Mental health clinic opening in Greene Co.
The Intermediate Unit 1 is opening a new outpatient mental health clinic, at 300 North St., Franklin Township, to provide mental health services to children, teens and families.
The Intermediate Unit 1 is opening a at 300 North St., Franklin Township, to provide mental health services to children, teens and families.
An interior view of Intermediate Unit 1’s new outpatient mental health clinic in Franklin Township.
WAYNESBURG – In the past two years, the number of Greene County children being placed in inpatient treatment centers for mental health issues increased by more than 200 percent, according to Greene County Human Services Administrator Karen Bennett.
A new outpatient mental health facility expected to open soon in Franklin Township specifically designed to treat children is a way Bennett and other experts hope will help the community.
The Intermediate Unit 1 is preparing to open the facility at 300 North St. near Waynesburg that will provide mental health services to children, teens and families. An open house is scheduled from 12:30 to 3:30 p.m. Thursday for community members and school districts to tour the new clinic and learn about services.
“We’re very excited to have that level of care,” Bennett said.
Bennett said local experts “have no idea why” there’s been such a sharp increase in the number of children being placed in treatment centers in recent years.
“We’re trying to figure that out,” she said. “We have 5-, 7-, 8-year-olds going into inpatient centers.”
Bennett said she hopes the new outpatient center will reach children before and after inpatient treatment to help them make a seamless transition from inpatient programs back into the community.
“I have very high hopes that having this facility here, with kids and adolescents we will have early intervention,” she said. “We’re trying to intervene and get medication or therapy before a kid goes to inpatient.”
The center will be available to children ages 3 and up and will not cost Greene County residents. Bennett said patients will get services through private insurance, medical assistance or through county funding.
The center will be run by Dr. Geith Shahoud, a child psychiatrist with Western Pennsylvania Behavioral Health Resources. Shahoud will be joined by three therapists who will work with him.
“It’s very difficult for rural counties to get child psychiatrists,” Bennett said.
Bennett said plans to open a mental health center for children began last year.
IU1 Executive Director Charles Mahoney said the organization “recognized” the need for services.
“Working closely with county administrators, certified youth and adolescent psychiatrists, and the community, IU1 made plans to establish the Outpatient Mental Health Clinic,” he said.
The IU1 is anticipating service for more than 100 children within its first year of operations, before expanding into the school districts.
Appointments can be made at 724-938-7043 ext. 686.