BehavioralHealthOnline.com to Offer Valuable Resources On Compulsive Gambling During March Madness.

Business Editors

PEABODY, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 15, 2000

PHC, Inc., dba Pioneer Behavioral Health (NASDAQ: PIHC) which provides inpatient and outpatient behavioral health services nationwide, announced that its Internet subsidiary BehavioralHealthOnline.com has begun a full court press against compulsive gambling. During "March Madness", individuals struggling with compulsive gambling can overcome the urge to place wagers during The NCAA's Annual College Basketball Tournament by visiting BehavioralHealthOnline.com.

BHO's March Madness offensive began this week with a feature article by Dr. Howard Shaffer, a nationally recognized leader in the gambling addictions field, and Director of Harvard Medical School's Division on Addictions. According to Dr. Shaffer, "gambling is more similar to drug addiction than you might imagine" and "for those who suffer difficulties, the ability to control gambling represents a serious and troubling problem."

According to a study reported in the Las Vegas Sun, the three weeks of March Madness are second only to the Super Bowl as a time of excessive and compulsive wagering. To further complicate the problem, a recent article in USA today estimates that almost 700 websites, most based outside the U.S., take sports bets or offer casino-style games over the Internet.

Over the course of the NCAA tournament, BehavioralHealthOnline.com will offer additional articles, forums, assessment tools, links, and a live chat. This chat, which will focus exclusively on compulsive gambling problems, will take place on Tuesday March 21st from 8:00 to 9:00 PM, and will be facilitated by internationally recognized gambling addiction experts Dr. Jeffrey L. Derevensky and Dr. Rina Gupta of McGill University.

BehavioralHealthOnline.com's co-sponsors for this March Madness initiative will include the Center for Responsible Gaming, The Wager (a well-known newsletter specializing in up-to-date information on gambling addictions), and the National Council on Problem Gambling (NCPG) based in Washington, D.C. BehavioralHealthOnline.com will also be represented at the "Final Four" in Indianapolis where the NCPG will be sharing a booth with the NCAA in the "Hoop It Up" tent where a co-sponsored BHO / NCPG gambling education flyer will be distributed to attendees. More than 40,000 people are expected to attend this year's Final Four event.

Keith Whyte, Executive Director of the National Council on Problem Gambling stated, "BehavioralHealthOnline.com is providing valuable resources with their website and the NCPG is very pleased to be working with them on this March Madness initiative."

Pioneer Behavioral Health's core business provides inpatient and outpatient behavioral healthcare services. The company contracts with National Insurance companies in addition to major transportation and gaming companies who have engaged the company to provide behavioral health services. Pioneer also owns and operates BehavioralHealthOnline.com, a leading provider of behavioral health services over the Internet.

For more information on BehavioralHealthOnline, please visit the company's website at http://www.behavioralhealthonline.com. This press release may include forward-looking statements about the Company's revenues and earnings and future plans and objectives. Any such statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause the actual results to vary materially. These risks are discussed in the Company's Report on Form 10-KSB for the years ended June 30, 1997, June 30, 1998, and June 30, 1999, filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on October 14, 1997, October 13, 1998 and October 13, 1999, respectively.

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