Oct 1, 2020 4 min read

Wesley Family Services, a nonprofit wellness provider, will be discontinuing drug and alcohol programming, including the services provided through its Washington office in Millcraft Center.

The nonprofit serves about 400 clients of drug and alcohol and mental health programming, which they plan to stop providing by the end of the year. The company also discontinued drug and alcohol services in Armstrong County about two months ago.

“Our mission is to empower children, adults and families by providing transformational care,” Wesley Spectrum’s CEO Doug Muetzel said in a recent interview. “So, we are constantly evaluating those services we provide.”

The company provides between 50 and 60 different types of programs for families across the Pittsburgh region. Drug and alcohol outpatient services were a part of those programs until the recent decision, which the board of directors made, Muetzel said, after years of not breaking even financially with that program.

“We are not funded at the full cost of care,” he said.

Muetzel said that in the last six years, his company has spent “over $3 million in free care” in Washington County. That’s mainly due to the reimbursements they receive for care not equaling the cost of care provided, he said.

The Wesley office in Washington won’t be closed, however, as some of their other programs will remain there, including autism services, family-based mental health services, behavioral health services and a foster grandparent program.

“We’ve been committed to the Washington community for a long time,” Muetzel said. “We take it very, very seriously.”

The approximate 10 employees who worked in their drug and alcohol program, Muetzel said, will likely be moved elsewhere in the company or offered severance.

“Our first goal is to really keep those folks engaged in the organization,” Muetzel said.

As for their drug and alcohol clients, Muetzel said the company is working with several partners in the county to ensure those people are successfully transitioned to other providers. He said each person will have an individualized plan.

“The organization has an individual transition plan for each client, and their therapists and clinicians are working directly with these clients on a one-on-one basis to facilitate and coordinate the transition of their treatment and services to another local provider,” Muetzel said in a statement Wednesday.

One of those partners, with which Wesley has worked closely over the years, is the Washington County Drug and Alcohol Commission. Executive Director Cheryl Andrews said the commission also is working hard to ensure that all of Wesley’s drug and alcohol clients find another provider for outpatient services.

“It is very unfortunate that they’re leaving,” she said of Wesley Spectrum. “We’re all aware of the individuals affected, and we’ve opened up our door and our arms to say, ‘We’re going to help you any way we can.'”

One concern that Andrews has is that transitioning to another provider can feel a little like starting over to a client. The process can seem daunting, she said, and present as an opportunity to stop treatment altogether. To try to mitigate any clients “falling through the cracks,” Andrews said the commission is trying to contact them to “make sure they’re still going to their meetings and that they have a sponsor and someone they can call.”

The commission was involved with about 113 clients of Wesley’s drug and alcohol program, Andrews said. When they heard news of the closure of the program, they immediately started trying to find other options for those clients, she said.

“They’re not going to discontinue services until all of the individuals are accounted for,” Andrews said. “They’re not just going to drop them. They’re going to make sure they’re continuing service until they can be transferred.”

Muetzel said one consideration in the decision was that the other local providers offer a wider variety of care, like inpatient treatment.

“In the drug and alcohol space, those other places have a full continuum of services, where we only have one piece,” he said. “We thought it may be time to let the other providers take these clients.”

Andrews said she’s confident that the network of providers in the Washington area will be enough to meet any surplus of individuals who had used Wesley’s services. Included in those other providers are Southwestern Pennsylvania Human Services’ Care Center, Greenbriar Treatment Center, SPHS Behavioral Health in Charleroi, and Allied Addiction Recovery, Andrews said.

“We’ve begun to look at whether or not this closure will have an impact on our drug and alcohol treatment provider network,” she said. “We’re still looking at the numbers. It’s looking like the current infrastructure can handle the current volume. What we need to keep an eye on is can it sustain?”