Over 40 years of Building
Your Path to Well-Being
How We Began
New Avenues, Inc., has a long and successful history as a premier Employee Assistance Program (EAP) provider. Our company was established in 1978 by three therapists in South Bend, Indiana, (Dot Feldman, MSW, LCSW, MBA; Catherine Grask, MSW, LCSW and Tony Berardi, HSPP, PhD.) who recognized a need in the workplace for behavioral health services. The therapists began treating individuals from client companies in their private counseling practice and at employment sites. The response was overwhelmingly positive. Demand for services grew as did requests for specialized programs. From this small agency, New Avenues evolved into a network of behavioral health professionals capable of servicing clients in all 50 states and internationally. We remain clinician-owned and operated.
What We Are About
Today’s world of work is a fast-paced environment driven by high performance requirements. It is characterized by frequent change and fewer family and community support systems. Statistics everywhere recite the litany of workplace pressures and the toll of these stressors on health, attendance and productivity. The employer often shares the cost of employee decisions and lifestyle habits as they translate into productivity losses, serious medical conditions, workers’ compensation claims, and surging healthcare costs. Many employees are unfamiliar with resources available to them for addressing their problems or those of family members. An EAP presents an opportunity for giving employees and their families personalized assistance and concrete solutions.
Our New Avenues Employee Assistance Program provides this through our high value benefit program serving organizations and their employees in multiple ways ranging from consultation at the strategic level to leadership assistance through the application of specialized knowledge and expertise about human behavior and mental health and offering short term, solution-focused counseling to organizations’ employees.
New Avenues serves employers of all sizes, from 10 employees to thousands and from all business sectors – Healthcare, Manufacturing/Distribution/Construction, Government, Financial, Education, Service - with a choice of EAP and Work-Life products that are easily customized to meet the needs of any company.
Through our Midwest Behavioral Health Network, New Avenues manages behavioral health benefits for enrollees in HMOs, carve-outs, self-funded, fully-funded and point-of-service programs. The New Avenues EAP/Midwest Behavioral Health Network is one of the largest privately-owned behavioral health networks in the Midwest offering specialized behavioral health preferred providers.
Through our Integrated EAP and Behavioral Health program we try our utmost to provide continuity of care by selecting providers who are in our EAP network and in the behavioral health network of the employee – yielding seamless treatment for the member when needed.
A Brief Company History
In 1978, New Avenues Employee Assistance Program was founded in South Bend, Indiana by Family Learning Center partners, Dot Feldman, LCSW, MBA, CEO, Kay Grask, LCSW, and Tony Berardi, Ph.D., making it one of the earliest established programs in the nation. Originally, the New Avenues EAP was delivered through their clinical practice at numerous Family Learning Center sites under a staff model. Over the next 25 years, the EAP grew, expanded and diversified to meet the changing needs of its customers. As large employers and managed care organizations requested more service coverage in multiple locations, New Avenues evolved into a network model. A three year joint venture (’97-’99) with Ancilla Systems, Inc. merged the New Avenues highly-regarded EAP with Ancilla’s first class Midwest Behavioral Health Network, increasing the opportunity for integrated behavioral health programs. Ancilla Systems, Inc.’s decision to change its corporate priorities led to an amicable buy-back (’99) by the original New Avenues owners. In 2000, Michael Carr, a human resource executive and the former liaison partner from Ancilla, became an equal partner and Executive Vice-President of New Avenues. The owners and staff are committed to innovations in helping people and companies find dynamic, integrated solutions for optimizing productivity and well being.