NORWICH – Chenango County Mental Hygiene Services Director Mary Ann Spryn received her standing committee’s support on Tuesday to add four new clinicians to her department’s staff next year. The measure is on the Personnel Committee’s agenda today.
Spryn has requested three social workers and one clerical staff to spearhead a program that would identify school-aged youths in the county who are in need of mental health services. Her plans have already come under fire from Finance Committee supervisors on two occasions, though the department’s projected 2007 budget has yet to be presented to them.
The program, Child and Family Clinic Plus, would be paid for with nearly $220,000 in state funds. Conservative estimates project it could carry an initial local share cost of $10,000. Spyrn’s calculations, however, indicate it could net $72,000 in revenue over expenses after the first full year of caseloads.
Finance Committee members challenged the program’s identification component and questioned whether it would be a duplication of counseling efforts already existing in school districts.
Supervisor Richard Schlag, D-German, sits on the Finance and Health and Human Services Committee. He told the latter group on Tuesday that he researched the number of individuals on staff within the counseling offices in the Oxford and Cincinnatus schools. His findings indicated that the Child and Family Clinic Plus program would not be a duplication of efforts.
Both districts had a guidance counselor who mainly handled scheduling, a staff psychiatrist who did testing only, an Individual Education Program counselor who worked with special education students and a fourth person from the county’s Alcohol and Drug and/or Mental Health programs who is available periodically to augment staff. Except for a counselor in the primary school in Oxford that helps individual students and groups with anger management and self control issues, all the others deal with in-school issues only, Schlag said.
“They all said what they do pertains to helping kids deal with issues at school. They refer kids to outside counselors for family or other situations they might need help with, and often find a waiting list for them to get in,” Schlag said. “In my mind, I’m now convinced that we need to augment them with our staff.”
Spryn agreed that there might be up to a 4-week waiting period for students to be seen in the Mental Health Clinic. The new counselors would offer additional services to existing youth cases as well as target middle school aged students who are not being served.
In other departmental news, lawmakers agreed to contract again in 2007 with Rehabilitation Support Services, Inc. of Guilderland to continue administrating the Serendipity program. Serendipity is one step in a three-step, vocationally-geared system that offers assisted, job training to individuals receiving mental health services and alcohol and drug treatment. The contract is for $957,000 and includes a 12 percent personnel administration fee.
Also, the committee approved a contract with Catholic Charities of Chenango County for $75,500. Mental Hygiene serves as the pass through agency for the not-for-profit’s housing program and charges a 9 percent administration fee.
The committee went into a 5 minute executive session to discuss an issue with the landlord for the alcohol and drug program building on East River Road in the Town of Norwich.