The mission of Lenape Valley Foundation is to partner with members of our community encountering mental health, substance use, intellectual or developmental challenges as they pursue their personal aspirations and an enhanced quality of life.
About Us
LVF Through the Decades
1950s
- Established in 1958 as the Mental Health Guidance Center of Bucks County (MHGC), the agency begins to deliver outpatient mental health services at a Doylestown site using psychiatrists from Norristown State Hospital.
1960s
- MHGC changes its name to the Bucks County Psychiatric Center (BCPC).
- BCPC provides more outpatient psychiatric services than any other organization in Pennsylvania outside of Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, and expands services to include persons with Intellectual Disabilities
- BCPC expands in Lower Bucks and Central Bucks with the addition of offices in Penndel and Chalfont.
- BCPC becomes Bucks County’s first Base Service Unit (BSU), with the Doylestown site being the Central Bucks BSU and the Penndel site the Lower Bucks BSU. BSUs are responsible for delivering the services required of each county by the Pennsylvania Mental Health and Intellectual Disabilities Act of 1966.
1970s
- The BCPC Board of Directors decides to have its two sites operate as separate organizations. Articles of Incorporation are approved, renaming the Central Bucks location Lenape Valley Foundation (LVF). LVF expands programming to include Partial Hospital and Residential programs.
- It begins to deliver Crisis Services in the Emergency Room of Doylestown Hospital, the first such partnership in the Southeast PA region. The partnership expands further with the opening of an inpatient psychiatric unit managed by LVF psychiatrists.
1980s
- LVF opens its Correctional Mental Health Services (CMHS) Program. Located in the Bucks County Prison, it provides mental health services to inmates. The program is later recognized across the Commonwealth and nationally as a model program.
- LVF continues to expand its coverage area and consumers by delivering services to students at Delaware Valley College, by opening an outpatient office in Richboro, PA, and by expanding to include Intensive Case Management.
- LVF opens its main facility, located on the campus of Doylestown Hospital, at 500 North West Street.
1990s
- LVF receives federal approval as the first Medicare-eligible Community Mental Health Center Partial Hospital Program in Southeast PA.
- LVF partnered with Eugenia Hospital to open a Child and Adolescent Partial Hospital Program in Doylestown.
- Telephone Crisis Services and Walk-in Crisis Service became the first such services licensed by Pennsylvania in Southeast PA.
- Mental health services were expanded to include Resource Coordination Case Management Services.
- LVF began to deliver mobile mental health services to children in their homes, schools and other community settings.
- Early Intervention Services for at-risk children ages 0 – 3 years old began to be delivered.
- LVF opened the only Acute Respite Residential Program in Bucks County.
- Philadelphia Magazine named the LVF Crisis Service as the best in the suburban Southeast Pennsylvania counties.
- Along with more than 100 similar organizations across Pennsylvania, LVF joined to form the Community Behavioral Healthcare Network of Pennsylvania.
- LVF and Doylestown Hospital jointly opened the Evergreen Acute Partial Hospital Program, which operated within the hospital setting.
- LVF became the behavioral healthcare partner and provider for the Doylestown Hospital Local Treatment Unit for the PennCARE Hospital Network’s capitated contract with U.S. Healthcare/Aetna.
- LVF and Doylestown Hospital expanded the inpatient psychiatric unit to include a geriatric track and LVF began to deliver geriatric consultation services in area nursing homes.
- A new residential program in Warminster was opened to serve as long-term housing for persons with mental illness that were well into recovery.
2000-2009
- LVF expands its crisis services to Lower Bucks County, opening a site in Bristol, PA and inside the Lower Bucks Hospital Emergency Room.
- Another residential program in Middletown, Bucks County, opens to serve as long-term housing for persons with serious mental illness.
- LVF opens the first high-fidelity Assertive Community Treatment (ACT) Program in Pennsylvania. The program is later recognized as a “Center of Excellence” by the Pennsylvania Office of Mental Health.
- The FirePAC Program, an assessment program for juvenile fire setters in Bucks County that was often cited as a model program, was implemented.
- New construction doubles the size of the main Doylestown site, providing more space to serve the community.
- LVF becomes a member of the “Partners in Excellence” Program of the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey.
- Contracting with the Bucks County Court of Common Pleas, LVF begins conducting mental health evaluations of court-ordered individuals.
- LVF becomes the first Pennsylvania-certified Co-Occurring Competent Assessment Facility in Southeast PA.
- LVF begins a variety of new services, including the Transitional Outpatient Program, Certified Peer Specialist Services, psychiatric services at the Bucks County Youth Center, and SELF (Seniors Empowered for Life Fulfillment), an outreach program for persons aged 60 years and older with unaddressed mental health issues. SELF is recognized as a “Best Practice” and is the only such program in Pennsylvania.
- LVF partners with Bucks County, Northampton Township and Bensalem Police Departments, and NAMI to create and implement the Bucks County Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) Program, which trains and certifies law enforcement in effectively managing persons they encounter who have apparent behavioral health problems.
2010-2019
- LVF became certified to deliver Mental Health First Aid training, which trains members of the general community in identifying and responding to persons with apparent behavioral health problems who they might encounter.
- LVF adopted a Trauma-Informed Care approach and developed an internal committee to adhere to the standards of the National Council for Behavioral Health’s care initiative.
- LVF co-sponsored the first Bucks County Conference on Suicide Awareness and Prevention. Since 2014, LVF has been the sole sponsor of this Annual Conference providing training to professionals and other stakeholders concerned with suicide.
- The Holiday Assistance Program was implemented, which pairs LVF consumers and their families who are in financial need with generous community donors to provide gifts during the holidays. Thousands of gifts have been donated through this effort each year.
- LVF opened its first non-Bucks County office site, moving its Intellectual Disabilities Supports Coordination Program to Horsham, Montgomery County.
- Partnering with the Bucks County Juvenile Justice System, LVF began to deliver Outpatient Services at the county’s Residential Services Unit. In 2017, the Pennsylvania County Commissioners Association recognized the program as a “Best Practice.”
- LVF began to deliver Mobile Crisis Services to Bucks County adults. This program expanded in July of 2018 to include children and is the only Mobile Crisis Service in Bucks County.
- The first Suicide Prevention Candlelight Vigil is held and has become an annual event to remember the victims of suicide and to offer support and hope to family members, friends and the community.
- LVF completes training at the national Zero Suicide Academy and continues to be the only graduate organization in Bucks County.
- LVF contracts with St. Mary Medical Center to deliver on-site Crisis Services.
- Mobile mental health services begin to be delivered to persons referred by Bucks County District Justices as a diversion from the justice system to treatment.
- The First Responder Hotline is implemented, restricted to law enforcement, fire department personnel, EMS staff, and other first responders, and is the first such program in Pennsylvania.
- LVF opens a new residential program in Warminster to serve persons being discharged from Norristown State Hospital.
- After a flood destroyed portions of LVF’s main office in Doylestown, renovations to the facility included a newly-created wing dedicated to Children’s Services as well as the addition of on-site pharmacy for LVF consumers and staff.
- After a successful $1.6 million capital campaign, a new 11,000 square foot facility at 499 Bath Road, Bristol, PA is constructed. The site is now home to The Lodge at Lenape Valley Foundation, the first and only crisis residential program in Bucks County and LVF’s Bristol outpatient services.
- After serving as CEO for over 20 years, Alan Hartl retires from the position. The Board of Directors appoints Sharon Curran, Chief Operating Officer, to the leadership role.
2020- Present
- In response to the unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020, LVF implements remote business practices and the use of telehealth to deliver uninterrupted services to consumers throughout all departments within the organization.
- Lenape Valley Foundation held its Community Care Celebration awards dinner on Thursday, October 20, 2022 at Hotel du Village in New Hope, PA. The event, which raised over $30,000, recognized several individuals and organizations for their community advocacy. Honorees included: Alan Hartl, former LVF CEO, recipient of the Ed Knopf, M.D. Award; Helene Mathern, a Doylestown resident and former LVF Board member, recipient of the Community Champion Award; Bucks County Health Improvement Partnership (BCHIP), a leader in health services in Bucks County, recipient of the Health and Wellness Champion Award; and Good Stuff Thrift, a non-profit organization benefiting children in the community, recipient of the Stakeholder Champion Award.
- In 2023, LVF announces announces its partnership with the Bucks County Drug & Alcohol Commission, Inc., Bucks County’s Office of Behavioral Health/Developmental Programs, and Doylestown Health to establish a new, freestanding behavioral health crisis center in late 2024.
