McAuley Ministries, the grant-making foundation of Pittsburgh Mercy, has awarded over $2.8 million in grants to 14 local nonprofit organizations and appointed Sister Barbara Anne Quinn, RSM to its Board of Directors. These grants support education, empowerment, essential needs & social services, and peacemaking initiatives in Pittsburgh’s Hill District, Uptown, and West Oakland neighborhoods.
View full release here.
The Pennsylvania Department of Drug and Alcohol Programs (DDAP) and the Department of Human Services (DHS) launched a new initiative designed to reduce administrative burden for substance use disorder (SUD) and mental health treatment providers that are licensed by both agencies.
Specifically, licensing staff from both DDAP and DHS will begin conducting coordinated annual inspections of SUD and mental health treatment facilities that are licensed by both agencies for outpatient, partial hospitalization, and residential services. The new initiative, which is voluntary, could impact up to 170 jointly licensed facilities that provide SUD and mental health services.
DDAP and DHS launched the new initiative today, July 14, by holding a webinar for impacted providers on the new inspection process, including how to pre-submit information. In addition, the agencies plan to survey providers to receive feedback on the new process that will allow for any necessary modifications to be made to the joint inspection process.
“On behalf of our behavioral health provider members across the Commonwealth, I want to thank DDAP and DHS for their hard work on this initiative. Reducing administrative burden has been and remains a top priority for RCPA, and we are grateful that the Shapiro Administration has responded, not only with this joint licensing inspection process, but with the other work it is currently doing to address provider burdens, including its work to reform regulations,” said Jason Snyder, Substance Use Disorder Treatment Services Director of Rehabilitation & Community Providers Association. “We look forward to continuing to collaborate with both departments in the future on additional ways to enable providers to put even more of their focus on patient care.”
From Risk to Reward: Strengthening Your Hiring Process
Free RCPA Members-Only Webinar
Wednesday, August 13, 2025
1:00 pm – 2:00 pm
Register Here
In this session, we will review how introducing value-based tools early in the hiring process has shown to reduce an employer’s risk for turnover, safety incidents, counterproductive employee behavior, and workers compensation claims. We will review recent case studies showing the measurable impact of this process.
Presenter: Mark Walker, MBA, Managing Partner, Safer Hire LLC
Objectives: Following this course, the learner will:
Certificates of attendance are available to RCPA members who attend this webinar; anyone interested in a certificate should contact Cathy Barrick. To apply for CEs, you will need to register for the RCPA Annual Conference Strive to Thrive and indicate you attended the webinar in your CE packet, which will be made available on the mobile app.
Contact Carol Ferenz, Conference Coordinator, for details, or visit the RCPA Conference website for information on workshops, sponsors, exhibitors, and more!
At this year’s Pennsylvania Psychological Association Award ceremony, the founder and CEO of RCPA member Network for Behavior Change Steve Kossor, MA, received the Distinguished Contributions to the Science and Practice of Psychology Award. This prestigious award recognizes the important work and contributions Kossor has made in nearly 40 years of service. Kossor is not only a licensed psychologist and certified school psychologist in Pennsylvania, but he is also a critical member of the RCPA IBHS Steering Committee. His guidance and partnership have helped shape our strategies for ensuring the treatment of children with mental illnesses and behavioral disorders.
Kossor has authored several research studies as well as developed and authored The Kossor Scale for Treatment Outcome Measurement. Please join us at RCPA in congratulating him on his award and career achievements.
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