By Daniel Ladue • Photos by Jessica McCafferty
Behavioral Health Services North (BHSN) new president and CEO Katherine Cook’s career path has taken her from a small town in southern Ohio to a community on the
eastern most point of the Maine coast, to New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut and now – Plattsburgh, New York.
Katherine Cook and Ollie
When Cook was planning for college, she — like so many of us — was unsure about what she wanted to study. There were so many choices. Business sounded interesting so she enrolled in Kent State University to pursue a degree in Marketing, but her focus took a turn. “I began to volunteer at a local AIDS/HIV clinic,” she explained. “It was the early 1990s when people who were infected were being ostracized. Everyone was afraid. No one wanted to touch or even sit next to anyone who had been diagnosed. That experience changed my life. I felt the need to work with that population, to offer them hope and to do that, I needed to become a licensed therapist.”
Cook earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Social Work from Cleveland State University and a Master’s Degree in Social Services Administration and Social Work from Case Western University in 1998. After graduation she spent two years as Director of Social Services at the AIDS Taskforce of Greater Cleveland and then moved east to become the Director of Behavioral Health Services in Eastport Maine, a position she held for more than nine years. “Our services covered residents of Washington County, as well as the Passamaquoddy/First Nation people of the area,” she explained. “It was there I learned about the true practice of social work.”
Despite Cook’s devotion to the people and the region of Eastport, a personal decision caused her to change her focus once again. “When my husband and I decided to have a child, we realized living in an area that was more than two hours from a hospital of any size just wouldn’t work,” she revealed. A decision to relocate to New Hampshire put her on a path that led to leadership roles in a variety of Behavioral Health Agencies throughout New England and eventually culminated in her move to Plattsburgh.
When Cook stepped into her role at BHSN in June she took on an organization that had been serving the North Country in various forms for more than 150 years. (To learn more about its storied history, make sure to read Sheltering Arms and Willing Hands on page 10.)
In its current form BHSN provides more than 13 sites and 24 programs that serve the North Country and the Glens Falls area. Its certified clinicians include nurses and psychiatric nurse practitioners. Its Behavioral Health Clinics and on-site locations provide comprehensive, whole-person care that addresses social, emotional, and physical needs, thus ensuring access to coordinated and comprehensive behavioral health care. Services are provided across the lifespan and serve anyone who requests care for mental health or substance use. More than 500 professionals make getting a person well its chief priority.
Behavioral Health Services North offers a cornucopia of services. These include 24/7 mobile crisis intervention, outpatient mental health, addiction recovery, adult and child care management, residential services and supports, school-based counseling, and in-home therapy. Services also include primary care screening and medication monitoring, psychiatric rehabilitation, and employment services, therapeutic foster care, employee assistance, and STOP Domestic and Sexual Violence services.
BHSN maintains more than 300 “beds” in the region. Scatter-site housing allows people to live on their own. Residential treatment programs give men a place to live in a supportive environment when in recovery from addiction and affordable supportive housing is dedicated for people with social care needs.
During our SB interview I asked Cook to describe the role the agency would play for a hypothetical person who is either referred to BHSN or has chosen to reach out on their own. She described a process, “First, social determinants of health are assessed along with a full bio/psychological/social assessment. This evaluation includes primary care screening and referrals. Included are blood pressure monitoring, glucose readings, and health and wellness needs since underlying health issues may have their roots elsewhere. We make sure that each person has access to a primary health care provider. BHSN pays close attention to the mind-body connection. While BHSN is predominantly a behavioral mental health care organization, caring for the whole person is at the heart of what we do.”
Other considerations are factored in as well. Is domestic or sexual violence an issue? Are there unmet food or housing needs? Is there an addiction? “The question is always asked, “How can we best meet each person’s needs? Will those needs best be met in the community or in our clinic?”
Services can range from something as simple as offering someone to speak to about life’s challenges to something as extreme as escaping the clutches of an addiction to opiates or leaving an abusive, life-threatening living arrangement.
BHSN does not function on its own. Depending on the extent of a person’s needs, it partners with many agencies to provide the help necessary: the Office of Mental Health, the Office of Addiction Services and Supports, the Department of Social Services, the Department of Labor, and the Department of Education (both State and Federal) are but a handful. These partnerships strengthen the community and ensure that those experiencing a behavioral health crisis receive the appropriate level of care and attention in an accessible and supportive environment.
An array of Federal and State agencies govern and regulate the many services BHSN offers. Following protocol for each specific program requires broad knowledge.
Many community companies partner with BHSN to provide Employee Assistance Services (EAS) for those who may be having a difficult time. An employer may notice that absentee rates are a bit higher than normal or that an employee is struggling with their job, managing their time or needs help with relationship skills. Employers may recommend EAS to struggling employees and, for those who reach out on their own, their confidentially is maintained.
Navigating the health care system in the United States is often an intimidating task. At BHSN, comprehensive behavioral health services are available so people who need care don’t have to piece together the behavioral and physical health support they need across multiple providers. BHSN recognizes that social determinants of health impact a person’s physical and mental wellbeing and that social care needs such as unstable employment and housing drive health care costs. The State’s Medicaid program funds 65% of the services rendered. “The services we provide ultimately enrich the lives of the people we serve and our community,” Cook emphasized.
One of the issues Cook spoke of during our interview was her concern for social justice in the work place. BHSN is working to create an environment where diversity and inclusion is welcomed and encouraged both inside and outside of the organization. “Is what we’re doing in the work place socially just?” she asked, “especially for indigenous communities and people of color? It is one thing to welcome and encourage diversity and inclusion. It is quite another thing to create a culture of belonging. Different people have different preferences and respect for cultural diversity is paramount when providing services and care.”
Katherine Cook has dedicated her career to provide services to those in need. Much of her work has been in small, close-knit cities like Plattsburgh. “I look around [Plattsburgh] and ask what do people living here need? How do they get those needs met? Do people have access to safe housing and healthy food? Is there someone to talk to? Can people stay employed and pay their rent? What are the reasons that prevent people from achieving these things? My job is to look at these inequities and figure out where the resources are to help people heal and flourish? What are the safety nets that we can create in our communities to ensure that people don’t fall through the cracks? I want to work with people to create a network of sheltering arms. It takes a village. It’s a collaboration.”
Behavioral Health Services North
22 US Oval, Suite 22
Plattsburgh, NY 12903
518 563-8000
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