Sandy Vasko

Sandy Vasko
Director
Office of Mental Health
DBHIDS

A native Clevelander, Vasko completed her undergraduate degree at John Carroll University in a suburb of Cleveland, Ohio. She spent two subsequent years in New York City, studying at Teachers College, Columbia University to earn her M.A and M.Ed. in Counseling Psychology. She returned home and started her career as a counselor in an inner city methadone maintenance clinic. Within a year she joined the staff of a multi-cultural services center where she functioned in multiple capacities during her eight year tenure with the agency. During her time as the Clinical Director, she was an active participant on state committees and task forces regarding case management. It was this work that brought her to Philadelphia as a trainer and consultant to the administrative team charged with the closure of Philadelphia State Hospital.

Within a year of starting this work with the newly developing Community Treatment Teams, Vasko was asked to join the administrative team as the new Case Management Director of the CTTs and thus started her journey in Philadelphia, PA. She worked with the five state-employed teams for six years to assist in their transitioning into the community and ultimately from a state employment status. With the hospital successfully closed and the teams well established, Vasko was pursued for other growth opportunities with the behavioral health system. In 1996 she was hired as the Health Program Administrator for the Office of Mental Health. Vasko, now the Director for the Office of Mental Health, remains close to those who informed and formed her early experiences in Philadelphia.