Half a century of mental health care

Fifty years ago, some teenagers in Mount Lebanon engaged in unhealthy activities in community parks and near schools.

The Mount Lebanon Police Department and Community Relations Council took action, and from that grassroots movement, Outreach Teen & Family Services was created with a grant from the Pennsylvania State Law Enforcement Assistance Administration.

“There were issues with kids doing things they shouldn’t be doing in the parks and uptown,” said Mary Birks, executive director of Outreach Teen & Family Services. “We had a really great police chief who was concerned with helping people. It was actually a response to the problems with truancy.”

In 1981, the organization was incorporated as a nonprofit called Outreach South, later changing to Outreach Teen & Family Services.

Today, the community-based mental health counseling agency is still active, serving teens and families in Allegheny and Washington counties.

The anniversary will be celebrated on April 26 during the “Connections Gala in Wonderland” at the Renaissance Pittsburgh. Tickets are available on the agency’s website, outreachteen.org, for $150.

Birks, who is in her 10th year as executive director, said this year’s Community Champion Award will be presented to the Mount Lebanon Police Department in recognition of the department’s efforts in establishing the agency.

“We still maintain a very strong relationship with law enforcement,” Birks said. “We are really both focused on the health and well-being of our community and our children.”

The organization’s headquarters are located in Mount Lebanon on Washington Road and has a satellite office in Bethel Park.

“We work with children in 30 unique zip codes throughout the South Hills of Pittsburgh and into Washington County,” Birks said. We work with children from 5 to 21 years old and their families and their parents. We are, so to speak, the first line of defense when parents do not know what is going on with their children. We are here to work with children who may have varying levels of anxiety, depression, stress, peer problems, school problems, family problems and adjustment issues. We try to help as many children as possible.”

The agency has eight advisors, each with a different personality, so an effort is made to match advisors with clients for a good match. Advisor Kylie Tautkus-Malobisky is a member of Chartiers-Houston Middle School.

Outreach Teen & Family Services also offers community-based education programs. Maggie Zangara, the agency’s program manager, works with local school districts, libraries and the community at large to gauge which programs are helping children cope with the various issues they face.

“Because we’re community-based, we can be quite responsive and we’re quite flexible,” Birks said. “We don’t have the bureaucratic structure that many other agencies might have. If one of our stakeholders comes to us and sees children struggling with a particular issue, we can put our heads together and come up with something to address the need quite quickly.”

The amount of time a child spends with a counselor varies. Most clients receive 10 sessions.

“We have children who stay with us for a number of months, sometimes more than a year,” Birks explains. “Sometimes our kids go to college and come back for what they call a check-in. They have a conversation with a counselor to see how they are doing.”

Birks said she has a personal connection with the agency.

“Two of my older siblings used to be customers here,” she says. “They shared their experiences and how helpful it was to them and how special this organization is to them to this day.”

Outreach Teen & Family Services, a HIPPA-compliant agency, is partially funded by the city, allowing the agency to offer Mount Lebanon clients their first two sessions for free and sessions three through 10 at a discount.

“Nobody is paying more than $50 to come to a professional counselor right now,” Birks said. “No one is ever turned away, even if they can’t pay.”

Those who may feel the need to utilize the agency’s services can do so through the outreachteen.org website or by calling 412-561-5405.

“It is a real privilege to be part of this team,” said Birks. “They are such wonderful people. They do a great job with this kid every day