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Becker’s Healthcare Podcast
Expanding Access and Building Resilience in Behavioral Health with Jaime Vinck
00:14:10
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- [00:00]
A
Hello and welcome to the Becker's Healthcare Podcast. My name is Chanel Bunger, and today I have the pleasure of speaking with Jamie Vink, the president at Meadows Behavioral Healthcare, who joins the podcast today to share insights into her background, behavioral health care trends she's keeping an eye on, and a bit more. Jamie, thank you so much for joining me today.
- [00:18]
B
Thank you very much for having me.
- [00:20]
A
Perfect. And to get us started, could you please take a moment to introduce yourself, tell us a bit about your background and Meadows Behavioral Healthcare.
- [00:27]
B
Absolutely. So my name is Jamie Vink. I'm a clinician, a licensed professional counselor in the state of Arizona, and I have been in the substance use treatment industry for about 20 years in a variety of roles, starting as a therapist and then clinical leadership and CEO and president. I joined the Meadows Behavioral Health Care a little over a year ago, and Meadows is located centrally located in Arizona, headquartered in Arizona. And Meadows has been around for over 50. For 50 years. And so there's a very, very deeply rooted legacy in treating trauma, substance use disorder, mood disorder, and also intimacy disorders and sex addiction. So we have seven residential treatment cent in Arizona, Texas, and one in Malibu, California. And we also have 12 outpatient programs across the country and also a very large virtual presence on the outpatient level of care. And so the thread that runs through all of our programs is really the essence of trauma, that we know that trauma is underlying a number of issues, including substance use disorder, depression, anxiety. And so that's something that we treat with the. Through the work of PM Melody. That's really the essence of our model. And it's developmental trauma. And so that's a bit about the Meadows.
- [02:13]
A
Got it. Thank you so much for that introduction. And now there's a lot going on in healthcare today and especially behavioral health. And with that, can you talk about maybe a few trends that you're keeping a close eye on in your role today?
- [02:26]
B
Absolutely. And so something that I've seen for a number of years is increased acuity. And that's true at every level of care. And so what we're seeing across the board with our patients, whether it's outpatient or residential or detox, patients are more complicated. And part of that reason is I believe that people are waiting a longer time to come into treatment, to come into residential treatment, and perhaps waiting for some type of crises or a life event where there really are no alternatives. So we are seeing a lot of folks coming in after several DUIs or a suicide attempt, their family blowing up, their marriage, blowing up, losing their profession. Those kinds of things. And so when they're walking in the door, they are more complicated. And so that's been a huge trend for us, is being able to safely support our patients at all levels of care. The other thing that has been going on, and this is certainly isn't unique to behavioral health and certainly not unique to Meadows, is that what we've seen is rising costs everywhere. And so wages have gone up, food, rent, supplies, you name it. It's more expensive to treat someone and we will not compromise on quality care. And so we've seen some folks out of desperation having to cut back their clinical program, you know, perhaps not offering family support services or not using fully licensed counselors. And those are things that we've been very fortunate that strategically we've not done those things. And so we're able to maintain the quality of what I mentioned earlier, that Meadows model of treatment. The other thing that has been new for the Meadows and strategically, I know we're not alone in going this route. In order to expand access to care, we have gone in network with large payers. And our strategy is to seek more value based agreements and more partnerships with not only payers, but also large employer groups. And so we're able to touch more lives and really be able to expand who we can treat.
- [04:57]
A
Absolutely. And now it's hard to believe that we're closing in on the end of 2025, but with that, what are you most focused on and excited about going into the end of the year and going into 2026?
- [05:09]
B
Well, I mentioned expanding access to care and that's something that has been a passion of mine for many, many years. You know, there was a time in this country where only the extremely wealthy were able to get treatment. You know, it was something for the rich and famous. And what we've been is to provide quality treatment at all levels of care and really increase the accessibility for folks who are dependent on their health insurance, either in full or in part. So I'm really excited to be able to expand that mission of ours, the other thing, and also perfecting that in network or commercial delivery of services, it looks different than in a self pay model. And so really be able to hone in on the quality and the service delivery because we know that when we're doing a better job with documentation and with our assessments, those kinds of things, then the payers are liable to give us more days in treatment. And so that's been a huge focus of mine. And then also patient safety, we are launching something called visible hands and It's a Bluetooth based patient safety monitoring, proximity monitoring tool. So we're really able to utilize that to enhance patient experience and to keep everyone safe. So anytime we can incorporate technology, we are very excited to do that. The other thing that is a passion of mine is we're really working on our workforce development. You know, to be able to, as we've said, everything is becoming more complicated in behavioral health. So to be able to grow and develop that next generation of leaders, that's something that we're working very hard onto with our workforce development. We've also been able to develop some interesting new workshops through our Rio Retreat center where we are offering five day intensives that are geared toward the family members of folks that may be in care with us or spouses and really tailor them to things that we know, know are in need in the family system. And so those are some of the things that we've been working on and are working on in 2026.
- [07:43]
A
Got it. Got it. A lot of exciting stuff on the horizon for Meadows Behavioral Healthcare. And now that we've looked into the future of it, looking back at the past six to 18 months or so, and you've already listed a few, but can you talk about an initiative or a couple initiatives that either you or your organization have accomplished that you're proud of?
- [08:03]
B
Well, again, the expanded access to care and to be able to. We have an agreement with Blue Cross Blue Shield, the first of its kind for the Meadows, and we have really been able to touch more lives and more families with that. So that's something for which I will always have immense gratitude to be able to be part of that. And also this is more personal. I have been working on a book since it's called the Rehab Playbook and It was published September 9th by Regalo Press. And so that has been a labor of love of mine and very excited to get that out and to be part of this incredible publishing journey at the Meadows. We've also been working all year on a compassion fatigue initiative. You know, as I've mentioned, the acuity is high with our patients and we know that a lot of our staff are really experiencing vicarious trauma and burnout. And so we have created a compassion fatigue initiative where we are supporting our staff and really getting them to understand what's going on in terms of their own behaviors and to really be able to focus on how they can take care of themselves, mind, body, spirit, so that they can take care of their families and they can do this for this work for the long haul rather than being burnt out and having to leave and to do something else. We also rolled this compassion fatigue initiative out to other therapists that are referring partners of the Meadows. And we had the first of its kind of a compassion fatigue weekend where we had therapists come out and really practice self care and to learn how to best take care of ourselves so we can keep doing the work that we love.
- [10:10]
A
Absolutely. And now I could tell that you're very passionate about what you do in this short conversation that we've had. But with that, could you maybe share a few pieces of advice for evolving leaders looking to have the same passion and success in their careers as you have?
- [10:25]
B
Absolutely. My first piece of advice would be, you know, there's so many different I'm a huge fan of servant leadership and trauma, informed leadership and transformational leadership and all of the wonderful things that we can all read about. However, it's important to fine tune and hone your grit to be able to hang in and to really be able to be adaptable and grow and change with the ever evolving field of behavioral health. Because as I've mentioned, what we've got going now does not look anything like what was happening during COVID certainly not five years before that. And so to have that grit, to be adaptable and to really be able to pivot and to come up with new and exciting ways to approach what's ahead of us, the other thing that I would really ask people to do is never, ever, ever forget what your purpose is. You know, why are you there? We can all get caught up in day to day and to be able to say, you know, I am clear on the meaning that I am going to attach to my work and to my life and what is it that I'm trying to accomplish here? You know, I mentioned my book and my book was born out of the idea of so many of us in behavioral health and so many of us are behind the scenes devoting our lives to substance use disorder, to trauma, to mood disorder. And I wanted those out there who are struggling, who have fear, who are carrying shame stigma, to be able to know they're not alone. Many of us that do this work are wounded healers. And so if someone is out there struggling to know that, you know, we've got you, we understand. And I know treatment looks scary, but really, you know, check out the pages of this book where you can find that there are ways to ask for help. And when you do that, there's going to be compassion and there's going to be people there that really get what you're going through and can wrap around you and really encourage that healing. And for a leader, I guess that I would really just ask everyone to determine what's your passion project? What is it that in the morning is going to have you rise to your feet, that you're going to say, yes, I get to go do this again, again? And there's so many projects out there that in behavioral health, we have the gift of being able to work on them. So find it so we don't get worn down by A, the grind of our work or B, to become hopeless or jaded from the work.
- [13:31]
A
Absolutely. Excellent advice. Well, Jamie, I want to thank you for your time today, but before I let you go, can you just state the name of that book again, where people can find it and anything else that listeners should know.
- [13:43]
B
So my book is called the Rehab Playbook, and it's the Rehab Playbook Demystifying Addiction Treatment. And it is available on Amazon, Walmart, Target, most major sellers.
- [14:00]
A
Perfect. Well, Jamie, I want to thank you once again for your time today and for sharing your insights on the Becker's Healthcare podcast. Thank you so much.
- [14:06]
B
Thank you. Bye. Bye.