Latest / Aired Out / Washington County Mental Health Services CEO Beth Sightler

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Washington County Mental Health Services CEO Beth Sightler · Aired Out

2:54
Speaker 1: Alright, fifty three degrees right now.
2:56
Speaker 2: We have rain showers, partly sunny though I head today
3:01
Speaker 2: and is going to be hot. They're saying eighty five degrees,
3:05
Speaker 2: and I had to do kind of double check that
3:07
Speaker 2: this morning. I was literally did a head turn. I
3:10
Speaker 2: was like, wait a minute, did that just say eighty five?
3:13
Speaker 2: That's what they're saying. Eighty Yesterday in the Champlain Valley
3:17
Speaker 2: kind of broke some records. Stray shower or maybe even
3:22
Speaker 2: a brief thunderstorm tonight. We'll get down about sixty seven,
3:25
Speaker 2: hurt some thunder this morning, and then tomorrow. Tuesday looks good,
3:30
Speaker 2: mostly cloudy skies and eighty six. I say it looks
3:34
Speaker 2: good because the temperature looks fantastic. Wednesday, rain to start,
3:40
Speaker 2: sun to finish around seventy seven for the daytime high,
3:44
Speaker 2: and then Thursday cooling down significantly, mostly sunny, but only
3:48
Speaker 2: around sixty degrees.
3:49
Speaker 1: Quick heads up.
3:51
Speaker 2: If you're coming through Barry today. The major water and
3:55
Speaker 2: sewer upgrades are taking place for the Washington and Spaulding
4:01
Speaker 2: Street intersection starting today, started at seven am, will go
4:07
Speaker 2: through Friday afternoon, the twenty second. Here's what you need
4:12
Speaker 2: to know. The westbound traffic on Washington Street going to
4:16
Speaker 2: be stopped at Academy Street and detour down Academy to
4:19
Speaker 2: Eastern alf Eastbound traffic is going to remain on Washington Street,
4:25
Speaker 2: but should expect you should expect some lane shifts and
4:30
Speaker 2: some delays. All traffic on Spaulding Street will need to
4:34
Speaker 2: enter and exit using Perry Street during the construction, So
4:39
Speaker 2: plan ahead, be patient, exercise some cautious driving in the area,
4:47
Speaker 2: and just go easy. Bikers for Beth. Yesterday a huge success.
4:54
Speaker 2: What a weekend.
4:55
Speaker 1: It was.
4:55
Speaker 2: The sun was shining, it was windy, it was dry,
4:59
Speaker 2: it was It's just amazing. My guest this morning, Beth Zeiitdler,
5:04
Speaker 2: who is the CEO of Washington County Mental Health Services,
5:09
Speaker 2: who is probably right up there with my list of
5:15
Speaker 2: some of the busiest people I know. And I want
5:18
Speaker 2: to thank you so much for coming in here.
5:20
Speaker 1: Beth. It's been a while.
5:21
Speaker 2: The last time you were anywhere were just chatting, was
5:23
Speaker 2: was when Mary was here.
5:24
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, yeah, when she and I were still transitioning.
5:27
Speaker 3: So it's been it's been years.
5:30
Speaker 2: You are so so so busy with everything. Frankly, I
5:34
Speaker 2: don't know how you do it. There is so much
5:36
Speaker 2: going on at Washington County Mental Health these days. Where
5:39
Speaker 2: do we begin.
5:41
Speaker 4: It's an exciting time. Yeah, it is going on.
5:44
Speaker 2: There's some really really cool things that are happening, and
5:48
Speaker 2: big news about the granted shed co location project.
5:51
Speaker 1: Can you talk about that?
5:52
Speaker 4: Yeah, i'd love to.
5:53
Speaker 3: Thanks first of all, thanks a lot for having me on. Yes,
5:55
Speaker 3: to see you again, not just in the hallways, but here.
5:58
Speaker 1: It's good to get idea. Always see you. We're always
6:01
Speaker 1: like yeah.
6:02
Speaker 3: Waving waving through the fish bowl, right, yes, yes. So
6:06
Speaker 3: the co location project is something that was some an
6:10
Speaker 3: audacious dream a few years ago.
6:12
Speaker 4: It wasn't mine.
6:13
Speaker 3: I'm not sure exactly who first conceived of it, but
6:16
Speaker 3: there's a very beautiful, large old granite shed in downtown Montpellier.
6:21
Speaker 3: It's about twenty two thousand square feet and we've had
6:24
Speaker 3: our eye on it for a while, but it was
6:26
Speaker 3: just sort of how we make it work and what
6:29
Speaker 3: programs we bring together into it. So the idea is,
6:34
Speaker 3: and this is there's a lot of kind of moving
6:36
Speaker 3: and shaking to make it make it all come together.
6:38
Speaker 3: We're going to, as they say, divest of three buildings
6:42
Speaker 3: that we currently have.
6:43
Speaker 4: I'll just go through those.
6:45
Speaker 3: The first is our Heaton Street building, which has held
6:48
Speaker 3: what was called CSP but it's now it was the
6:51
Speaker 3: Community Support Program, but we now call it Intensive Adult
6:54
Speaker 3: Mental Health Program. That we are selling that to Downstreet Housing,
7:00
Speaker 3: which is super cool. They're going to be converting it
7:03
Speaker 3: into twenty or twenty one apartments, and we're also selling
7:07
Speaker 3: them some land which they're going to be moving building
7:12
Speaker 3: for single family homes on. So that's you know, twenty
7:16
Speaker 3: four to twenty five homes for local people to live in.
7:19
Speaker 4: And it's such a neat building.
7:21
Speaker 3: Yeah, I love going in there. They're going to keep
7:24
Speaker 3: a lot of the features that are there intact. It'll
7:26
Speaker 3: still have the really neat sun room for the residents
7:28
Speaker 3: to live in, and plenty of parking. It's just it's
7:31
Speaker 3: going to be a really great situation for people there.
7:33
Speaker 3: So that's the first first building. The other building is
7:36
Speaker 3: our CCPs building, which is outpatient services up on the
7:40
Speaker 3: Berlin Hospital campus. We've been in that building for over
7:44
Speaker 3: fifty years and the hospital's exercising it's right to take
7:48
Speaker 3: back the lease, but they're working really closely with us.
7:52
Speaker 3: They're not you know, they're not impatient for us to
7:55
Speaker 3: move on They've been really gracious to let us stay
7:57
Speaker 3: there and kind of helping us work through getting getting
8:01
Speaker 3: into the Granite Shed. So those programs outpatient will also
8:04
Speaker 3: be moving to the Granite Shed. The other building that
8:08
Speaker 3: we have, or it's actually a condo, is Building C
8:11
Speaker 3: also on CVMC campus, and that has our crisis services
8:16
Speaker 3: intensive UH crisis screeners. There's some other administrative staff there,
8:24
Speaker 3: and so we'll be selling that condo to the hospital.
8:26
Speaker 3: They've had their eye on it for a while and
8:28
Speaker 3: it helped them. They're trying to kind of pull in
8:31
Speaker 3: their satellites as well, so that will be able to
8:35
Speaker 3: move our crisis services down into the Granite Shed also
8:39
Speaker 3: going there. So we have the Access Hub, which has
8:42
Speaker 3: been incredibly successful.
8:44
Speaker 4: We'd like to build that out a little bit.
8:46
Speaker 1: So we've had right on Barry Street, Yeah.
8:50
Speaker 3: Exactly, yep, which has been really successful, really I think,
8:53
Speaker 3: a powerful support for people in the community. We are
8:57
Speaker 3: going to enhance that and move it. For the most part,
9:01
Speaker 3: there will still be pieces of it that will be
9:04
Speaker 3: on Barry Street, but we're going to be building a
9:07
Speaker 3: mental health urgent care similar to what took place up
9:11
Speaker 3: in Burlington with Howard Center and the University of Vermont
9:14
Speaker 3: Health Center and on the get this right, I think
9:20
Speaker 3: it's the north side of the Granite Shed. Will be
9:23
Speaker 3: sort of a separate access into the mental health urgent
9:26
Speaker 3: care there. Right now we're looking at we're just building
9:30
Speaker 3: plans for the inside, but five or six rooms where
9:33
Speaker 3: people can come in and get support and help there.
9:36
Speaker 3: So that'll be sort of crisis services, mental health urgent
9:39
Speaker 3: care going on in there. We'll also have some children's
9:42
Speaker 3: mental health and then we'd like to have some what
9:47
Speaker 3: we plan to have some psychiatry and then nursing.
9:51
Speaker 4: We haven't talked specifically yet about our.
9:54
Speaker 3: Move to CCBHC, which is Certified Community Based Integrate Health Center,
10:00
Speaker 3: which is a new federal designation that we've gone for.
10:04
Speaker 3: Most of the designated agencies in the state will be
10:07
Speaker 3: moving to CCBHC and will be one of them. We're
10:10
Speaker 3: not sure whether or not we'll move into this designation
10:13
Speaker 3: in July or October. We're still kind of waiting to
10:17
Speaker 3: hear from the state and the Feds about whether or
10:19
Speaker 3: not we move that direction. This is relevant because it's
10:23
Speaker 3: a way of integrating health care into the services that
10:28
Speaker 3: we provide. And then the last thing that will be
10:31
Speaker 3: at the Granite Shed is some substance use services. Some
10:35
Speaker 3: of the substance use services will be at Well Space
10:38
Speaker 3: here in Barrie, but we'll be doing some group supports
10:41
Speaker 3: there and then everyone who's working there is going to
10:44
Speaker 3: be fully trained to make sure that anyone coming in,
10:47
Speaker 3: whether they have substance use issues, whether they have mental
10:49
Speaker 3: health issues, whether they're an acute crisis, if they need,
10:53
Speaker 3: you know, very intensive care, they'll be able to get
10:55
Speaker 3: it there.
10:56
Speaker 4: And the beautiful thing about this whole audacious.
11:00
Speaker 3: Plan that we have pulled together to do is that
11:04
Speaker 3: you can you can come in at really whatever level
11:06
Speaker 3: of need you have.
11:07
Speaker 4: Almost every level of need.
11:08
Speaker 3: We won't be providing residential services, and you'll get a
11:11
Speaker 3: warm handoff into if you need case management, if you
11:14
Speaker 3: need psychiatry, if you require nursing services, and we just
11:20
Speaker 3: think that having that close proximity for people will improve care,
11:25
Speaker 3: you know. And the other thing that I keep emphasizing
11:28
Speaker 3: as I've been talking about this is this just this
11:31
Speaker 3: isn't just for Washington County folks, you know, it isn't
11:34
Speaker 3: just for people and services with us. It's for the community.
11:37
Speaker 3: As you know, as we're coming into a period of
11:42
Speaker 3: more and more critical needs. We're seeing again and again
11:46
Speaker 3: the you know, the the spike and substance use concerns
11:50
Speaker 3: and needs, the mental health issues that you know, we're
11:53
Speaker 3: seeing certainly more prevalent around the community. This is a
11:57
Speaker 3: place where people can go and get help, and you know,
12:00
Speaker 3: whether it's short term or long term, we just want
12:02
Speaker 3: to serve the community. And I hope by having it
12:06
Speaker 3: in a central location where people can access it, where
12:11
Speaker 3: it's you know, it's celebrated and it's not you know,
12:15
Speaker 3: hidden away, it's right in the center of town, we
12:18
Speaker 3: can start to push back on some of the the
12:22
Speaker 3: bias or the stigma about seeking services that this is
12:26
Speaker 3: a healthy and wholesome place to get support. And we
12:29
Speaker 3: you know, we're all going to need some help at
12:31
Speaker 3: some point in our lives and being able to have
12:33
Speaker 3: it local and accessible is really important to me.
12:37
Speaker 2: Yeah, So construction on this is going on like now.
12:43
Speaker 3: Not yet, we still have we still have to get
12:46
Speaker 3: through some permitting. We you know, things are moving along
12:50
Speaker 3: pretty well.
12:51
Speaker 4: We have a goal of.
12:54
Speaker 3: Starting work in the fall, working through the winter, and
12:57
Speaker 3: hopefully you know, having maybe a ribbon cutting in summer.
13:01
Speaker 3: About about a year from now that's maybe a little aggressive,
13:05
Speaker 3: but we're ambitious.
13:07
Speaker 4: Yeah, you know, well we can dream.
13:10
Speaker 2: Listen, we we both know vermonitors don't love often change.
13:19
Speaker 2: So when we hear about something uh that's new and
13:22
Speaker 2: improved or bigger and better that that change period.
13:27
Speaker 1: Uh. You know, I.
13:28
Speaker 2: Guess let's let's kind of bang the drum here of
13:35
Speaker 2: services are going to be actually expanded with that's not
13:40
Speaker 2: not reduced.
13:41
Speaker 3: We're not contracting services, we're not reducing services. This is
13:44
Speaker 3: not a consolidation and it's really the square footage is
13:48
Speaker 3: actually higher than these individual buildings that we've had. You know,
13:53
Speaker 3: we're right, we're expanding services. We're trying to make sure
13:56
Speaker 3: that the people who are working there can serve in
13:58
Speaker 3: a greater capacity and with greater accessibility. It's right on
14:03
Speaker 3: the bike path, there's there's sufficient parking. We've been able
14:06
Speaker 3: to secure an additional parking area that's adjacent to it.
14:12
Speaker 3: You know, the bus station isn't too far away. There's
14:16
Speaker 3: the Gopher service that is working down there as well.
14:20
Speaker 3: So I'm just hoping that we're really just hoping that
14:24
Speaker 3: it's about access that people can get in, get their
14:28
Speaker 3: needs met, and then get a warm handoff that they
14:30
Speaker 3: need additional support or if they don't done there, then
14:33
Speaker 3: they're back to their community doing doing what they need
14:36
Speaker 3: to do.
14:36
Speaker 1: Sure.
14:37
Speaker 2: Wow, so we have crisis intervention, we have mental health,
14:43
Speaker 2: we have substance substance use. What else was it that
14:48
Speaker 2: you mentioned?
14:50
Speaker 3: Psychiatry, psychiatry and nursing and then it's the mental health
14:55
Speaker 3: care is for people you know, to be children, adults,
14:58
Speaker 3: elder care. Really the or the full the full lifetime
15:02
Speaker 3: that people will be able to come in and get services.
15:03
Speaker 3: We'll make sure that there's a good separation of where
15:06
Speaker 3: people access supports, you know, will be considerate of what
15:10
Speaker 3: people's needs are and coming in and getting what they need.
15:14
Speaker 2: Tell us about the Center for Counseling and Psychological Services
15:21
Speaker 2: break that down for us in ways that we can
15:24
Speaker 2: all understand what that.
15:26
Speaker 3: Well, So CCPs, because most of our programs have a
15:29
Speaker 3: CE in them somewhere. CCPs is, like you said, Center
15:33
Speaker 3: of Counseling and Psychological Services. I always get that, Yeah,
15:39
Speaker 3: it gets stumbled on it. It's our it's our outpatient
15:42
Speaker 3: services therapy for people to come in of there's some
15:46
Speaker 3: group work that happens there, there's some specific targeted therapy
15:49
Speaker 3: for specific needs that people have. It's a it's a
15:55
Speaker 3: long running program that we've had, you know, up on
15:58
Speaker 3: the Berlin campus for a long time. It has our
16:01
Speaker 3: elder care program. There are children's therapeutic supports that happen there.
16:07
Speaker 3: We have a wonderful collection of counselors there. They're just
16:12
Speaker 3: the they're just the most terrific people. They're really they're
16:15
Speaker 3: really fun and dynamic and devoted to this work, especially.
16:18
Speaker 1: Now starting really young.
16:21
Speaker 4: Yes, yes, yeah, yeah.
16:23
Speaker 3: When you go in there, it's interesting you can see
16:26
Speaker 3: a person of any age going and accessing services. You know,
16:29
Speaker 3: some of the offices have some really fun projects and
16:33
Speaker 3: things for kids to work on.
16:35
Speaker 1: And yeah, I wanna I want to say this.
16:40
Speaker 4: Uh.
16:40
Speaker 2: Let first I want to just say thank you to
16:48
Speaker 2: Washington County Mental Health for always being ready to go
16:55
Speaker 2: and help our community. You proved that once again last
17:03
Speaker 2: week we had a.
17:07
Speaker 1: Just a horrible, horrible.
17:11
Speaker 2: Yeah situation, tragedy that took place in one of our
17:17
Speaker 2: local schools. And out of great respect, I will be,
17:30
Speaker 2: when the time is right, be talking more about this
17:35
Speaker 2: particular story. And it may be this week, it may
17:39
Speaker 2: be next week. I've been on the phone with family
17:45
Speaker 2: and friends that are connected to this, and when the
17:48
Speaker 2: time is right, when it's appropriate to have a conversation
17:53
Speaker 2: and to allow our community to step up organically and
17:59
Speaker 2: help out and show love, well, well we'll do that.
18:04
Speaker 2: We'll have that conversation. But in the meanwhile, Washington County
18:09
Speaker 2: Mental Health I can't even imagine. And I know they're
18:18
Speaker 2: trained to do this, but still.
18:21
Speaker 3: You can't train the courage that people have and going
18:23
Speaker 3: into these situations. And I'm glad you say it. It's
18:26
Speaker 3: the love too. You know, you can't do this work
18:29
Speaker 3: if you don't love the people that you that you
18:32
Speaker 3: work with and the people that you work for. Last
18:35
Speaker 3: week was one of the harder weeks that I think
18:38
Speaker 3: most of the most of the people who have worked with.
18:40
Speaker 4: Us have ever experienced.
18:42
Speaker 3: I won't go into detail, it's not it's not my
18:44
Speaker 3: story to tell, but there was a there was a
18:46
Speaker 3: devastating event that impacted people throughout the community in lots
18:50
Speaker 3: of different ways. And watching our clinicians and not clinicians
18:58
Speaker 3: rise to this occasion and come up with ways to
19:01
Speaker 3: go and support children in schools and adults who are
19:07
Speaker 3: just truly devastated, and you know, kind of it's not just.
19:10
Speaker 1: The kids, it's the administration.
19:12
Speaker 3: That's right in families. And I mean, people just brought
19:15
Speaker 3: to their knees by the sadness of this, this sort
19:18
Speaker 3: of devastating situation. Yes, I I am.
19:26
Speaker 4: I don't. I don't.
19:27
Speaker 3: I don't know if I'll ever have the words to
19:29
Speaker 3: explain the courage and the the perseverance that our staff
19:35
Speaker 3: show when.
19:37
Speaker 1: You have to be caught out for that. Yeah.
19:39
Speaker 3: Yeah, And you have to be willing to take the
19:42
Speaker 3: pain and you know, feel it deeply, because none of
19:47
Speaker 3: us should be doing this work if we stop feeling this,
19:49
Speaker 3: and if we, you know, can compartmentalize it so much
19:53
Speaker 3: that we don't feel it deeply. And I I mean,
19:55
Speaker 3: I think that's what's sometimes misunderstood.
19:58
Speaker 4: About the people who do this work, is.
19:59
Speaker 3: That it cuts deeply. They feel they feel it as
20:05
Speaker 3: deeply as everyone else. It's not you never you never
20:09
Speaker 3: grow a callous against loss and pain and people suffering.
20:13
Speaker 3: What you do is you you have an endurance and
20:16
Speaker 3: you have a love for support. And you know, last
20:21
Speaker 3: last week I saw this on display, the people who
20:23
Speaker 3: were up just on the on the front front lines
20:26
Speaker 3: of this, who have personal experience with you know, situations
20:31
Speaker 3: that are similar to this, who are still holding each
20:35
Speaker 3: other and holding the community as much as they can.
20:39
Speaker 3: And it's just the most it's the most powerfully inspiring
20:44
Speaker 3: work to see people rise and do this again and again.
20:48
Speaker 4: And I'm I'm.
20:51
Speaker 3: Truly you know, it's it sounds I don't know if
20:52
Speaker 3: it sounds hollow, I don't know what it sounds like.
20:54
Speaker 3: I'm just so humbled to work with people and to
20:56
Speaker 3: be able to to see this happening day in and
20:59
Speaker 3: day out. Its truly last week is truly astonishing, and
21:02
Speaker 3: it's and it continues to just be.
21:04
Speaker 2: You know, these these employees of Washington County Mental Health
21:12
Speaker 2: everywhere are these are not punch in, punch out nine
21:18
Speaker 2: to five, uh employees. They're carrying him. Wait, they're they're
21:25
Speaker 2: beginning their day before they've started their day.
21:29
Speaker 1: Uh.
21:30
Speaker 4: Right.
21:30
Speaker 3: There are no weekends, there are no evenings. Right, There's
21:33
Speaker 3: an integration of this work throughout your life, and that
21:36
Speaker 3: I think that's not understood. You know, I see some
21:38
Speaker 3: of the of course, you know, you see criticism of
21:41
Speaker 3: the work that we do, or you know, the misunderstanding
21:45
Speaker 3: of how how much incredible devotion it takes to do
21:49
Speaker 3: this and especially with you know, insufficient pay unfortunately for
21:53
Speaker 3: most of the time. I mean that it's just it's
21:54
Speaker 3: so heart filled, it's so dedicated, and it it is
22:00
Speaker 3: not time bound. It's you know, late nights, it's weekends.
22:03
Speaker 3: I was talking to somebody on the way down here
22:06
Speaker 3: who has been a good part of the weekend supporting
22:09
Speaker 3: families and staff around you know, some of the events
22:13
Speaker 3: of last week, and you know, there's there's there's those events,
22:16
Speaker 3: and then there's things that are unseen.
22:19
Speaker 4: You know, we've we've had.
22:21
Speaker 3: Several situations throughout other other parts of the organization that
22:25
Speaker 3: have had just tremendous loss for staff, and we have
22:30
Speaker 3: people in services who pass away, and it's just it's
22:33
Speaker 3: so difficult.
22:34
Speaker 1: You know.
22:35
Speaker 3: We had some specifically some people in residential services with
22:39
Speaker 3: us and they've been they'd been in the in those
22:42
Speaker 3: homes for decades and you know, the staff have worked
22:46
Speaker 3: there for decades.
22:47
Speaker 1: And the family.
22:49
Speaker 3: Yeah, the relationships and the power of that of that
22:52
Speaker 3: service and support is incredibly profoundly affecting. And went to
22:56
Speaker 3: a beautiful memorial recently for one of the residents and
23:01
Speaker 3: the power of the the love that she received in
23:06
Speaker 3: that home. You know, you realize that this is this
23:09
Speaker 3: is it's incredible work, it's good work, it's hard work,
23:13
Speaker 3: it's heartbreaking, and you know, this is why I feel
23:16
Speaker 3: one of you know, my biggest responsibility is taking care
23:20
Speaker 3: of the staff, whether it's trying to be there emotionally
23:24
Speaker 3: or trying to make sure they have the supports they have,
23:27
Speaker 3: or advocating at the legislature and saying this it's just
23:31
Speaker 3: not sufficient pay.
23:32
Speaker 4: We cannot be.
23:35
Speaker 3: Trying to bring up a workforce like this that doesn't
23:38
Speaker 3: have the reimbursement that it needs.
23:40
Speaker 1: I mean, this is it doesn't have works twenty four
23:43
Speaker 1: to seven.
23:43
Speaker 3: Exactly exactly right, and you know, isn't doesn't sometimes get
23:47
Speaker 3: the recognition that it should. You know, there's sometimes I
23:51
Speaker 3: see the impatience of the community at times, you know,
23:54
Speaker 3: wanting all things to be solved, or not necessarily understanding
23:57
Speaker 3: where our work begins and where it can't where it
24:00
Speaker 3: can't be, and how important it is to have people
24:05
Speaker 3: engaged and willing to provide, to be perceiving services. That's
24:09
Speaker 3: such a big part of the work that we do,
24:11
Speaker 3: you know, and I think that's that's really difficult to understand.
24:16
Speaker 2: Do do you feel that those in power under the
24:21
Speaker 2: Golden Dome are really uh listening, really truly listening.
24:29
Speaker 3: I think there are a lot of people working in
24:31
Speaker 3: the Golden Dome who are there for really powerful and
24:37
Speaker 3: inspired reasons. I think that people you can't do that work.
24:40
Speaker 3: I mean that is that is largely volunteer work. There's
24:43
Speaker 3: there's a stipend, but you know, you you have you're devoted,
24:46
Speaker 3: you devoted their day and night. I have dear friends
24:48
Speaker 3: who have gone into the legislature and have been you know, frustrated,
24:54
Speaker 3: I think by some of the you know, politics of course,
24:58
Speaker 3: but the you know frustrations that come with you know,
25:01
Speaker 3: not being able to move things forward at times. But
25:04
Speaker 3: there's some tremendously good hearted people who really do understand
25:07
Speaker 3: and who are working very hard. There's there's a there's
25:11
Speaker 3: so much need in this state, you know, with just
25:14
Speaker 3: is it six hundred and fifty thousand people here, we
25:17
Speaker 3: have an insufficient tax base to fund all the programs
25:21
Speaker 3: that we need. Our you know, our insurances. We don't
25:23
Speaker 3: talk about that too much, but the healthcare issue that
25:26
Speaker 3: we're having in this state. Our premiums shouldn't be twice
25:29
Speaker 3: within our neighboring states. You know, our pay shouldn't be
25:33
Speaker 3: what it is for our staff. And yet where do
25:37
Speaker 3: where do those dollars come from? Because we have a
25:39
Speaker 3: lot of investments that we need and then we have
25:41
Speaker 3: then we have problems on top of that, you know,
25:43
Speaker 3: substance use issues, mental health issues, homelessness, you know, these
25:47
Speaker 3: are these are expensive issues. And one of the great
25:51
Speaker 3: things I should say this about the Granite Shed is
25:54
Speaker 3: you hear the term, I don't know if your listeners
25:56
Speaker 3: are familiar with it, but upstream services meaning getting getting
26:00
Speaker 3: trying to fix the problem before it goes downstream and
26:03
Speaker 3: becomes even more of a problem. And this is what
26:06
Speaker 3: we're hoping is that this is an upstream fix, that
26:08
Speaker 3: this is helping prevent some of the issues that can spiral,
26:13
Speaker 3: can turn into long term stays in psychiatric hospitals, or
26:19
Speaker 3: you know, maybe reduce homelessness and you know, more significant
26:23
Speaker 3: substance use issues. If we can get to those folks earlier,
26:28
Speaker 3: then we can prevent some of this. And that's you know,
26:30
Speaker 3: part of We had some nice investment from the hospital
26:33
Speaker 3: and from the Department of Mental Health in this initiative,
26:36
Speaker 3: and I think that really speaks to the the understanding
26:40
Speaker 3: that we need to be putting our dollars in prevention,
26:44
Speaker 3: you know, And that's I see that as this work
26:46
Speaker 3: that we're doing and also putting the dollars in the people.
26:50
Speaker 3: We have a we have a tremendous vacancy rate in
26:53
Speaker 3: Washington County right now, which doesn't.
26:56
Speaker 4: Allow us to deliver the services as well as we
26:58
Speaker 4: need to.
26:59
Speaker 3: And you know, part of that, I think is people
27:01
Speaker 3: see this is really hard work, and maybe they don't
27:04
Speaker 3: see how powerful and wonderful it is as well. You
27:08
Speaker 3: know you can if you just if you just see
27:10
Speaker 3: the work on the news, or if you don't fully
27:12
Speaker 3: understand what we do, I know you you know, you
27:14
Speaker 3: do some one on one work as well.
27:16
Speaker 4: I have.
27:17
Speaker 3: We've had a man with autism who's lived with us
27:19
Speaker 3: for seventeen years or so. I've worked in this field
27:23
Speaker 3: for thirty thirty plus years. And you know, if you
27:27
Speaker 3: don't know what it's like to work, you know, one
27:31
Speaker 3: on one with someone with autism or someone with mental
27:33
Speaker 3: health issues or substances, to be able to see the
27:36
Speaker 3: beauty of life, that's a little bit more fringe, it's
27:39
Speaker 3: a little more different. Then you don't know that these
27:41
Speaker 3: are the kind of jobs that are really powerful for
27:44
Speaker 3: all of us to be doing.
27:47
Speaker 1: Wow.
27:48
Speaker 2: Yeah, that was uh, that was something you know. And
27:52
Speaker 2: if it wasn't for for Mike and I may not
27:55
Speaker 2: have have ever met that guy.
27:57
Speaker 4: And he's a hell of a recruiter, isn't it?
27:59
Speaker 1: Yeah?
28:00
Speaker 2: Is And and this this young man has uh, I'm
28:06
Speaker 2: so blest, so blest has flipped my life and made
28:11
Speaker 2: me forced me to think of things differently. It's incredible.
28:15
Speaker 2: Before we sneak out of here real quick, on the
28:17
Speaker 2: standing committees, the steering committees, look at what you guys
28:21
Speaker 2: are doing.
28:22
Speaker 1: I mean this unbelievable. Big kudos to Penny.
28:26
Speaker 3: Yeah, well that she's she's such a Penny is such
28:28
Speaker 3: an exciting person. Hopefully you'll have her on here soon
28:30
Speaker 3: to talk about peer Palooza and some of the work
28:32
Speaker 3: she's done there. But Penny has she's working with what
28:37
Speaker 3: used to be CSP or Intensive Adult Mental Health. But
28:40
Speaker 3: we need to have we have to have a by
28:43
Speaker 3: our designation, a standing committee in each of our in
28:46
Speaker 3: our major programs, we have to have adult mental health
28:49
Speaker 3: standing Committee. We have a Children's Mental Health Standing Committee,
28:52
Speaker 3: and we have a Developmental Services Standing Committee. Children's and
28:57
Speaker 3: Adult Mental health have been really robust.
28:59
Speaker 4: Children.
29:00
Speaker 3: It is becoming more engaged recently, but the adult Standing
29:03
Speaker 3: Committee in Mental Health has been very ambitious, very hard working.
29:08
Speaker 3: We had a great meeting last week with we brought
29:11
Speaker 3: in our human resources and we're talking about our best
29:15
Speaker 3: places to work data. You know, we're really looking at
29:18
Speaker 3: how to take care of our staff. You know, we
29:20
Speaker 3: we've done the survey now a couple of years. We
29:22
Speaker 3: have not been designated as one of the best places
29:24
Speaker 3: to work in Vermont where I came from. We were
29:28
Speaker 3: and we're going to get there, but we have to
29:30
Speaker 3: do some soul searching and we have to really listen
29:33
Speaker 3: to our staff and have hard conversations about, you know,
29:36
Speaker 3: whether or not we're doing this the right way, whether
29:38
Speaker 3: or not we're hearing them. You know, we got some
29:41
Speaker 3: heavy feedback and so we're taking that and looking at
29:44
Speaker 3: it and trying to translate it into what we need
29:46
Speaker 3: to do. And that's what the beauty of these standing
29:47
Speaker 3: committees is. This is this is how we actually hear
29:50
Speaker 3: how well we're doing right, Like, these are the people
29:53
Speaker 3: in services who we say, okay, this is these are
29:56
Speaker 3: the initiatives that are happening. There's so many changes that
29:58
Speaker 3: have taken place in mental health and in developmental services.
30:03
Speaker 3: There have been reforms in both of them. The role
30:06
Speaker 3: of case management has changed and both of them. Yeah,
30:09
Speaker 3: the role of residential has changed, certainly in adult mental health.
30:13
Speaker 3: And having that the Standing Committee and having people reflect
30:18
Speaker 3: back on us how well we're you know, these changes
30:21
Speaker 3: aren't things that we have initiated, but there there's something
30:24
Speaker 3: really at the federal level that we needed to we
30:26
Speaker 3: need to change.
30:27
Speaker 4: But they can.
30:28
Speaker 3: They can certainly tell us how well we're rolling it out,
30:30
Speaker 3: and they do, and you know we I think we're
30:34
Speaker 3: good at seeking that input and they're really good at
30:38
Speaker 3: giving it to us.
30:40
Speaker 2: The Standing Committee is the second Thursday of every month, Yes,
30:45
Speaker 2: over on Barry Street.
30:46
Speaker 4: And Barry Street.
30:47
Speaker 3: Yep, that's right, that's right, yeap, children, I'm trying to
30:52
Speaker 3: remember what it is. And then Developmental Services was actually
30:54
Speaker 3: pretty intermittent, and I think that they have moved to
30:57
Speaker 3: the second.
31:00
Speaker 4: Tuesday.
31:01
Speaker 3: I think I should get back to you on that
31:02
Speaker 3: one of monthly. They were they it's only required that
31:06
Speaker 3: they meet quarterly, but I think it's they decide to
31:09
Speaker 3: meet monthly because we want to get enough feedback. The
31:12
Speaker 3: Steering Committee yes, yes, a standing committee. Sorry, so a
31:15
Speaker 3: standing committee is really a steering committee. It's it's sort
31:18
Speaker 3: of the same thing and for us, okay.
31:22
Speaker 2: And it's it's it's amazing. I mean, parents who have
31:28
Speaker 2: questions about h and there's a there's different subjects each time,
31:33
Speaker 2: but parents who have questions about does my kid need
31:36
Speaker 2: an I E p uh. You know, I have questions
31:41
Speaker 2: that maybe aren't being answered at the school.
31:44
Speaker 4: Yep.
31:45
Speaker 3: Yeah, you could always reach out to any of our folks, Yeah,
31:48
Speaker 3: to get that feedback.
31:50
Speaker 4: Yeah.
31:51
Speaker 2: Final thought. Employment, If folks want to learn about career opportunities,
31:58
Speaker 2: where do we where do we go?
32:00
Speaker 3: Our website is the best place w C MHS dot org.
32:05
Speaker 3: I think that's what it is. And yeah, there's the
32:08
Speaker 3: careers page. There's a lot of I would just you know,
32:11
Speaker 3: grab yourself a cup of coffee, sit down, look through,
32:14
Speaker 3: let your heart move you through things that you know,
32:17
Speaker 3: look at what interests you talk talk to anybody who's
32:22
Speaker 3: worked with us, you know or maybe working with us now.
32:25
Speaker 3: The different divisions have different personalities and the work is
32:29
Speaker 3: there's there's entry level work in every part of our organization.
32:33
Speaker 3: I came into this work. I was an artist and
32:36
Speaker 3: I was working with another artist with autism in my
32:40
Speaker 3: studio and had never considered this. I had actually been
32:43
Speaker 3: restoring wooden boats and doing art and I thought, you know,
32:47
Speaker 3: I thought that's what I was going to do. And
32:48
Speaker 3: I met this man. He came and worked in my
32:50
Speaker 3: studio with me, and thirty years later, this is what
32:55
Speaker 3: I'm doing, you know, and it's it's a great life,
32:59
Speaker 3: you know, being able to to work with people and
33:02
Speaker 3: be inspired by them.
33:03
Speaker 4: Wow, follow their lead.
33:05
Speaker 1: Wow. Yeah, that sounds like this could be a book.
33:09
Speaker 4: I don't I don't know. I don't know.
33:11
Speaker 3: I don't know if I'm allowed to talk about a
33:12
Speaker 3: lot of the things that have experience.
33:16
Speaker 2: Beth's Thank you so much, appreciate you coming in here.
33:21
Speaker 2: I look forward to having some folks on soon from
33:25
Speaker 2: the Access Hub.
33:26
Speaker 4: Yep.
33:27
Speaker 1: I really want to get Penny in here too. Yeah
33:29
Speaker 1: for sure, we make help.
33:30
Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah, absolutely, She's so much fun. It'd be great.
33:33
Speaker 3: Yeah, and then I'd love to talk to you about
33:34
Speaker 3: some upcoming events and things we can get Kim in here.
33:37
Speaker 3: Kim Kim Eat our communications development director, doing.
33:41
Speaker 1: A great job.
33:41
Speaker 4: Yeah, she's fabulous.
33:42
Speaker 1: A lot of stuff happening.
33:44
Speaker 2: Yeah, how you guys are able to keep track of
33:47
Speaker 2: it is beyond me.
33:49
Speaker 4: Yeah, we don't always. There's some misses. Yeah, we're trying.
33:55
Speaker 4: We're really trying.
33:56
Speaker 2: I love having you guys as a sponsor. I love
34:00
Speaker 2: talking about all things Washington County Mental Health.
34:03
Speaker 1: You guys do so much appreciating. We're so blessed. Our
34:06
Speaker 1: community is so blessed.
34:07
Speaker 2: We're talking about what like ten thousand for minors directly
34:11
Speaker 2: or indirectly every year that have been affected or impacted
34:17
Speaker 2: by Washington County Mental Health.
34:19
Speaker 1: That's incredible. We need you powerful work, We need you
34:22
Speaker 1: a lot.
34:23
Speaker 4: What else are we doing that's important? Right?
34:25
Speaker 3: I mean, these are short lifetimes, and you know, we
34:27
Speaker 3: might as well be being doing something valuable.
34:30
Speaker 2: Folks can reach out no matter who you are, no
34:34
Speaker 2: matter where you are, you can reach out to Washington
34:37
Speaker 2: County Mental Health twenty four to seven and say, hey,
34:42
Speaker 2: this is weighing on me. I really need to talk
34:47
Speaker 2: and know that you're not necessarily going to be put
34:50
Speaker 2: into this system. You can have a nice private conversation
34:54
Speaker 2: and just get the bolt roll and it makes sure
34:56
Speaker 2: you're okay.
34:57
Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah, take care of yourself, take care of your people.
35:00
Speaker 2: Yeah, good stuff. Thank you, Beth so much. Have a
35:03
Speaker 2: fantastic rest of your day. All right, all right, Happy
35:06
Speaker 2: Monday everyone. We'll catch you tomorrow morning. It is going
35:09
Speaker 2: to be a very very busy week here at aired Out.
35:15
Speaker 2: Emily McKenna tomorrow morning from Central Vermont Home Health and
35:20
Speaker 2: Hospice will be in here to have some great conversation,
35:25
Speaker 2: not just about their golf tournament, but about some of
35:28
Speaker 2: the work that they do as well. God bless have
35:30
Speaker 2: a great rest of your day. We'll catch you tomorrow
35:32
Speaker 2: here on aired
35:33
Speaker 1: Out up to talk to to