RWJ/PESS Community Forum Presentation

Please join us on Tuesday October 14, 2025, at 6PM to learn about Psychiatric Emergency Screening Services (PESS) and Robert Wood Johnson (RWJ) University Hospital Somerset Behavioral Health Services. Professionals from each agency will be available to answer your questions about their respective services.

Zoom link: https://zoom.us/j/98586450145?pwd=kllGU0mr0ffXkFnLLWc7vBWOgMalNj.1

Panelists:

Barbara Matthews, MSN, RN, PMH-BC

Barbara is the Administrative Director of Behavioral Health at RWJUH Somerset where she has been for the past year. She has had a long career as a psychiatric nurse including leadership positions at various facilities in New Jersey. Her experience includes the care of adults, children, and adolescents in a variety of settings including inpatient, outpatient, and residential. She is a strong advocate for compassionate care for those struggling with mental illness.

Tara Eiseman, MA

Tara is the Director of the Emergency Department Crisis Center and Adult Outpatient Mental Health Programs at RWJUH Somerset. She holds a Master’s degree in Forensic Psychology and has worked within the RWJBH system’s Psychiatric Emergency Screening Services, including Ocean, Essex and Somerset counties since 2012. She has over 20 years of experience working in the mental health field, both in the acute-care hospital settings as well as community-based programs.

Joseph Cuffari, LPC

Joseph Cuffari, LPC assumed the position of Vice President of Psychiatric Emergency Screening Services for the RWJ Barnabas Health Behavioral Health Network. Responsible for the oversight of the screening centers and affiliated emergency services within the RWJ Barnabas Health Behavioral Health Network. While maintaining psychiatric screening service affiliations and agreements for all applicable facilities, he will look to develop and/or expand a psychiatric ED component for those sites that do not have a Psychiatric Emergency Screening Service Unit along with establishing and providing ongoing evaluation of crisis professional teams.

Joe has been in the mental health profession for over 36 years. In 1989, he began working at Kimball Medical Center (now MMCSC) as a Psychiatric Screener. In 1993 he was promoted to Unit Supervisor before becoming the Assistant Director of Psychiatric Emergency Screening Services the following year. In 2009, Joe assumed the role of Director and became the Regional Director for Psychiatric Emergency Screening Services at Monmouth Medical Center Southern Campus and Community Medical Center in 2012. He is currently a member of the Justice Involved Services Task Force and Crisis Intervention Team (CIT), Ocean County’s ERC, CIACC and PAC. He was awarded the Outstanding Instructor Award from the Ocean County Police Academy in 2021.

Nicole P. Crowley, MFT, LAMFT

Director, Bridgeway Behavioral Health Services

PESS (Psychiatric Emergency Screening Services)

Nicole Crowley holds a Master’s degree in Marriage and Family Therapy and is a licensed associate therapist. She earned her undergraduate degree in Sociology, laying the foundation for her career in mental health services. During graduate school, Nicole began working in psychiatric settings, gaining hands-on experience in emergency psychiatric care, outpatient services, partial hospitalization programs, in-home family therapy, and crisis screening.

Nicole joined Bridgeway Behavioral Health Services in 2020 as a Mental Health Screener with Bridgeway’s community based Psychiatric Emergency Screening Services (PESS). Since her employment at Bridgeway, she has taken on the role as a Clinical Supervison, where she additionally also took on the role of the police liaison. In 2024, Nicole transitioned into the Director role, overseeing the Psychiatric Emergency Screening Center and its community-based screening initiatives, including the ARRIVE Together program, which fosters collaboration between law enforcement and mental health professionals.

Additionally, Nicole serves as a mental health moderator for Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) training in Somerset County, helping law enforcement officers better understand and respond to individuals experiencing mental health crises.

Allison MacFadyen MS, LPC, ACS

Vice President of Emergency Services

Allison MacFadyen completed the graduate program for Mental Health Counseling at Shippensburg University in 2007. In the last 18 years Allison has primarily worked in community mental health in a direct service and/or supervisory role with newly acquired and developing programs in the PACT and Supported Housing service lines at Bridgeway Behavioral Health Services. In March of 2017 Allison became the Director for Somerset County Psychiatric Emergency Screening Services when Bridgeway was awarded the Designated Screening Center by the Division of Mental Health and Addictions Services. With the recent acquisition of 5 counties of MCORT programs under the 988-service line, Allison was promoted to Vice President of Emergency Services for Bridgeway Behavioral Health Services with continued oversite over Somerset PESS, and new emergency service program elements including ARRIVE Together, and MCORT.

Allison has obtained her LPC, and ACS to ensure that each of the programs she leads, delivers a high level of clinical services. The Somerset County PESS program has not been a departure from her community outreach work as Somerset PESS in its current iteration is one of the few community-based models and the only “Living Room Model” Screening Center in the State of New Jersey. This model has increased Emergency Room Diversion for adults and children in achieving one of the highest diversion rates in the state and has ensured easy and timely access to Psychiatric Services in Somerset County.