State Rep. Jamie Flick, R-South Williamsport will hold his third annual Human Services Expo and Speaker Series focusing on mental health and addiction in youth on Friday, April 25, at the Pennsylvania College of Technology (PCT), his office announced in a press release.

The event will begin at 1 p.m. at Penn’s Inn, with a speaker’s series, where topics ranging from prevention and education strategies to partial hospitalization programs at BLaST IU17.

Guest speakers will include Dr. Beth McMahon, emerita professor within Lock Haven University’s Department of Health Science, Jeremy Steppe, health and physical education teacher at Williamsport Area High School, Nicholas Slotterback, health and physical education advisor at the Pennsylvania Department of Education, Dr. Jennifer L. Thorp, associate professor at Commonwealth University of Pennsylvania: Lock Haven, Dr. Christina Steinbacher-Reed, executive director of BLaST Intermediate Unit 17 and Nicole Klees, licensed social worker and current director of mental and behavioral health for BLaST Intermediate Unit 17, according to the press release.

Additionally, city police offer a brief update on their mental health co-responder initiative.

“Our team is excited to highlight youth reported risk behaviors and protective factors at the national, state and local level to help families, schools and communities in data driven programming and services, McMahon said in the release.

“Our goal is to showcase how Pennsylvania strives to prevent youth risk behaviors and promote protective factors,” McMahon said.

“Youth partial hospitalization programs (PHPs) are a vital bridge in the continuum of care for young people facing mental health challenges,” Steinbacher-Reed said in the press release.

“Students attend school for half the day and receive intensive mental health support for the other half. This structure allows children to continue their education, receive the intensive mental health care they need, and return home to their families at night. These programs not only change lives, they also reduce the long-term emotional and financial strain on families, schools, and entire communities,” she said.

Students Francis Pagana and Colyn Jandrisavitz will provide personal testimony.

“I’m honored to have these individuals give professional and personal insight on the data and programs to help our youth,” said Flick, in the release.

“The focal point of this event is to share how we can use proven data for prevention efforts, ‘looking upstream,’ as Dr. McMahon said, and to identify existing resources already in place to help kids who are struggling. This is an extremely relevant subject, as studies show that kids younger and younger are dealing with mental health issues and addiction,” he said.

Following the Speaker Series, the Human Services Expo will be held from 3-6 p.m. at PCT’s Field House, with vendors providing support resources on a number of topics, including behavioral health, medical assistance, mental health, substance abuse, veterans’ programs and more.

Both the Speaker’s Series and Human Services Expo are free and open to the public.