Jenna McCook, LCWSW, CCS, Outpatient Director Child, Adolescent & Adult Behavioral Health Services, cuts the ceremonial ribbon dedicating the newly renovated Center for Behavioral Wellness. Also pictured from left are Mary Anne Nagy, Chair of the MMC Board of Trustees, Long Branch Mayor John Pallone, President and CEO Eric Carney, Sen. Vin Gopal, Assemblywomen Margie Donlon and Luanne Peterpaul, Assistant Vice President of Behavioral Health Services Marli Gelfand, Chair of Psychiatry Dr. Erika Concepcion, and Kim Rozanitis, Administrative Director for Behavioral Health.
Long Branch — Monmouth Medical Center (MMC) recently hosted a ribbon-cutting ceremony for its newly remodeled Center for Behavioral Wellness at Pollak, offering a welcoming environment and expanded programming for adults in need of outpatient behavioral health services.
The Center for Behavioral Wellness, part of RWJBarnabas Health Behavioral Health Services together with Rutgers University Behavioral Health Care, is dedicated to meeting the emotional, behavioral and psychiatric needs of adults ages 18 and over by providing comprehensive mental health services that are evidenced-based and patient-centered. The goal is to provide these services in a compassionate environment while empowering individuals to achieve long-term recovery, stability, and a healthier life.
Marli Gelfand, Assistant Vice President of Behavioral Health Services at MMC, told those who gathered for the ceremony that to create a healing space, it’s important to offer an environment of care that is warm, welcoming, and respectful.
“Our services focus on maintaining wellness through providing practical skills, support, and techniques to manage challenges that arise throughout life experiences,” said Gelfand, “Our team of highly qualified and caring mental health professionals provide innovative and evidence-based behavioral health approaches in all of our programs, and we are so grateful for this inviting new space that makes our patients feel welcome as soon as they enter.”
Jenna McCook, Outpatient Director Child, Adolescent & Adult Behavioral Health Services, said that new upcoming programming for the Center for Behavioral Wellness includes a Young Adult Intensive Outpatient Program to treat individuals 18-25 who are in need of support greater than traditional outpatient services but still on an outpatient level.
“The program will provide evidence-based Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) in primarily a group setting, offering individual therapy and psychiatric assessment and follow-up,” she said. “In early 2027, we plan to introduce an Adolescent Intensive outpatient program similar to the Young Adult Program supporting individuals ages 13-17.”
She adds that Monmouth Medical Center also offers traditional outpatient behavioral health services for child and adolescent clients ages 5 to 17, as well as Child and Adolescent Crisis Diversion Programming, through both the Early Intervenion Support Services’ Neptune location and at the hospital’s Long Branch campus for ease of access to care for families.
Lauren Simons, Director of Development for the MMC Foundation, noted renovations at the Center for Behavioral Wellness include the creation of a Path to Wellness Donor Wall. “The wall represents what we have heard tonight — that wellness is a journey — a journey of hope, healing, and continued support for those navigating the path of healing and recovery.”
During the ceremony, New Jersey Senator Vin Gopal and Assemblywomen Margie Donlon and Luanne Peterpaul presented a New Jersey State Joint Legislative Resolution in support of the Center for Behavioral Wellness. “We were honored to celebrate the ribbon cutting for Monmouth Medical Center’s Behavioral Wellness Center,” Sen. Vin Gopal shared in a social post following the ceremony. “Access to quality mental health care will always be a priority for our team, and we thank Monmouth Medical Center’s Behavioral Wellness Center for the important work that they are doing.”
To learn more about the services of The Center for Behavioral Wellness, call 732-923-5270.
Monmouth Medical Center, an RWJBarnabas Health facility, along with The Unterberg Children’s Hospital, is a regional teaching campus for Rutgers-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School. As the first hospital in Monmouth and Ocean counties, Monmouth Medical Center offers the most experienced surgeons in robotics and other minimally invasive procedures as well as bariatric and joint and spine surgery. Delivering more babies annually than all other hospitals in Monmouth and Ocean counties combined, Monmouth Medical Center was recently one of 16 New Jersey hospitals recognized by Newsweek magazine as a top maternity hospital. It was the first hospital in New Jersey and the 11th in the country to earn Magnet Recognition with Distinction® from the American Nurses Credentialing as a reflection of its nursing professionalism, teamwork and superiority in patient care. It is the only hospital in Monmouth and Ocean counties to consistently receive an “A” Hospital Safety Score by The Leapfrog Group, an independent national nonprofit organization, and most recently was recognized for a fourth time as a Leapfrog Top Teaching Hospital – one of just 73 in the nation and four in New Jersey to earn this honor. It is one of the 96 hospitals in the United States to be honored by the Emergency Nurses Association (ENA) with their Lantern Award, which recognizes emergency departments that demonstrate exceptional and innovative performance in leadership, practice, education, advocacy, and research, and in 2025, earned the Lantern Award for a second consecutive time. RWJBarnabas Health and Monmouth Medical Center, in partnership with Rutgers Cancer Institute — the state’s only NCI-designated Comprehensive Cancer Center — bring a world class team of researchers and specialists to fight alongside patients, providing close-to-home access to the latest treatment and clinical trials.