NextGen Counseling<\/a> is an outpatient center dedicated to helping teens and adolescents navigate behavioral health challenges, including substance use and related underlying concerns, with a focus on prevention and early intervention.<\/p>\nFounder Jonathon Wasp explained who the center serves.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re a behavioral health provider for teens and adolescents. We do addiction treatment services, substance use disorders, substance use, problem gaming, problem gambling, and co-occurring mental health, if it’s related to an individual who has a primary diagnosis with addiction,\u201d said Wasp.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo, this facility is new. We received our license on October 1st of this year. I have been working in the space for two and a half decades in behavioral health services across the country,\u201d said Wasp.<\/p>\n
While NextGen Counseling focuses on youth, Wasp said challenges often begin within the family. He added that whether teens have strong family support or not, they can still access services on their own.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe want to make this available to people. Because I know in my own experience, having provided services to other folks and to adults in particular, I know that there are many adults who have substance use disorders or gambling addiction problems that started early, that they had early onset of use. And so, helping earlier, I think helps solve that problem,\u201d said Wasp.<\/p>\n
\u201cFamily is the number one support mechanism when it comes to kids. But the reality of it is there are some kids who don’t have strong support systems, or for some, their substance use may have even started with a family member or because of a family member. I mean, that happens too, right? So, we want to engage families when it’s appropriate and healthy. If for some reason, a kid who’s 14 years of age or older presents for treatment without family support, they don’t need it in Pennsylvania. They can come into care on their own and begin the process of getting services, and we can help them identify if we can get family members involved and how they can be a support,\u201d said Wasp.<\/p>\n
Emphasizing the importance of giving children a place where they feel heard, Dr. Mark Albert, MD explained what drew him to partner with NextGen Counseling and the growing need for youth mental health support.<\/p>\n
\u201cI understood there was a significant need for adolescent and teen help here. There was a big void that was out there and kids weren’t really able to go anywhere. I mean, there were places they can go, but it wasn’t specifically designed for children or teens,\u201d said Albert.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe want the teens to feel safe and just ask for help. I mean it’s hard for a lot of kids. They feel maybe they’re not heard in their family and they’re not used to being heard. So, they have to come somewhere they’re heard. And get them going. There’s a lot of kids out there who need help, whether it’s addiction or gambling or vaping or whatever, and there’s a lot of kids out there, so we just hope they come in so we can help them,\u201d said Albert.<\/p>\n
Wasp outlined the range of programs at NextGen Counseling, noting services are tailored to each patient\u2019s comfort level. He added that virtual sessions are also available for those unable to attend in person.<\/p>\n
\u201cTypically, in an outpatient program individuals will come in. They’ll either be screened or assessed. And then we’ll make a determination as to what the appropriate service provision is for them. For some, it will be individual counseling services. For some, it’ll be group counseling services. For some will be a combination of both. At this level of care for outpatient addiction treatment, they’re typically getting nine hours or less of service in a week.<\/p>\n
\u201cSome kids may come here for one individual and one group session a week. Or they may be doing more groups or more individual sessions, depending on their comfort level,\u201d said Wasp.<\/p>\n
Wasp said recovery goes beyond the walls of a treatment center.<\/p>\n
\u201cRecovery isn’t just something that lives in an outpatient treatment program. It’s something that happens out in the community, too. And so, to the extent that we can engage other partners and providers who have an interest in serving this population, we’d love to have that conversation,\u201d said Wasp.<\/p>\n
NextGen Counseling<\/a> also offers drug testing as a clinical tool, providing clear data to help better understand and guide care. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"DICKSON CITY, LACKAWANNA CO. (WOLF) \u2014 Walking through its colorful, welcoming space, a new resource for young people…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":125606,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[178,180,179],"class_list":["post-125605","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-scranton","tag-scranton","tag-scranton-headlines","tag-scranton-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/125605","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=125605"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/125605\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/125606"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=125605"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=125605"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=125605"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}