STRONG START: AGENCY SUPPORT FOR STAFF SEEKING LICENSURE

The Strong Start Team from left to right: Kristina McKeighan, Paul Black, Karen Grimm, Tom Cox

Strong Start: Agency Support

for Staff Seeking Licensure

Recently, the conversation around mental health has moved from a buzz to an open, fearless dialogue. As more individuals seek mental health support, the demand for mental health professionals of all disciplines has risen. But the road to becoming a licensed, practicing mental health professional isn’t easy. Even after the ink has dried on that hard-earned degree, those pursuing careers in mental health still have clinical hours and licensure exams to complete.

“The process is tough. It couldn’t be more layered,” says Paul Black, a licensed clinician at Rutland Mental Health Services. In the process of becoming licensed, he struggled to balance his work as a child and family clinician at Rutland Mental Health Services and find time to study. Ultimately, Black received the support he needed from Karen Grimm, Manager of School-Based Services. “I was given a few hours each week to study during my work day, and it made a big difference in how I studied and found support.”

This gesture of support became the cornerstone of Community Care Network’s new Strong Start program, which launched in September 2020 after months of research, proposals, and preparation. Strong Start is a career springboard for emerging mental health professionals that helps them balance employment with study and find community among their peers. It was launched by Karen Grimm, Paul Black, Thomas Cox, and Kristina McKeighan.

“To see staff experiencing so much frustration with the licensing process...really made us wonder how our agency could help new clinicians find resources and not feel so defeated during this process,” says Grimm.

Strong Start participants have access to robust licensure exam prep materials, attend monthly mental health trainings, and find peer support at study groups built into their workweek. As a tried and true veteran of the rigorous licensure exam process, Paul Black now facilitates weekly virtual study groups with the 19 members of Strong Start’s pilot group.

Strong Start also integrates monthly mental health trainings to help staff build competence and confidence to work through common issues clinicians face.

“We’ve been talking for years about developing a foundational series of trainings to enhance education on topics child & family staff come across in our work,” says Tom Cox, a child and family outpatient clinician, “This became part of Strong Start because we realized newer staff might be looking for additional information that would enhance their knowledge base of their work, the agency, and those we serve.”

But it’s more than just a study group—it’s a study in how an agencysupported licensure process creates cultural change that builds community and ultimately strengthens services to the community. The impacts of clinicians obtaining licensure touch every aspect of the work done at Community Care Network.

“From a recruiting standpoint, we’ve been looking at how to attract the talent of new graduates and out-of-staters and how to we keep them,” says Kristina, McKeighan, an HR Business Partner and recruiting expert for the Strong Start leadership group. “It’s a great thing to start the (licensure) conversation early with new hires, and then support the process as an agency.”

The Strong Start founders are now in the thick of collecting feedback and refining the program, and are excited about the possibilities.

“We created this out of thin air, and there are some growing pains. We have some data, some ideas, and some thoughts about how to move forward—and we are ready to iron them out,” Cox says.