BELLEFONTE — In response to the recent closure of Universal Community Behavioral Health’s outpatient clinic at the Match Factory, CenClear is planning to open a mental health clinic in the Bellefonte area in the upcoming month.
Located at 3208 Benner Pike, about a mile from Talleyrand Park, the new office will provide psychiatric and outpatient mental health services. When UCBH closed earlier this month, it is estimated that around 1,400 people lost their services, said Denise Moore, CenClear Mental Health and Drug and Alcohol director, leaving many scrambling to find a provider in the area. Two prescribers who worked at the UCBH are now working out of CenClear’s office in Port Matilda and will make the transition to the Bellefonte office once it is opened.
“We found that with UCBH closing there were quite a few people in the community who were without services, so by opening this office, we hope to be able to bring those services,’ Moore said. ‘We do have the doctors from UCBH now with us, so we hope for this to be a smooth transition for the people. Of course, they have provider choice that they could go anywhere they wanted, but if they do choose to come with CenClear, they can have a smooth transition.”
“We recognized that it was important to have services in Bellefonte. We understand that a lot of individuals walked to the clinic that UCBH had, so that is really where we made that commitment to have an office in Bellefonte to maintain something in the community where it is easy to access,” said Lori Yarger, mental health outpatient director at CenClear . “I know that some of the folks are driving from places like Lock Haven, so having a new location was difficult. And, of course having a psychiatric provider that could accept that many individuals wanting those services would be really hard to do.”
So that is where CenClear plans to step in and provide the vital and needed service. Yarger said UCBH has helpful in the transition for patients and the fact that the two providers are remaining to serve clients in the area should be a benefit to patients who have already built relationships with their doctors.
“I can’t tell you how fortunate we are to pick up the same prescribers so we could offer that continuum of care for anyone who wanted to seek those services at CenClear,” said Yarger. “In the meantime, in order to help prevent a lapse of care, we went ahead and started offering those services now in Matternville (office in Port Matilda), with the plan to transition to Bellefonte.”
Like UCBH, CenClear will also be providing outpatient therapy with plans to increase services for people who need it.
“We hope to be able to increase the outpatient services to the community, as far as outpatient therapy goes,” said Moore. “And at some point, once we are in the Bellefonte office, we will also be providing a decision support center at that site, which was also provided at the old place.”
Headquartered in Bigler, Clearfield County, CenClear provides early childhood, preschool, mental health and drug and alcohol services to children, teens, adults and families from locations in Blair, Cambria, Cameron, Clarion, Clearfield, Centre, Elk, Huntingdon, Jefferson and Mifflin counties as well as some select programs in adjoining counties.
