Friendship House Awarded Grant for ABA Staff Recruitment

Friendship House ABA Program Awarded Staff Recruitment Initiative – NEHC Foundation Grant

Friendship House was recently awarded a three-year grant from the Northeast Health Care Foundation in the amount of $45,000 to support its efforts to recruit and retain staff working with children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). This grant will provide one-time sign on bonuses for both clinical staff and direct care staff hired by Friendship House.

According to Alex J. Hazzouri, President/CEO at Friendship House “this grant through the Northeast Health Care Foundation is critically important to support our efforts to recruit staff to work in our Autism Center and community-based programs serving children with autism. Staffing these programs has been a challenge for all agencies. Through this grant, Friendship House is optimistic we will be able to hire additional staff, enabling us to provide these critical services to more children in Lackawanna County”.

Friendship House, well known for its services provided to children with ASD and their families provides these services in a state-of-the-art Center located on East Mountain in Scranton. The Center provides a structured day program for children 18 months to 7 years of age, delivering Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) services during the child’s developmental years. This early intervention initiative is viewed as a critical step to position the child to achieve their full potential as they move into the school setting.

The Friendship House Autism Center provides one-to-one staffing when needed and group services for those children needing less support. The program is clinically supervised by four Board Certified Behavioral Analysts (BCBAs) who develop individualized treatment plans and provide clinical support to the staff delivering direct care services. The BCBAs and other clinical staff also work closely with the child’s family to ensure skill development within the Center is transferred to the home settings.

As the child prepares to graduate from the Center Program to enter a school district program, the BCBAs and other clinical staff work closely with the child, family and school district to develop a transition plan for the child which may include the provision of Friendship House staff supporting the child in their new school district program.