My name is Susan Cort. I’m the Talent & Development Manager at Presbyterian Medical Services (PMS) based in Santa Fe, New Mexico. We’re the largest network of community health centers/FQHCs in the state. We offer integrated primary care and behavioral health services at approximately 50 health centers. I’ve been here for almost 20 years overseeing training and statewide recruitment for 350+ job titles (we also do early childhood education, senior services as well as programs for developmentally disabled adults and developmentally delayed children). We’re very proud of Totah Behavioral Health Authority, a program that uses traditional Native American healing methods to address substance abuse issues. It also involves wrap-around services such as temporary housing and a Sobering Center.
We have over 100 licensed, master’s level behavioral health staff and 20+ vacancies. We have a long list of recruitment strategies that we’ve implemented, but it seems like we’re hitting up against a national shortage of qualified candidates. Or maybe that’s just an excuse for our recruitment problems? 🙂 Plus, we have a retention issue. Non-independently therapists tend to join us, they get their supervised hours to become independently licensed then leave us. Reasons seem related to the quantity of documentation that Medicaid requires. But of course there’s nothing we can do about that.
I’m looking forward to learning new strategies, ideas and approaches to recruitment and retention. I’m very open-minded and willing to try almost anything to get these badly needed services to our communities.
Looking forward to getting to know everyone!
Susan Cort
Howdy everyone!
My name is Susan Cort. I’m the Talent & Development Manager at Presbyterian Medical Services (PMS) based in Santa Fe, New Mexico. We’re the largest network of community health centers/FQHCs in the state. We offer integrated primary care and behavioral health services at approximately 50 health centers. I’ve been here for almost 20 years overseeing training and statewide recruitment for 350+ job titles (we also do early childhood education, senior services as well as programs for developmentally disabled adults and developmentally delayed children). We’re very proud of Totah Behavioral Health Authority, a program that uses traditional Native American healing methods to address substance abuse issues. It also involves wrap-around services such as temporary housing and a Sobering Center.
We have over 100 licensed, master’s level behavioral health staff and 20+ vacancies. We have a long list of recruitment strategies that we’ve implemented, but it seems like we’re hitting up against a national shortage of qualified candidates. Or maybe that’s just an excuse for our recruitment problems? 🙂 Plus, we have a retention issue. Non-independently therapists tend to join us, they get their supervised hours to become independently licensed then leave us. Reasons seem related to the quantity of documentation that Medicaid requires. But of course there’s nothing we can do about that.
I’m looking forward to learning new strategies, ideas and approaches to recruitment and retention. I’m very open-minded and willing to try almost anything to get these badly needed services to our communities.
Looking forward to getting to know everyone!
Susan Cort