The Path May 08

25^thAnniversary

The Path

"Guiding People on the Path to Change"

A Publication by Bethesda PA Treatment & Healing

www.pathtochange.org	May 2008, Volume 1, Issue 9

From the President’s Desk…

Board of Directors

Joseph Pugliese

Chairman

Timothy Gage

Vice Chairman

Jerilyn Keen

President

Fred Martin

Director

Mary Tiffin

Director

Chris Bingaman

Director

Dr. Chris Boyatzis

Director

Stacey Kifolo

Secretary

Gene McCarty

Treasurer

Advisory Committee

Jerilyn Keen

Scott Constantini

Stephen Gaito

Robert Vanderwall

Don Coleman

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

What are you planting?

I live in the country about 10 miles from the Corporate Office and while I was driving home the other day, I couldn’t help but notice how beautiful the farmers’ fields were looking at this time of the year. Their fields have been planted for a few weeks now and with the rain and the heat we’ve been experiencing in Central PA, seedlings are shooting up all over. I found myself trying to figure out what each strip of brown, then green, then brown would become? Would it become corn, wheat, or soy beans? Knowing extremely little about farming, it seemed to me that there was a strategy going on that determined what crop the farmers’ had planted next to each other. The soil in those acres of land had to be pretty similar, the main difference in what was produced out of that ground then was determined by the type of seed the farmer chose to plant. And it came to me that the planting and harvesting of these fields was astonishingly similar to how our minds work.

For example, suppose a farmer has several acres of land, and it's good, fertile land. The land gives the farmer a choice; he may plant in that land whatever he chooses. The land doesn't care what. It's up to the farmer to make the decision. Compare the human mind to this rich fertile land. The mind, like the land, doesn't care what we plant in it. It simply returns to us what we plant.

Now, let's say that the farmer has two seeds in his hand- one is a seed of corn, the other is nightshade, a deadly poison. The farmer digs two little holes in the earth and plants both seeds- one corn, the other nightshade. He covers up the holes, waters and takes care of the land...and what happens? The land returns what was planted. Scripture states "As ye sow, so shall ye reap."

Remember the land, like the mind doesn't care whether we plant good or bad seed. It will return poison in just as wonderful abundance as it will corn. So up come the two plants - one corn, one poison.

The human mind is far more fertile, far more incredible and mysterious than the land, but it works the same way. It doesn't care what we plant...thoughts of success...or failure. A worthwhile goal...or anger, resentment, fear, anxiety and so on. But what we plant in our minds, it must return to us.

Let me ask you, what is your mind returning to you? If you don’t like the harvest, you must examine the type of seed you have planted. The human mind contains riches beyond our wildest dreams. It will return anything we choose to plant in it. Clear out the poison and the weeds, which are bound to destroy or choke out the good seed. God promises to return to us that which we sow. Plant seeds of goodness today.

From My heart to yours,

Jerilyn

Jerilyn A. Keen, M.A.

President

News from our Corporate Office…

Congratulations to Board Director, Mary Tiffin-McGarrity on her recent marriage! Mary, (and her three sons, Christopher, Michael and Stephen) married Brian McGarrity on May 31^st in Trudy’s Garden on the grounds of the Reading Public Museum. We were happy to hear that they were blessed with gorgeous weather and the wedding went perfectly!

The Agency would like to wish Jenn Evans much success and happiness in all of her future endeavors! In her absence, Michele Barrows and Erica Frey have agreed to take on the duties of training, supervising and guiding the staff and management of the Halfway House and State College Center . Michele’s title will now be D&A Facility Director as she will be taking on Management and Supervision of the Halfway House. Michele has also agreed to oversee the foster care duties at the corporate level. Erica’s title will remain Program Compliance Manager but she will now also be providing oversight and direction to Program Manager, Jack Schreck and their new Clinical Supervisor, Jessica Montrella, at State College. Erica will also be handling the scheduling of Dr. Maue’s psychiatric evaluations and consultations for all of the offices. We are very thankful for the willingness of these ladies to step up to the plate and assume these extra responsibilities!

Featured in the pictures below is Regional Manager and expert SCM instructor, Robert Vanderwall during a recent SCM training held at the corporate office. (Staff being trained from left to right are Gary Travis, Kurt Jones, Danielle Makara and Bobby Vanderwall!

Northumberland County SCA has agreed to enter into a contract to provide Outpatient Drug & Alcohol counseling services to clients from the Watsontown/McEwensville/Turbotville area.

This is “What’s Happening” at our Centers…

PATH - Bloomsburg: Our IA/ASE clients have been taking a thorough look into themselves as they recently began writing in their new journals. The students love writing in them and often ask, “Can I do more than one entry today?” The IA/ASE clients have also been enjoying therapeutic recreation and teambuilding groups. Shown is the game Bridge the River. They loved this and after many tries figured out how to make it across.

When asked what they learned, they replied, “communication, team work, making changes, accomplishing a goal.” Staff went over the importance of all these lessons in their daily lives with their “family team.” In Health class, the AEP looked over different menus to find healthy choices throughout. They then had to develop their own healthy menu and really enjoyed being creative like this. They have also been studying the Korean War and writing short stories, as well as learning about the Earth's resources, atmosphere, climate, and Alternate Energy in Science. Congratulations to our 5 seniors this year!

PATH - East Stroudsburg: As usual, the end of the school year is busy, busy, busy! Our seniors are working hard to complete their senior projects, as well as planning for a graduation celebration and senior trip! Our AEP staff and Day Treatment are working together to make sure that things continue to run smoothly as the school year wraps up. The DT/IA clients recently participated in an afternoon of therapeutic recreation where they participated in various team building activities and exercises. We were happy to see that several of our clients were pleasantly surprised by what they were able to accomplish with a little support and encouragement from their staff and peers!

PATH - Honesdale: Our AEP staff have been keeping busy preparing for the end of the school year! We are looking forward to our AEP Barbeque on June 5th and hoping we get nice weather. We would like to congratulate 3 of our students who have successfully met the requirements for graduation! Great job! With the increasing number of ASE & IA clients, the center is preparing to hire another Social Worker. In the mean time, we are thankful that our staff have been working diligently to ensure that all of our clients are receiving quality services! The new Relationship-based CBT Model has been introduced to the clients and we are happy that they seem to be really grasping the material. Our staff have been focusing on keeping norms high and putting a lot of energy into our new clients. The ASE & IA Programs will be switching it's hours to 11am-3pm on June 12th and have started informing Referring Agencies of the change in schedule. The Day Treatment staff have arranged a Community Service Project with our local Office of the Aging where clients will be serving Senior Citizens during their summer picnics. The clients are also planning on participating in a yard sale for Habitat for Humanity in late June.

PATH - Lehighton: Teacher’s Aides, Gail Weaver and Tami Weaver, recently conducted a Poetry Week in their English classes. As part of this activity, all of the clients were asked to write their own poem for a Poetry Contest. Congratulations to the winners: Dante L., Robyn F., and Samantha G.! Our positive clients were recently rewarded with a field trip to the Beltzville Dam! The students really enjoyed getting a first hand look at how the dam operates. We would like to thank Teacher’s Aide, Gail Weaver, for setting up the trip! Our ASE/IA clients also recently took advantage of the nice weather by participating in a therapeutic recreation trip to the Phifers Ice Dam where they worked on group cohesiveness and team building exercise. The Lehighton Center would also like to welcome our new Drug & Alcohol Counselor, Jessica Hansen!

PATH - Middleburg: We are excited to let you know that one of our clients here at the Halfway Home graduated on June 6th from Midd-West High School ! Congratulations! The great thing about this situation is that this client had court on May 28th where the Judge, his attorney, and case worker apologized to him because they had stated in the past that he would never graduate or even be alive by this point. This client has been through 5 Bethesda PATH placements and I am sure many of us rejoice with him over his completion and graduation of High School! We are currently working on upgrading the whole Halfway House. Thank you PATH Corporate for getting us a new computer, high speed internet, and the ability to start looking into other areas to better our facility! We are currently working on upgrading our client’s bedrooms, while also looking into ways to upgrade our living rooms. We should be finished with our upgrades by the end of July. With our BDAP inspections coming up, our clients have been working hard to make the Middleburg house look immaculate! They have been weeding around the whole house and now the house has been mulched. This has been a great upgrade for the building. A big thank you goes out to the clients of the house and the parent of a client who volunteered to buy and transport the mulch! We would also like to welcome Mr. Gary Travis (no relation to Randy Travis)! Gary is a 32 year old staff member who grew up through the Bethesda program. Gary has done a great job in assimilating into the Halfway House Staff. He brings a lot of personal experience along with a quiet, yet respectful presence.

PATH - Milton: The Milton Center is preparing for the end of the academic school year! Many of the students in Alternative Education Program are preparing to graduate at the end of the year. The After School Evening Program is also excited to see one of its clients graduate with his class this May. The Milton center would like to congratulate all the students and clients who have achieved this momentous event! The Milton center was also happy to accept its first referral from Sullivan County Juvenile Probation. We hope to build upon this relationship to offer more services to the county and the clients they work with. We have been hard at work implementing the new Relationship based CBT curriculum in both After School Evening and Intensive Adolescent Programs. The Alternative Education program has had some very exciting events throughout the month of May. Kurt Eck, Teacher, used model rockets to teach his students about the laws of physics. The students learned about things like mass, drag, momentum, and acceleration as they built their own model rockets. Kurt then took all the students out to a field and launched the rockets where they were then given awards based on the performance of their individual rockets. The Alternative Education Program was able to take many of the students to Hershey Park as a reward for their positive performances in the school. All of the students and staff who were able to go had a wonderful time eating and riding the roller coasters! Our clients continue to volunteer by helping to set up for the weekly community dinner at St. Andrews Church , as well as assisting the Milton Area Chamber of Commerce with the mailing of their monthly newsletter. We would also like to welcome back Brandon Peck, Social Worker, to the PA Treatment and Healing team.

PATH - Scranton: We are excited that Dr. Antoinette Hamidian, of the Aaron Center , has agreed to provide us with much needed psychological evaluation and consultation time. We would also like to congratulate our 5 graduates this year! They were all recently treated to an All-You-Can-Eat Chinese Buffet to commend their successful completion of high school. The ASE/IA Programs are now planning on participating in the Adopt-A-Highway Program. We would also like to announce that Heather Thorburn has turned “green”; she recently purchased an eco-friendly scooter!

PATH - South Montrose: As word is spreading about the IA Program, we are excited that it is continuing to grow. There are currently 6 full time and 3 more on the way. Our AEP students took part in two field trips during the past month. They spent a day at a local Nature Preserve and also went on a trip to the Binghampton Mets baseball game! The AEP students also enjoyed a special Senior Recognition Ceremony at the end of the month and are looking forward to the end of the year field day which will be held on June 10th! Recently, our Day Treatment clients designed and created recycling bins for the center to raise awareness about protecting the environment. Our administration would like to thank the AEP staff for their hard work this year and wish them a wonderful summer!

PATH - State College: We would like to congratulate a client of both the Lewistown & State College Centers who graduated from Juniata on JIne 4th! Our Reading and Tutoring projects, in conjunction with Penn State, have been continuing with great success. The volunteers from PSU are the greatest and we are glad to have them! The Day Treatment and Intensive Program are planting a vegetable garden, as well as a flower garden surrounding the center which really looks beautiful!

PATH - Williamsport: On May 15^th, the AEP hosted a field day with the Milton Center and it was definitely a success! We would like to thank the Milton staff for making the trip. Our center has been busy as we recently held two open houses! The Foster Care Open House was held on May 14^thand we would like to extend a special thanks to Stephanie for all of the time she put into it! The AEP also had an Open House for referring districts and the staff did a great job getting things ready and setting up displays. On May 23^rd, our AEP staff took some of our positive students to Hershey Park for the end of the year trip! We had a really great time and several of our students got their first experience riding roller coasters! Our community service program recently assisted Agent Weber’s son with weeding, raking, and planting flowers at Veterans Memorial Park . We would like to thank Todd Puderbach, Jake Turner, and the rest of the community service program for mulching around the center! The Day Treatment and Intensive Adolescent Programs will be participating in the upcoming Lycoming County Juvenile Probation Annual Park & School Clean Up on June 13^th. The Intensive Adolescent Program has been happy to see an increase in referrals through Lycoming & Clinton County Mental Health Services recently.

Our Management Team

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

Jonathan Sharpe, Program Manager

Milton Treatment Center.

Jonathan graduated from Lycoming College in Williamsport, PA, with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Criminal Justice and minors in both Political Science and Sociology. He then began working for PA Treatment & Healing immediately after graduation. Jon started out as a social worker at the Milton Center and was promoted to Day Treatment Supervisor three years later. He worked in that position until recently, when he was promoted to Program Manager.

Jon enjoys spending time with his wife Melissa, and their son, Connor. Him and his family like to go camping and hiking. They are always seeking out new places to see and experience. Jon also enjoys watching both college and professional football. He is a passionate fan of the Philadelphia Eagles.

Jon’s thoughts on PATH’s mission are: “I have worked with PATH since graduating college in 2001. Throughout that time, I have had the opportunity to see The PATH Agency from many different perspectives. One thing has remained constant throughout all that time. PATH’s belief in the family and how it influences the child is incredibly powerful. I have experienced the joys and frustrations of working with hundreds of children through PATH. In each case, the child endured significant struggles with those they love the most. They identify these struggles and how they led them to make the decisions they did. I believe that the “PATH to Change” is the only method that will truly allow these hurt children to find happiness in their lives, and happiness is the only thing will allow them to make better decisions in the future.”

Accolades

Congratulations to Michael Burns who was promoted to Residential Program Manager of the Halfway house on June 5^th. Michael was selected and highly recommended to take this position, by former program manager and support staff, Jon Gamble. Michaels’ outstanding performance and his natural leadership gifts. He has a great deal of passion and heart to make a difference by leading our young men and staff in a positive direction. Michael is a licensed Pastor, who earned his undergraduate degree in Psychology and Child Development from Whittier College in Whittier, California . He also works at Susquehanna University as an Assistant Men's Lacrosse Coach and plans to attend Bucknell University for graduate school this coming Fall. He looks forward to getting to know all of the PATH staff and management and welcomes their wisdom and advice. The Halfway House is now also approved through CCBH CMP. We have already received approval from the NE and we are just waiting on the NC region now. Things are looking extremely positive for the House!

EMPLOYEE OF THE MONTH….

Dave Dimoff, Dean of Students for the Williamsport Center, has been recognized as the Employee of the Month for May. Dave has done an excellent job with the AEP and the consistency that he brings to the program helps it to run smoothly! Dave works very hard to help the students at Williamsport regain credits they’ve lost and work their way back to their respected grade levels. He is focused on making sure the clients get the best education possible. Dave goes above and beyond while still maintaining the norms of the AEP. He has great initiative, dependability, and attitude and we are pleased to present him with this award!

The following staff were also nominated for Employees of the Month for May:

Frank Swartwout, Community Monitor, Honesdale
Doreen Armitage, AEP Teacher, South Montrose
Gail Weaver, Teacher's Aide, Lehighton

We thank these staff for their dedication to our Agency!

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Welcome to our family…

Kari Shivery, Teacher, State College

Danielle Makara, Day Treatment Supervisor, Bloomsburg

Kurtis Jones, Social Worker, Bloomsburg

Gary Travis, Support Staff, Middleburg