A Publication by PA Treatment & Healing

www.pathtochange.org

 September 2009, Volume 2, Issue 3

From the President’s Desk...

The Power of a Coach or Mentor 

A 40 year study was conducted on the Hawaiian island of Kauai by two researchers, Emily Werner and Ruth Smith. The study, which followed more than 450 people from childhood through their adult lives, was conducted to learn why some people are motivated to overcome severe disadvantages while others from similar backgrounds with similar situations seem to be overwhelmed by their problems. Results from the study indicated one of the most interesting qualities of those who overcame adversity verses those who did not was their ability to recognize potential sources of support in other people. They found the difference in those who overcame was their ability to look beyond the walls of their homes to find relatives, teachers, counselors or other role models who guided them successfully through the rough times.

Throughout history many examples of individuals who have accomplished great achievements with incredible come back stories of success can be associated with an individual whose motivation to persevere was influenced by a significant coach or mentor. Whether in sports, art, science, politics, or business, there was a common thread for those who overcame adversity. What helped each of the struggling individuals succeed was encouragement and influence by a significant person who was involved in their life at critical moments.

At PATH, many of you serve daily as a special coach or mentor to our youth! And you certainly are helping them to persevere over their misfortunate situations. But who keeps you on course? Who serves as your encourager and support system? Think you’re too old, too mature, too educated to need a mentor? Think again…..the most successful people in life have at least one person who they look up to and lean on at times professionally or personally.  No matter what our age, we all stand to benefit by having a coach/ mentor to help keep us on track.  A coach or mentor can assist you in making adjustments and navigating through difficult times. Finding coaches and mentors is an important mission, being one even more so.  Thank you for guiding others on the path to change. We must be the change that we wish to see in the world!

All my best,

Jerilyn

Jerilyn A. Keen

President

Board of Directors

Timothy Gage

Chairman  

Jerilyn Keen

President  

Fred Martin

Director

Mary Tiffin-McGarrity

Director  

Chris Bingaman

Director

Dr. Chris Boyatzis

Director  

Gene McCarty

Treasurer

Erica Frey

Secretary

Advisory Committee

Jerilyn Keen

Scott Constantini

Stephen Gaito

Robert Vanderwall

William Rossnock

Joseph Talarico

Dr. Liz Ciaravino

Thomas Bell

William Weber

Larry Weidman

John Gigunto

Matthew Yonkin

Mental Health Director- Dr. Frederick Maue

Medical Director- 

Dr. Vikas Passi

Psychological Consultants

Dr. Matthew Emery & Associates

Dr. Antoinette Hamidian

Roger Smothers & Twin Tier Psych Services

Dr. Sara Camaerei

Lycoming Therapuetic Wrap Around Services, Inc.

Pamela McCloskey

Dr. Hugh Smith & Associates

Karen Livingood

Dr. Elizabeth Ciaravino

Dr. Jennifer Hartey

Dr. Kenneth Kindya

News from our Corporate Office…

On September 9th, President Keen conducted an advanced Path of Life (POL) training called “Beyond the Basics.”  Feedback received by participants endorsed the training highly!  All staff are required to participate in President Keen’s POL trainings annually so make sure you work it into your annual training schedule.

President Keen also completed a HIPAA, Confidentiality & Mandated Reporter training on September 29th.  All staff are required to have this crucial training also!

D&A Facility Director, Michele Barrows, had the opportunity to present PATH to Mr. Al Trego's Intro to Criminal Justice class on September 9th.  She shared that the response from the students was overwhelming to her both personally and professionally.  Professionally, many of the students expressed interest in completing an externship with PATH.  On a more personal note, the sister of one of her previous clients happened to be in the Criminal Justice class and pulled Michele aside after the presentation and asked her if PATH still did letter reading as a part of treatment.  After Michele explained that we still ask clients to write a "Letter of Truth",  the girl informed her that her sister recently asked her to look for her copy of the letter she wrote to their dad.  Michele said that sometimes you wonder what message the clients you serve will carry with them after they leave treatment, or if they carry anything at all with them.  She felt that this experience just reaffirms the fact that the PATH message remains with our clients many years after they leave our care. 

On September 23rd, the Clinical Supervisors gathered for their monthly meeting and continued to work on their goal of developing new curriculum!  Each Clinical Supervisor brought their top 10 favorite group outlines to the meeting so they can be compiled into a Group Curriculum and eventually shared with everyone! Tara Watkins was also welcomed as the new Clinical Supervisor at the Honesdale center.

The D&A Clinical Staffing meeting was also held on September 23rd.  This meeting involved training the clinical staff on how to read client eligibility reports as well as many other billing and clinical topics. There was also time left for staffing clinical cases and allowing staff to offer feedback and suggestions in dealing with the more difficult of these cases.

Clinical Director, Denise Scott, conducted a training on Depression, Anxiety & Panic Attacks with raving reviews on September 25th.  Denise does such an excellent job instructing our staff and helping them to become skilled counselors.  We look forward to many more in the year ahead!  Thanks Denise!

The annual audit was recently completed and presented to the Board of Directors at the annual public meeting.  As usual, Accountants Gene McCarty and Esther Zeager, did a fantastic job keeping everything flowing according to policy and procedure.  It was a clean audit with no exceptions!  Way to go PATH!

The Safety Committee would like to remind everyone that school is back in session so please remain alert and watch for school buses.  Please see the Safety Committee meeting minutes for all of the PA laws that drivers must abide by.  Over 1.5 million children are transported by school buses in Pennsylvania every day.  Every year, children are involved in a traffic accident that could have been avoided if the driver knew the laws concerning school bus laws.  The following laws are from the Pennsylvania Department of Motor Vehicles that all drivers must abide to.

 1.    You must stop when a school bus has it’s red flashers on and or the stop sign arm is extended.

       2.    You must stop when you approach an intersection where a school bus is stopped with it’s red flashers on and the stop sign arm is extended.

       3.    You must stop at least 10 feet away from a stopped school bus.

PATH – East Stroudsburg:   We would like to welcome our newest case worker, Anthony Smith!  Anthony comes to us with years of experience in the correctional field and we are very excited to have him as part of our team!  He was hired to replace Micah Ash, who we recently said good bye and best wishes to as he is going to pursue a Master’s degree in counseling.  Regional Director, Steve Gaito, Program Manager, Lisa Alfieri, and Clinical Supervisor, Dwight Evans, recently had the opportunity to present to the tri-county MH/MR in order to promote our Intensive Adolescent (IA) program.  They have also met with several representatives from our local CCBH office and are hoping to see more IA referrals come in!  In addition, Steve, Lisa, and Dwight also met with local judges to discuss a program which would involve our staff providing supervision in custody cases.  We were fortunate enough to have all of our very dedicated Alternative Education program (AEP) staff return for the school year which began on August 31^st.  We welcome everyone back and are looking forward to a successful school year!       

PATH - Honesdale: Our new Program Manager, Mark Bonfiglio, and Clinical Supervisor, Tara Watkins, have finished their first full month at the Honesdale center and are doing a great job! Mark, Tara, and Linda O’Hagen, the Dean of Students, have been busy strengthening existing and establishing new relationships with many of the local agencies and schools districts!  Our Alternative Education program (AEP) started on August 31^st and we were very happy to have Teacher’s Aide, Lori Frick and Teacher, Suzanne Madden return this year! The AEP was very excited to  receive donations from several referring school districts!  They generously provided us with textbooks in the areas of Science, Social Studies and Language Arts and we really appreciated it! We also received donations of computers and 3 ring binders, which were shared with the other centers. We would like to thank the Scranton center for donating chairs to the AEP!  On August 27^th, we had a client picnic at Promised Land State Park and had a great time! The boys caught some crayfish and the girls caught some rays!  Three of our clients also recently spent a day helping the organizers of the Hawley Senior Picnic at the Hawley Park. They helped serve the seniors meals and brought them drinks or whatever else they needed. 

PATH - Milton: Our Alternative Education Program (AEP) is back in full swing as we welcomed students back on August 24th!  The AEP staff have been busy orienting the students with expectations and guidelines.  The students had been busy completing assessment tests, but are now fully involved in the lesson plans designed by their teachers.  The Milton AEP would like to welcome a new Teacher, Curtiz Munoz, to the PATH family!  The Day Treatment Programs been busy with their clients since the school year has begun.  The start of classes presents clients and staff with a whole new set of challenges to overcome each day.  Our center would like to recognize Roger Zettlemoyer, one of our Community Monitors, who participated in the 9/11 Memorial Ride, a community event sponsored in part by the Blue Nights, a collection of police officers.  The purpose of the ride is to honor all those who lost their lives on 9/11 and their families.  The 9/11 Memorial Ride also commemorates the heroic efforts of all those that participated in the search and rescue operations that followed.  Their sacrifices will not be forgotten.                                                                                                                        

PATH - Scranton: School is back in session!  Our Alternative Education Program (AEP) started on August 31st and we look forward to a great school year!  Bob Mattioli, Dean of Students, reported that almost 30 students started on the first day, with several other new students starting soon after!  The AEP students spent the first week being orientated, taking academic testing, and completing several icebreakers and team building events. The students responded very well to the first week of school, despite having the “summer is over blues.” The Scranton Center AEP Team would also like to welcome Mr. Bill Templeton who will be teaching English, Poetry, and Literature this year!  Mr. Bill has a Masters Degree from Syracuse University, but all of the Penn State fans at the center will go easy on him!  The After School Evening (ASE) clients are working hard in therapeutic groups!  Lately, they have expressed an interest in taking part in life skills groups, such as cooking.  They have taken on the responsibility to plan and prepare the weekly dinner schedule and meals!  All has gone well thus far!  Good job to the clients, and staff!  Over the last month, the clients have really shared some very sensitive information about themselves through Relational CBT groups.  We are happy to see these groups helping to build trust between the clients and within the PATH community!  Keep up the good work!

PATH - South Montrose: School is back in session!  Our Alternative Education Program (AEP) Teachers and Aides returned for a week of training on August 19th and were ready to get started when the students arrived back on the 26th!  Both our students and staff are excited about the addition of a fourth classroom this school year and are adjusting well to a new schedule with more specialized classes.  The AEP also added two new groups to the weekly schedule, including regular sessions of Cognitive-Behavioral therapy and stress management.  Our Day Treatment Supervisor, Daniel Beesley, has been working very hard to do weekly Relationship-based CBT groups that are fresh and interesting and has truly gotten the clients invested in them!  Great job Dan!  We would also like to congratulate our Drug & Alcohol Counselor, Mary Alice Coyle Brearey, who was married on August 22nd and also our Clinical Supervisor, Tiffany Benedict, who is expecting a new addition to her family in February!

PATH - State College: Our staff are continuing to work hard to provide the Centre County Region with the best services possible!  We are focusing on the Path of Life model and working cooperatively with our clients’ families using PATH’S normative system.  We just finished up a great summer full of exciting activities and experiences that many of our clients may not otherwise have had the opportunity to take part in!  In addition to the many therapeutic groups, family sessions and individual counseling that took place, the clients were given the opportunity to experience much of the culture that Central PA has to offer!  They visited the Hyner Mountains for a day of hiking, swimming, a history lesson, and a visit to the famous Hyner View!  The clients also met with the State College Spikes for the second time this summer, went to Strawberry Square for some hands-on science lessons, and spent a day at the Grange Fair!  Our clients also made at least one trip per week into the community to complete pre-arranged community service projects. We intended these service projects and trips to be educational and also encourage social growth, community spirit, and regional pride!  We would also like to wish Jessica Montrella the very best and thank her for her hard work and guidance! 

PATH - Williamsport: Summer's coming to end, but the spirits of the Williamsport PATH clients continue to soar!  The clients enjoyed an end of the summer party hosted by the Williamsport Day Treatment staff.  They had homemade food and enjoyed playing team work games all day!  The clients worked hard on making the center look presentable for school to begin by shampooing the carpets and cleaning the entire building. Our Alternative Education Program (AEP) would like to welcome Melissa Metzger and Anthony Grandinetti, our new English and Social Studies Teachers! We're off to a good start this year with 35 students and are expecting a great year ahead!  The caseworkers continue to work diligently on their files and have been learning many new things at the trainings conducted at the corporate office. The Day Treatment staff look forward to attending the CBHNP's provider fair which will be held at the end of September. We would like to recognize Shannon Tagliaferri, Day Treatment Supervisor, and Jeremy Sennett, Case worker, as they excelled in their classes for their Master's Degree's and received A's for the last quarter's classes! Rebecca Poust, Community Monitor, will also be starting classes to obtain her Bachelor's Degree!  We would like to congratulate Outreach Coordinator Todd Puderbaugh and his wife on the birth of their son!  

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

Marisa Anderson-Riolo, Clinical Supervisor

Marisa Anderson - Riolo, the Clinical Supervisor at our Lehighton Center, is married to Phil Riolo.  Marisa and Phil do not have any children, however they have been taking care of their grandfather for the past four years and have also had their nephew living with them for the past two years. Marisa says her children are her two schnoodles, named Hugs & Kisses!

Marisa graduated from Coastal Carolina University in 2002 with a Bachelor’s degree in Sociology.  She then began working as a therapist for Resolve Community Counseling Center and then also as a Coordinator for the Adolescent Intensive Outpatient Program at Summit Oakes Hospital in New Jersey.  In 2004, she went on to earn her Master’s degree in Social Work from Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, with a concentration in direct practice. Marisa then moved to Pennsylvania in 2005 and was hired as a Drug & Alcohol Counselor for PATH’s Lehighton center.  She also began working as therapist part time at Behavioral Health Associates.  In 2006, Marisa left PATH and became a Behavioral Specialist at The Program for Women & Families, contracted through the Parkland School District.  Marisa continued working in this position until 2008 when she returned to PATH as Lehighton’s Clinical Supervisor.

Marisa is a member of the National Association of Social Workers (NASW) in both New Jersey and Pennsylvania.  She is also continuously taking education courses to fulfill licensure requirements and to stay knowledgeable on the most up to date interventions.  In her free time, Marisa enjoys cooking and baking, as well as traveling - especially outside of the country! She also loves to sunbath with her husband Phil whenever its sunny and warm enough out!

Marisa’s thoughts on PATH’s mission and purpose: “Being a licensed Social Worker, I truly believe in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and the Path of Life model.  Most of the adolescents and families we work with don’t have the support needed to guide them through the trials and tribulations that life brings us.  As mental health professionals, we are given the gift to guide our clients through this model, instilling a lifelong challenge and healing process to our clients’ minds and hearts.”

EMPLOYEE OF THE MONTH….

The following staff were also nominated for Employee of the Month for September:

• Gary O’Neal, Dean of Students, Bloomsburg

• Renee Dunbar, Secretary, Lehighton

• James Shoemaker, D&A Counselor, East Stroudsburg  

• Tiffany Benedict, Clinical Supervisor, South Montrose

We thank these staff for their dedication to our Agency!  

Welcome to our family...

Billy Templeton, Teacher, Scranton

Curtiz Munoz, Teacher, Milton

Melissa Metzger, Teacher, Williamsport

Anthony Grandinetti, Teacher, Williamsport

….And Welcome Back to Heather Heiny, Teacher, Williamsport

Starting in October 2009 till September of 2010, all of the PATH centers will be participating in the Box Tops for Education program.  Every Box top that is submitted earns $0.10 towards our fund to purchase equipment, supplies, and other necessities for our Alternative Education Programs.  These Box Tops are on most of the products you have at your home.  A list of all the participating products that have Box Tops on them is available at www.boxtops4education.com. We have received a donation from Secretary, Bonnie Stoltz at the Corporate Office of an IPod as the grand prize to the center that collects the most!  Everyone is welcomed to drop off their donations of Box Tops to their local PATH center to help us reach our

goals.  Every Box top counts...just like every child we serve counts!

October 12, 2009 - Dean’s Meeting - P. Charney

October 14, 2009 - Treating Juvenile Sex Offenders - J. Sharpe & D. Evans  PCB

October 15, 2009 - Manager’s Meeting - J. Keen

October 28, 2009 - Co-Occurring Disorders - D. Scott PCB

Interested in receiving daily reminders, sports scores, weather forecasts, or even daily jokes on your cell phone?  Check out this awesome service by going to the PATH website at www.pathtochange.org and clicking on the post it mobile logo under the news section!