North Jersey-based Bridgeway Behavioral Health Services announced Thursday that it has an agreement to become an affiliate of Pennsylvania-based Woods System of Care.
The proposed affiliation has been approved by the organizations’ boards and is subject to approval by New Jersey regulatory agencies. When approved, Woods System of Care (based in Langhorne, Pennsylvania) will employ 6,500 people and serve close to 27,000 individuals.
Woods System of Care has 10 affiliates and joint ventures in Pennsylvania and New Jersey that provide lifetime integrated services for more than 22,000 children and adults with intellectual disabilities, autism and/or mental health challenges who may also have complex medical and genetic conditions. Services include mental and physical health care, education, housing and residential treatment, and workforce development.
Bridgeway, headquartered in Union, serves more than 4,000 people each year in crisis intervention programs and psychiatric screening in 10 counties in northern New Jersey.
Upon approval of the affiliation, Bridgeway will join Woods’ three other New Jersey affiliates — Legacy Treatment Services, Allies Inc., and Archway Programs — in plans to enhance and expand behavioral health services in northern New Jersey, adding to the coverage Legacy provides in central and southern New Jersey.
Through this affiliation, the organizations will be able to serve thousands of additional people. It will allow both organizations to create new programs and expand existing ones. Bridgeway will benefit from the back-office and shared-services capacity of Woods System of Care as well as Woods’ strategic, operational, legal and programmatic guidance. Woods, in turn, will expand its footprint across all of New Jersey, grow its behavioral health and IDD/A programs, and gain expertise from Bridgeway’s staff and leadership.
About Bridgeway
For more than 50 years, Bridgeway Behavioral Health Services has helped New Jerseyans recover from conditions related to mental illness, co-occurring physical health challenges and substance use. Bridgeway delivers whole-person care, including individualized around-the-clock crisis intervention, outpatient services and case management. Bridgeway services are available in 10 northern New Jersey counties.
Bridgeway CEO Cory Storch obviously is pleased.
“Bridgeway’s collaboration enables us to work together to serve even more individuals who seek behavioral health care services,” he said.
Bridgeway Chair Joseph Perez agreed.
“The skills and expertise of Bridgeway’s leadership complement Woods’ leadership, which will greatly enhance the capacity of the system as a whole,” he said. “There is enormous potential for growth.”
The organizations anticipate receiving regulatory approval within the next several months and will quickly formalize the affiliation afterward.
Woods System of Care CEO Tine Hansen-Turton said her group is eager to get going.
“Woods and Bridgeway have explored an affiliation over the past several years,” she said. “We are pleased today to announce that with the approval of our boards, we are a step closer to partnering to expand programs significantly over the coming years to serve individuals with behavioral health care needs in New Jersey.”
