To get an idea of the challenges associated with treating people with substance abuse or in need of mental health care locally, consider some of the facts laid out by Crossroads Counseling official to the Williamsport Rotary Club Monday.

Dr. Denise Feger, Crossroads Counseling program director, said Crossroads professionals are working with up to 3,000 individuals at a time in their service area of Lycoming, Clinton, Sullivan and Tioga counties.

When Feger began working 17 years ago, there were 10 to 15 counselors. Today there are 74.

Those 74 counselors and professionals appear to be doing excellent work in a difficult challenge. Working in coordination with West Branch Drug and Alcohol Commission and UPMC Susquehanna, they were given a Centers of Excellence Award from Gov. Tom Ridge for their work.

The award eliminated barriers to those in need of treatment and communication for Crossroads, according to Feger.

That’s a good thing, because the people served by Crossroads represent a complete crossroads of the community. The impact ages for substance abuse and mental health needs range from 8 to 77.

Nevertheless wait-time is down to a maximum seven days for those in need and is available with and without health insurance. Clients received help in navigate the system of inpatient and outpatient care.

With treatment programs that are court advocated, the counselors are able to get more involved than ever with changing lives.

The success rate for changing lives is hard to measure, but it includes whether those receiving treatment are seeing a quality of life improvement. Those measurements include whether a client once homeless now has a place to live, whether they were not working and are now employed and whether they have taken steps to reunite with family.

Family. Home. Employment. Those are part of the normal routine for most of us. They are watershed possessions for these clients.

We need to root for counselors at Crossroads and everywhere in our region to be successful in the difficult, grinding challenges they face each day.

They are, in many cases, the one conduit that can provide the bridge to normalcy for the thousands of people battling drug and/or mental health issues in our region.