The Lycoming-Clinton Joinder Board’s executive committee approved three HealthChoices reinvestment agreements at their recent meeting held at Lock Haven.
Two were with Hempfield Behavioral Health, a provider of evidence-based behavioral health prevention and treatment services. The first agreement is for $50,000 in reinvestment funds for behavioral health workforce development. This agreement runs from Aug. 1 through Dec. 31, 2026. The second is for $150,000 in reinvestment funds for a multisystemic therapy start-up program, for Aug. 2 through Dec. 31, 2025.
The third agreement was with BLaST IU 17 in the amount of $58,201 through the end of this year. It is for a dual diagnosis children’s enhanced part hospitalization program.
Dual diagnosis, in this program, refers to children who have mental health and intellectual disabilities.
“BLaST was interested in developing an enhanced model to work specifically with that population,” said Keith Wagner, the Joinder’s executive director.
“The reinvestment funds were allocated for them to find a location, get it organized and to begin to recruit staff,” Wagner added.
The board approved a professional services agreement with Rick’s Cleaning to provide janitorial services for the Lock Haven Office at 8 North Grove Street for fiscal year 2024-25. The rate is $175 per week for the service.
A new contract with Travis Groover, for document scanning and electronic document creation was approved under intellectual disability services. The rate was set at $15.10 per hour not to exceed $13,529. The contract runs until the end of the year.
“We had begun the process earlier this year with a different gentleman to scan our paper files and create the electronic file,” Wagner said, adding that the other contract ended and the person doing it was unable to continue, which prompted the board to hire Groover to finish the process.
Two contracts, which generate revenue for the Joinder, were approved. Jersey Shore Area and Keystone Central school districts will be paying the Joinder to provide caseworkers in the districts.
Jersey Shore has one caseworker at a cost of $15,000 and Keystone Central has two for a cost of $30,000.
The caseworkers are on the Student Assistance Program (SAP) team and act as a mental health liaison between the school and the community to make sure that the school is able to connect the student with the appropriate services, Wagner said.
“Williamsport has three and several of the other school districts, because they’ve received some mental health funding, have begun to ask for additional staff. Because of the cost of that and because of the size of it, we’ve asked them to pay an increased amount so you’ll see that in later contracts with those smaller districts that have asked that,” he said.
When asked if the Joinder has seen an increase in need in districts like Keystone Central, Wagner replied, “Yes, although a lot of the need is related to behavioral things that aren’t necessarily mental health related.”
“Trying to help the districts navigate that tends to be the thing that we’re seeing more of. HealthChoices especially is trying to work on what kinds of school-based services can we have so that the district’s not having to send the kids out of the district but they’re also not involving the juvenile justice system quite as much and finding alternative ways to address that,” he said.
He noted that every area school district will have at least one caseworker this year.
The next meeting of the Lycoming-Clinton Joinder Board Executive Committee will be at 9 a.m., Sept. 18 on the 4th floor of Third Street Plaza, 33 W. Third St.