Around the Embers

Ken Vick started out as a behavioral health tech and peer specialist. Then he worked his way up through counselor and clinical supervisor to leading a program. Now he runs Avalon Wellness & Recovery in Lawrence, Kansas, a medical detox and residential treatment center he joined one week after it opened.

In this episode of Around the Embers, Mitchell and Ken talk about what it takes to build a treatment program from scratch (a "de novo"). They cover insurance contracting, getting Joint Commission accreditation, and making a brand-new name known in a small town. Ken explains why he builds a team instead of a staff, and why he puts quality of care ahead of productivity numbers. His view is that when a team takes care of itself, clients stay in treatment longer and do better. He also gives a controversial take: behavioral health's workforce shortage is really a leadership and culture problem. He points out he hasn't had a staffing shortage in over a decade.

In this episode:

• The two fires Ken is tending: insurance and billing setup, and preventing burnout on his team
• How a de novo is different from an established program, and why the right leader for months 0–6 may not be the right one after that
• "You can teach skills, you can't teach attitude": hiring for culture fit
• Mitchell's framework for hiring at three levels: frontline, specialist ("widget makers"), and leadership
• Company values that people actually live, not just talk about
• The "what car does she drive" problem: knowing your people as human beings
• The hot take: less of a workforce shortage, more of a culture problem
• Why HR in behavioral health has gotten stuck on compliance, and why benefits need to catch up
• Why Joint Commission surveys aren't as scary as people think: "Just do the right thing."

Connect with Ken and Avalon Wellness & Recovery:

• Phone: 785-340-0300
• Website: avalonwrc.com
• LinkedIn: Ken Vick | Avalon Wellness & Recovery

A Yale football player whose heart rate dropped into the 20s. A 24-year-old sent home from the ER because "he's an athlete." Neither one looked like someone with an eating disorder. That's the point.

This week Mitchell sits down with Brittany Davis, LPCC-S, around the embers. Brittany has nearly 20 years in eating disorder treatment and is a former senior regional director of multi-site behavioral health operations in Ohio. She explains why BMI keeps failing patients, why men and people in larger bodies are often missed until they're in crisis, and why so many eating disorder and substance use programs send shared patients back and forth instead of treating them.

In this episode:

• Stigma, AI misinformation, and the push to treat mental health as preventive care
• Why BMI misses so much, and what "set point" actually means
• How eating disorders go unnoticed in male and larger-bodied patients
• The overlap between SUD and eating disorders, and the gap between the two treatment worlds
• Questions every clinician can ask at intake, even without ED expertise
• The risk to clinicians' licenses when misinformation shapes care
• What the field gets wrong: fixating on the primary diagnosis, insurance pressure, and burnout

Connect with Brittany:
Brittany Davis
Next Level Behavioral Consulting
Also on Psychology Today: search "Brittany Davis"

Connect with Around the Embers:
The Ember Collective | www.embercollectivellc.com | 865-255-8330

Jen Ramsden built her career from the inside out — she got her start in recovery herself before rising to lead marketing across the behavioral health space. In this episode, she and Mitchell dig into the always-on culture eating away at this industry's workforce, why "wellness time" might be a better fix than sick time, why every SUD company should have a relapse policy in place, and why women's mental health care is still underserved — even by an industry that should know better.

Amber Nelms started Triangle ABA in 2020 as a team of one — today it's grown to 77 people serving families across the Raleigh-Durham area, without ever taking private equity money. In this conversation, she and Mitchell dig into the unglamorous work of scaling a care business: fixing a broken intake pipeline, knowing when a person or process has outgrown its seat, and why she thinks the industry's biggest assumption about clinician-owned companies — that they can't scale — is dead wrong.

Most of us were taught how to treat others — but nobody taught us how to treat ourselves. Jessica Graham, mental health therapist, private practice owner, and children's author, is working to change that from the ground up — literally. She goes into preschool classrooms with a chime and a children's book, teaching kids mindfulness before they even know what the word means.

In this conversation, Mitchell and Jessica explore why self-love is a skill, not a personality trait — and why the window to build it is shorter than most parents realize. They get into practical grounding techniques that actually work with resistant teens (hint: ditch the breathing exercises), the neuroscience behind why a sour candy can calm a nervous system, and why therapy doesn't always have to be a years-long commitment.

Jessica is also the author of The Love Inside, a children's book centered on self-love and emotional development, born out of a simple question she asked her own kids — and the blank stares she got back.

If you work in behavioral health, lead a team, or just find yourself being harder on yourself than you'd ever be on a friend — this one's for you.

The conversation delves into the complexities of leadership, the impact of organizational restructuring, changes in behavioral health services, and the role of AI in the industry. Mike Fidgeon shares insights on resetting the business, the CCBHC model, crisis walk-in centers, and building relationships with law enforcement. Mitchell discusses the impact of organizational restructuring on employees and the importance of equipping frontline managers for change.

Takeaways

• Navigating complexity in leadership
• Impact of organizational restructuring on employees

Chapters

• 00:00 Navigating Complexity in Leadership
• 07:14 Crisis Walk-in Behavioral Health Centers
• 12:18 Building Relationships with Law Enforcement
• 20:16 Equipping Frontline Managers for Change
• 26:01 The Impact of AI on Behavioral Health Services

The conversation with Candace Thompson covers the work of Yeahyoutoo, a community-based organization dedicated to trauma-informed care and support for former convicted female felons. It explores the challenges of helping people, the benefits of hiring convicted felons, considerations for organizations looking to hire this population, and misconceptions about helping others.

Takeaways

• Trauma-informed care
• Supporting convicted felons

Chapters

• 00:00 Introduction to Yayutoo
• 05:22 Benefits of Hiring Convicted Felons
• 17:36 Misconceptions About Helping Others

The conversation delves into the importance of men's mental health advocacy, the impact of burnout in the workplace, recognizing burnout and silent quitting, addressing burnout and seeking help, the importance of human connection in the workplace, and changing perceptions in high-achieving positions.

Takeaways

• Men's mental health advocacy
• Recognizing and addressing burnout in the workplace

Chapters

• 00:00 Introduction and Background
• 06:01 Impact of Burnout in the Workplace
• 13:00 Addressing Burnout and Seeking Help
• 19:02 Changing Perceptions in High-Achieving Positions