PATRICK SLATTERY - KIDSPEACE - SEPTEMBER 1, 2016
Patrick Slattery, Vice President at KidsPeace was the speaker at the September 1, 2016 meeting of Emmaus Rotary Club. Patrick has been with KidsPeace for 25 years. In his first eight years, he worked in the Residential Treatment program. For the last 17 years, he has worked in the Client Services Department where he marketed KidsPeace programs to various stakeholders before rising to his current position as Executive Director of Business Development.
KidsPeace was founded in 1882 and operates more than sixty programs in eight states. The mission of KidsPeace is: “To bring hope, help and healing to children, families and communities by meeting their evolving needs for mental and behavioral health services.” Over the years, KidsPeace has served over 230,000 individuals, including nearly 12,000 in 2015.
The need for KidsPeace services is great – and growing. One in five children in the USA has or is at risk of developing a diagnosed mental illness. And, one in seventeen adults experience serious mental illness in any given year. However, 60% of these adults and nearly half of the children do not receive any mental health services.
At its Orefield, PA campus, KidsPeace operates a 120-bed psychiatric hospital and a 322-bed residential treatment program. The hospital stays average two weeks and the residential program stays range from one to twelve months. KidsPeace also offers community-based treatment programs where the clients live at home, but visit one of the KidsPeace locations for individual, group and family therapy programs, as well as a variety of psychological treatment and medication management programs.
KidsPeace also operates the TeenCentral.net and ParentCentral.Net websites which provide online counseling and support to kids and parents.