For 37 years, New Horizons Mental Health Services has offered assistance to Pickerington residents in need of its services.
And as of September, the agency has been able to offer substantially more assistance.
That’s when its major, six-month expansion project was finished. The new space at the agency’s 437 Hill Rd. N. location – in the strip mall behind Dairy Queen – represents a 40 percent increase in size.
“These are basically three buildings in one,” says Mei Bezon, practice manager.
Staffers cut the ribbon at the opening of New Horizons Mental Health Services’ expanded space in Pickerington.
New Horizons has been in existence since 1971, when the agency’s first location opened in Lancaster. That original location now has two satellites: the one in Pickerington and another one in Lancaster.
The Pickerington location opened in 1979 in the building previously used by Peace United Methodist Church before moving to its current spot.
New Horizons is supported by the United Way of Fairfield County and the Fairfield County Alcohol, Drug Addiction, and Mental Health Board.
At the Pickerington branch, the main services offered are diagnostic assessment, counseling
Waiting area
services, psychiatric care and psychological evaluation.
“We also have crisis intervention, which is basically emergency services,” Bezon says.
Demand for child, adolescent and adult counseling services is only increasing, Bezon says, so the No. 1 priority in increasing the agency’s space was adding more rooms for its counselors and other mental health specialists to practice. There are now seven new psychiatric counseling spaces.
“We have definitely seen an increase in both intakes and counseling services,” Bezon says.
The Pickerington location sees more than 1,000 clients per month now. That new space has enabled it to hire three new therapists – two of them focused on children and adolescents – and offer more hours to existing therapists who were previously limited by capacity.
Visitors to New Horizons noticed the effects of the expansion right away: In addition to the new counseling rooms, the reception area has doubled in size, and the waiting room is bigger, too.
“We also left some space available for future expansion,” says Bezon.
Reception area
Though it gets referrals from a variety of local entities, the vast majority of New Horizons’ clients find their way to its door via word of mouth – being referred by friends who have benefited from its services, or by doctors whose other patients have benefited from its services.
“We have a lot of satisfied clients to tell their doctors, friends and family,” says Bezon.
Representatives also spread the word at health fairs, such as those held at Diley Ridge Medical Center, and work with the Pickerington Area Chamber of Commerce to get the message out.
Psychiatric staffers in Pickerington include Dr. Nathaniel Johns, specializing in children and
Mei Bezon, practice manager
adolescents and also medical director for the New Horizons organization; Dr. Leslie Abromowitz, specializing in children, adolescents and adults; and Dr. Shelley Grey, specializing in adults. That’s on top of 10 licensed therapists – five for children and adolescents, five for adolescents and adults – as well as nurses, nurse practitioners, medical assistants and other office workers.
The agency offers help with depression, anxiety, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, bipolar disorder, developmental disorders, trauma, grief and more. Much of the therapy is self-directed, Bezon says: Clients decide which issues they are comfortable working on, and therapists ask them how they think those issues can best be resolved.
In addition to its litany of in-house services, New Horizons works with a variety of local entities to offer options beyond its walls.
One such program is TeenScreen, a program started by the Lancaster office that operates in partnership with Fairfield County school districts, including Pickerington Local Schools.
Through the program, New Horizons screens teenagers at school to see if they might be at risk of suicidal thoughts, in the process also looking for signs of such disorders as depression and anxiety.
“Suicide prevention is a big target area (for us),” says Bezon.
If such signs turn up, school counselors – after discussing the issue with his or her parents – may refer the student to New Horizons or another mental health agency. Counselors may also refer students who exhibit warning signs outside of the TeenScreen program.
New Horizons also offers an employee assistance program in conjunction with local businesses, though the bulk of that work is done out of the main Lancaster office. The main office also works with students at the Lancaster branch of Ohio University, and offers – sometimes with referrals from Pickerington – case management and home-based therapy services.
Staffers at the agency are driven forward by the success stories they’ve seen among patients who have, through its services, made great strides in improving their personal situations.
“We see people who say to us, ‘Thank you so much, because when we came in here, we felt very little hope,’” says Bezon.
Those looking to set up a visit can arrange it by calling 614-834-1919. The 24-hour crisis intervention line is 740-687-8255.
Garth Bishop is managing editor. Feedback welcome at gbishop@cityscenemediagroup.com.
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