Operators chosen for two new mental health crisis and stabilization centers in Luzerne County | Dallas Post

Operators and locations have been selected for two mental health crisis and stabilization centers in Luzerne County, county Mental Health/Developmental Services Administrator Tara Fox said Monday.

Walk-in crisis centers provide continuous observation and supervision when in-patient services are not required for those in distress, Fox said.

Fox said Pennsylvania is moving toward a new model of addressing mental health crises through walk-in and mobile services instead of hospital emergency rooms.

“Maybe we can avoid in-patient stays and deescalate and better connect those in distress — and their families — with resources in their communities,” Fox said.

In Wilkes-Barre, the Family Service Association of Northeastern Pennsylvania will operate a center in its property at 31 W. Market St., which is located in the block between River and North Franklin streets, Fox said.

The second crisis center will be in Hazleton and operated by Northeast Counseling Services in its property at 750 E. Broad St. near the Lehigh Valley Hospital.

Wilkes-Barre center

A total $4.035 million in Managed Care Reinvestment Funds have been earmarked for the new Wilkes-Barre center through the nonprofit Northeast Behavioral Health Care Consortium.

The funds come from some of the savings realized when Luzerne, Lackawanna, Susquehanna and Wyoming counties teamed up to create the consortium in 2006 to jointly manage their mental health and drug treatment funding for low-income residents on medical assistance. The state had agreed some of the savings amassed through efficiencies could be used for new services.

When no entities responded to the consortium’s request for proposals to operate the crisis center, county officials worked with existing service providers to sell them on the idea and work through concerns about financing and securing staff in this challenging labor market, Fox has said.

The Family Service Association stepped up and agreed to take on the project. It is working with engineers to adapt a portion of its building for the crisis center.

Fox estimated it will take a year or so to complete construction, licensing and other steps required to open the new Wilkes-Barre center.

She and others involved in the project recently visited a crisis center in Pittsburgh for ideas on how the ones here should be structured, and a tour of another center in Philadelphia also may be scheduled, she said.

“It’s very exciting,” Fox said.

Established in 1895, the nonprofit Family Service Association provides a range of counseling and support and intervention services.

Hazleton center

County Council voted last March to earmark $800,000 in federal American Rescue Plan funds to set up a second site for southern county residents so they would not have issues accessing crisis center services due to the travel distance, Fox said.

American Rescue funds will only be used for the chosen provider’s “bricks and mortar” expenses. Actual services will be contracted separately and covered by private insurance, Medicare, managed care and possibly human services block grant funding, Fox has said.

Also a nonprofit, Northeast Counseling was incorporated in 1971 to provide mental health services to the general public.

The nonprofit is currently seeking requests from architectural/engineering firms interested in handling the contract.

Northeast Counseling is looking to renovate a full or partial existing floor to house the crisis center, or approximately 12,000 square feet of space, its request said.

The solicitation provides insight on the change:

“This is a major departure from the historical approach, which is to deliver the service in the hospital emergency room. The Crisis Stabilization Service is focused on the community and will maintain 16 comfortable chairs rather than beds and hold clients for a maximum 23 hours,” it said.