UNION, NJ — In 1985, when Bridgeway House became Bridgeway Rehabilitation Services, Chief Executive Officer Cory Storch was there. Last year, he led the transition to Bridgeway Behavioral Health Services. Throughout the changes, Storch has remained committed to Bridgeway’s whole-person, evidence-based services. Today, Bridgeway is celebrating 45 years with the organization. His mantra? “Recovery is possible!”
“People ask me how it is that I have stayed at one organization all this time, when so many of my peers have moved on to new opportunities,” Storch said. “The answer is, I have always been surrounded by people who made me proud to be part of the team at Bridgeway. Honestly, the challenges we have faced together and the opportunities to have such a big impact on the lives of the people we serve has been so extraordinary that the work doesn’t have a chance to get old.”
Since its inception, Bridgeway’s mission has been to support the educational and vocational endeavors of people with mental health conditions. During Storch’s leadership, many services have been added, including long-term programs to support people living in their communities and short-term crisis intervention services for urgent mental health care. Most recently, Storch spearheaded the inclusion of outpatient services, both virtual and in person, to address the growing demand for high-quality, session-based therapy.
Evidence of Storch’s more than 45 years of leadership is in the numbers. According to Storch, “When I was first hired by Bridgeway as a masters-level vocational rehabilitation counselor for people with mental health conditions, we operated out of one building at 615 N. Broad St. in Elizabeth. Bridgeway now has locations in 10 New Jersey counties.”
The staff has grown from a handful of positions to more than 400. During the worst of the pandemic, Bridgeway staff served more than 8,000 people, delivering more than 132,000 in-person home and community visits. Of the people served in Bridgeway’s supportive housing programs, 99 percent remain stably housed. Bridgeway’s Psychiatric Emergency Screen Service, using a trauma-informed approach, leads the state in diverting people in crisis away from unnecessary hospital emergency department visits.
Nancy Schneeloch, vice president for Supportive Housing Services, has worked alongside Storch for most of his tenure at Bridgeway. She said that, in addition to being a leader in the field of psychiatric rehabilitation, Storch has helped New Jersey pave the way for supportive housing services for people with mental illness.
Storch began by providing housing support to eight homeless individuals prior to 2000. Today, Bridgeway provides supportive housing services to over 500 individuals in eight counties. Schneeloch added, “Cory also ensured that we would be on the forefront of integrating physical wellness into mental health care at Bridgeway, creating a more holistic approach to providing services.”
Storch’s “Recovery is possible!” mantra is best illustrated by the people he has helped. One young woman came into the Bridgeway partial-care day rehabilitation program from a homeless shelter in Elizabeth and ended up winning an award at Bridgeway’s annual achievement ceremony for working hard to recover, get an apartment, get a job and buy a car. At the award ceremony, she told Storch, “You practice what you preach!”
Storch’s message also reached a young man who had been hospitalized for mental illness and was assisted by a Bridgeway program to leave the hospital and live successfully in his community. He said, “They came into my life and pulled me out of my unique misery and back into my eclectic life. Where else in health care would I get that?”
When asked to reflect on his career, Storch said, “Ultimately, when you love what you do, it doesn’t feel like work. Forty-five years later, I still feel grateful to be working for Bridgeway.”
Buddy Garfinkle, senior vice president and chief program officer, said that Storch’s “commitment, integrity and wisdom has given us a role model to emulate. Cory Storch is a titan in our field.”
Photo Courtesy of Susan M. Rash