Youth mental health program planned for the Falls

April 09--A children's mental health service provider is considering launching new operations in the city of Niagara Falls.

James Coder, the CEO of Chauauqua County's New Directions Youth and Family Services, Inc. confirmed his organization's interest in the Cataract City Friday during a telephone call with the Niagara Gazette.

Coder said the agency has submitted an application to the state Office of Mental Health for an Article 31 clinic in Niagara Falls. An approval would authorize the agency to offer outpatient mental and behavioral health counseling and non-residential psychiatric evaluation for youth.

The application time is "variable," Coder said, but he said he expects a response in the coming months. Coder said the decision came after dialogue with the Niagara County Health Department and understanding the existing service structure in the region.

"There is great need in Niagara County and we're hoping to satisfy that need," Coder said. He suggested that preventative care providers can help pushback against recidivism adding, "Effective treatment can prevent further penetration into the system."

New Directions also offers services in Erie County and the Southern Tier. In Niagara County, its existing facilities include a 47-bed facility in Lockport that provides residential services at the agency's Wyndham Lawn campus, 6395 Old Niagara Road.

Coder said his organization has not signed a lease agreement with any building owners in Niagara Falls but has reviewed a number of sites.

"We want to be in the center city, certainly in the place that is accessible by public transportation," Coder said.

The "dearth" of children's health services is not new, according to a 2013 report prepared by the John R. Oishei Foundation and the University at Buffalo Regional Institute. At that time, researchers identified "no psychiatrists in Niagara Falls, and only one licensed provider."

The result, the report found, were "large caseloads" with providers "taking only the more urgent cases." In general, the regional institute described mental health services are "more reactive than preventive, catching those in need at crisis points ... with little follow through afterwards."

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