Program & Team Spotlight: Behavioral Health

Behavioral Health Director Nadine Oldham shares some updates below about what’s going on in the BH department.

Which team members or team updates do you want to recognize?

I want to thank the entire Behavioral Health team of full-time, part-time and contractor staff for all they do to support our clients. I especially want to thank them for their tireless efforts to get CaringWorks out of prepayment review, which we did in about seven months. It was truly a team effort with some members wearing many hats to make it happen. I’m proud of this team and proud that despite challenges we face, we consistently deliver quality services and we still have a passion for this work. 

I also want to congratulate BH team member Shalondria Turk as she now holds the title of Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW)!

And finally, I’d like to recognize a new contractor who recently joined our team as a group facilitator: Willie Cummings is a certified peer specialist and he’s already making a big impact in the short time he’s been here.

Are there any notable program and service updates in Behavioral Health?

Over the last couple of months since we got out of prepayment review, we’ve been building back our client base and exploring ways to reach more people who need us. 

Each day we see that the need for behavioral health services in our community is great, and we know our services make a big impact. Our team is focused on finding solutions to address the needs. One way we’re doing this is by applying to become a Medicare provider. We are currently a Medicaid provider, but becoming a Medicare provider will help us reach more people and offer more services including for seniors in our housing programs and seniors in our community. We are in the process of applying now, and hope to be Medicare-certified by the end of the year.

We are also excited and encouraged to see that participation in our group sessions has steadily increased since getting out of prepayment review. Our groups currently meet two days a week, and we are considering adding another day to accommodate the growth.

As a reminder, the internal referral process for BH has changed and if you’d like to refer a CaringWorks client to receive BH services, please fill out a referral form and send it to me. Feel free to contact me with any questions. 

 

Is there anything you want other CaringWorks team members to know?

There’s a quote that I refer to frequently in BH and I think it applies to all of us at CaringWorks: 

“Hope is the ability to believe that good can happen out of anything.” —Joan Chittister

I consistently tell my team that no matter what challenges we are presented with, there is good that can result so we need to keep pressing forward. As a department and as an organization we’ve had our challenges but what we do brings immeasurable good to our clients and to the community.

March 2024