each of their staff for their sacrifice of Bob while he has been needed primarily at State College. You and your teams are tremendous and we applaud you!
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EMPLOYEE
OF THE MONTH…. |
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The
following staff were also nominated for Employees of the Month for May:
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Jessica Montrella, Clinical
Supervisor, State College Ř
Doug Luisi, D&A
Counselor,East Stroudsburg Ř
Jessica Hansen, D&A
Counselor, Lehighton Ř Karen Brenchley, Secretary, Bloomsburg We
thank these staff for their dedication to our Agency!
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Welcome to our family… Tracy Greco, Day Treatment
Supervisor, Honesdale Neil Cronin, Community
Monitor, State College Josephine Castellano, Social
Worker, East Stroudsburg Courtney Lange, Social
Worker, South Montrose
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| Copyright 2008, PA Treatment & Healing. Copying or distributing by any means is strictly prohibited |
had
a great time! Our thanks go out to John G, one of our clients here at the
Halfway House who, as the pictures show, did a great job at sanding and
applying finish to our wooden furniture with clear coat. John G did
this because he loves to work with his hands, as he used to do with his
grandfather. As a program manager, I love taking client’s
passions and talents to better the Halfway House, especially in
anticipation of the new furniture coming.![C:\Documents and Settings\Tanya P\Local Settings\Temporary Internet Files\Content.IE5\5V5RFY9Z\MCj04316110000[1].png](images/PATHSTAR.gif)