| News
 Mental
Health Association in San Diego County & Alpha Behavioral Health Services Announce Merger
Two of San Diego’s Leading
Non-profits Join Forces as One
San Diego, Dec. 5, 2006 The
Mental Health Association in San Diego County (MHASD), San
Diego’s
leading mental health advocacy organization, announces its
merger with Alpha Behavioral Health Services (AlphaBHS -
Alpha of San Diego, Inc.), a non-profit social services agency
serving San Diego for over 30 years.
The transition process has already begun
and both organizations will be working from one central office
in North Park by January 1, 2007. The programs and services
at both organizations will remain uninterrupted. The combined
organization will operate locally under the non-profit legal
structure of the Mental Health Association in San Diego County. AlphaBHS
will retain the name of Alpha Behavioral Health Services,
a program of the Mental Health Association. The merger is
expected to be complete by June 30, 2007.
“This merger will allow us to combine our strengths
to improve and expand much needed mental health services
in San Diego while eliminating administrative duplication
and cost,” stated Kimberly Miller, Board President
of MHASD. “The team at AlphaBHS has a track record
of success and we feel that together we will be better positioned
to serve the people of San Diego.”
"We are excited to be joining the MHASD family," stated
Sherri Petro, Board President of AlphaBHS. "Alpha’s
programs and services have filled a vital community need
and we will continue to make inroads with the strength and
support of the Mental Health Association.”
 Mental Health Association in San Diego County has designated
Scott Suckow as Chief Executive Officer for MHASD effective
January 1, 2007. Mr. Suckow has a long history of involvement
in the non-profit community, particularly around improving
access and standards of care in the healthcare sector. Over
the course of his career, Suckow has raised millions of dollars
to fund research, patient education and outreach programs. Suckow
has also held leadership roles at the Muscular Dystrophy
Association, American Diabetes Association, American Liver
Foundation, Huntington’s Disease Society of America,
and the United Way. He is on the Steering Committee
of the 2-1-1 San Diego and SD Coalition on Mental Health,
Community Health Improvement Partners (CHIP), Chair of the
Advisory Committee for San Diego’s HIV Funding Collaborative,
Incoming Chair of the local board for FEMA’s Emergency
Food and Shelter Program (EFSP), Vice Chair of the local
board of the California’s Emergency Housing Assistant
Program (EHAP), Chair of the San Diego’s Health and
Human Services HIV Planning Council, member of San Diego
Association of Non-profits (SANDAN) and immediate past President
of San Diego’s National Ovarian Cancer Coalition.
 About Mental Health Association in San Diego County:
Founded in 1942, the Mental Health Association in San Diego
County (MHASD) has served as the leading mental health advocacy
organization in San Diego County. As an affiliate of the
NMHA, the country’s oldest and largest nonprofit mental
health patient advocacy organization, the MHASD works to
ensure available and affordable care to all San Diegans through
advocacy, education, research, and service. The NMHA
has more than 340 affiliates nationwide, For more information,
please call 619-543-0412 or visit their website at www.mhasd.org.
About Alpha Behavioral Health Services (Alpha of
San Diego, Inc.)
Founded in 1971, Alpha Behavioral Health Services (AlphaBHS)
has been dedicated to helping underserved San Diego communities
move toward success by providing guidance, training and supportive
services. Today AlphaBHS operates out of its North
Park Center and provides a wide range of behavioral health
therapy/counseling services and life skills training, in
English and Spanish, serving approximately 700 clients annually. To
learn more about AlphaBHS, please call 619-285-9999.
Alpha
of San Diego Demonstrates Collaboration is Crucial
“Bread of Life” program
serves Mid City Residents
November
2005 - Through a partnership between ASD, the
Church of the Nazarene and Las Patronas more than 550
families will continue to receive support twice weekly
through the “Bread of Life” program. “Today
we met people from the community that come here each
week, kids, moms and dads who know these volunteers well….we
are very proud to be able to support a program that serves
such a need, “ states Las Patronas President, Vicky
Eddy. Las Patronas contributed $27,035 to ASD to purchase
a commercial truck for bread and baked goods collection
from area grocers.
ASD
has provided supportive services including commodity food
distribution and baked goods to the underserved population
of Mid-City for more than twenty-five years. Each person
served by this “Bread of Life” program saves
approximately $15.00 per week in grocery costs. This translates
into $60 worth of free baked goods each month – or
$720 more than a year. With an average family of four living
on just $1,007 a month…this program is necessary
to make ends meet. “ASD has been serving members
of our congregation for years, now our church volunteers
will be able to serve the community each week through this
program, “states Reverend Deron Matson of Church
of the Nazarene. With the closing of ASD’s City Heights
Resource Center, the Church will serve as the new distribution
point and will secure volunteers to continue the program.
Von’s,
Ralph’s, and Albertson’s will continue to provide
products for distribution within the Mid-City area on a
daily basis, a donation worth more than $450,000 yearly.
ASD will continue to act as the custodian of the truck
purchased by Las Patronas for use by collaborative partners
for picking up donated products, provide training for volunteers
related to the collection of goods, automobile insurance
of ASD staff and volunteer drivers and will collaborate
in support of this program to insure its continued success. “We
couldn’t continue this program without our dedicated
volunteers and supportive community organizations, we are
fortunate to have these great partners to rely on to keep
this going,” states Scott Suckow, executive director,
ASD.
Alpha
of San Diego Demonstrates Collaboration is Crucial “Vision
and Hearing Screening” program serves City Heights
Children
 January
2006 – Alpha of San Diego announced its
partnership with La Maestra Community Health Centers
to continue the Vision and Hearing Screening Program
in the City Heights area.
For
over ten years, Alpha of San Diego has provided vision
screening to the central region; working in collaboration
with over 140 private day care centers, preschools, Head
Start Programs, School Districts of San Diego, Chula Vista
and National City to conduct these screenings. ASD has
been a First Five Commission funded agency since their
inception in 1999.
In
2005, ASD’s Board of Directors went through an intensive
planning process that resulted in the decision to streamline
operations and to strategically focus on delivering high-quality
sustainable behavioral health services to low-income, underserved
clients. ASD identified appropriate agencies to transfer
non-counseling services, such as the vision and hearing
screening program.
This
partnership between ASD and La Maestra Community Health
Centers ensure that more than 3,000 children between ages
0-5 will continue to receive vital screenings through the
“Vision and Hearing Screening” program. “Today
we received a donation of screening equipment that will help
us screen children for vision and hearing problems,”
states La Maestra Pediatrician, Dr. Rodriguez. Parents of
many at-risk children may not be aware that they have a visual
or hearing problem. Instead, they may simply believe that
they have a reading or learning problem. This self-perceived
learning problem along with undetected visual or hearing
problems is likely to frustrate many of these children. Unless
children with these undetected visual and hearing problems
are properly diagnosed and treated, their early stages of
development may be adversely affected. “Alpha of San
Diego is proud to transfer ownership of this equipment to
La Maestra, an organization with a track record of helping
children achieve success in life,” states Alpha of
San Diego Executive Director, Scott Suckow.
The
screenings only take about 4 minutes. Children aged six
months to five years are first screened with a Welch Allyn
auto refractor to screen for myopia, Hyperopia, Amblyopia
and astigmatism. Beginning at three years, all children
are screened for strabismus. Also at three years of age,
male children are screened for a red-green color deficiency. |
