Top Ops, Feb. ’22

BHG Recruits Top Talent: New Regional Clinical Directors    

By Samson Teklemariam, LPC, CPTM, VP, Director of Clinical Services   

As a follow-up to introducing new Regional Clinical Directors (RCDs) last month, I am excited to introduce two new leaders to the BHG family:   

• Christine (Chrissie) Martin, LMFT, LAC-S, CS – Indiana, North Carolina and South Carolina   
• Debra (Debbie) Gray, MSW, LICSW, LADC – Idaho, Iowa and Minnesota  

To recap, a daily reality of our work is trying to serve patients who have clinical needs that vary in intensity and complexity. Sometimes they have a lower level of care focused primarily on treating their substance use disorder (SUD), while other times those needs will require a higher level of care and can involve addressing co-occurring mental health conditions. When someone needs help beyond what we can provide, we must help them navigate a behavioral health system that is confusing and difficult to access.   

At BHG, we are developing ways to offer more clinical services to improve access to care disparities in the communities we serve. This also simplifies our operational workflow as it eliminates the complexity of coordinating care with multiple providers. But, to stand these programs up, we need experts with skills and experience to launch new clinical initiatives. We already have a talented team of RCDs and we’re proud to be adding depth to this bench.   

What Regional Clinical Directors do  

The RCDs provide clinical guidance and quality oversight to ensure our services land the way we intend. For example, a clinical services enhancement initiative to implement IOP can have varying implications from state to state and program to program. A local clinical lead can help customize implementation to fit the need of community stakeholders.   

Many of our team members are carrying extra loads right now and we are committed to resourcing them to find a balance between supporting program stability and expanding program capacity. More specifically, RCDs support quality care initiatives led by our Regional Directors by:    

• Overseeing the monthly chart auditing and quality scorecard system.   
• Reviewing records requests for clinical accuracy before records are sent to requestors. 
• Facilitating peer-to-peer supervision for supervisors’ weekly meetings.   
• Providing and facilitating clinical trainings.   
• Implementing new clinical service initiatives.   

Ask Chrissie what her “why” is and she’ll tell you it’s the patients in recovery. She’s a passionate advocate for individuals and families seeking recovery and a strong believer in the value of evidence-based treatment, MAR, harm reduction, and supporting multiple pathways to recovery. She has worked in the field of opioid treatment for more than 15 years. Prior to that, she worked in mental health, and for many years, maintained a part-time private therapy practice. Before BHG, she was the Director of Clinical Services for Center for Behavioral Health (CBH). Today she lives and works out of Charleston, SC, where she is involved in the BHG-CBH Charleston treatment center.   

For several years, Chrissie worked as a program surveyor for CARF International (Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities), conducting accreditation surveys for OTPs throughout the country. She stays actively involved in volunteer work at the community, state, and national level, including serving on the board of AATOD (American Association for the Treatment of Opioid Dependence) as a representative for South Carolina. She also serves as chairperson for the South Carolina AATOD chapter, SCATOD. On a local level, she is on the board for FAVOR (Faces and Voices of Recovery) Lowcountry where she was previously the vice chair.    

Chrissie’s first job out of graduate school was as a counselor at CBH. “I wasn’t necessarily looking for a job in SUD. I thought I’d be there a year to get experience and move on, but ended up falling in love with the patients, work, and the advocacy. At that time, MAT was so misunderstood and highly stigmatized, more than it is today.”  

 “I’ve been really impressed by the incredible talent pool of people working at BHG. It’s exciting to be around other people who are passionate about this work,” said Chrissie. “The infrastructure at BHG is so much bigger and provides a lot of resources. What excites me the most is the vision for expanding services for OUD and SUD treatment.”    

Helping BHG fully realize that vision is what Chrissie wants for her RCD role.   

“I think BHG already has a great strategy in place. I want to support my teammates to be the best that they can be and provide the training and tools they need to do great work. And because I’m’ passionate about the work, I hope I can help them with their passion and work-with-purpose mentality.”   

Debbie is known for her enthusiasm and strategic thinking.  Growing up in Anoka, MN, Debbie knew at an early age that she wanted to become a social worker. After undergraduate school, she got married and moved to Chicago where they both earned their masters. For her husband’s job, they lived in the Philippines, Los Angeles, and Kansas, all while raising two children. 

Debbie was really satisfied with working as a social worker in child protection in Southern California, but when her family moved to South Central Kansas things changed. 

“While in Kansas, the state had a hiring freeze and the only sustainable job I could find was at a community mental health clinic as a therapist. My supervisor was very patient with me and helped me integrate social work perspectives with mental health. It was at this mental health clinic where the substance use treatment director noticed I had taken numerous classes in substance use and addictions. She convinced me to get my addiction license. I fell in love with the work in providing mental health and substance use treatment. It was helpful to come from a social worker’s point of view because of the state’s culture of scarcity due to limited resources and funding. That stretched me to think differently and in innovative ways to help get services to folks who needed it the most.” 

Four years ago, Debbie and her husband moved back to Minnesota to be close to their kids. 

“I was tired and slightly burned out being in management and decided to take a job as an assessor when we moved to MN. This position helped me get back to my roots of understanding substance use treatment,” said Debbie. “Two years ago, I took a position in management at a substance use treatment program working with people coming out of the criminal justice system. The last few months, I was struggling from a missional sense at this job. I saw this job opening at BHG and just applied without thinking much about it. Then, I interviewed with Samson, and he hooked me. The vision, structure, and dedication to patient care drew me to take this position.” 

“My vision for my role as a Regional Clinical Director is not only to help grow patient numbers, but to inspire innovation,” Debbie explained. “I think it’s an opportunity to do brand new things that no one has done before due to the opioid crisis in our country. Our Minnesota teams are solid and doing really good work. The Iowa teams are open to trying new things to help their patients engage. It will be exciting to get involved in the Idaho programs. I hope to keep supporting and inspiring our teams to be creative and caring with how we meet our patients where they are.”