A New Year’s Letter from Our CEO, Jim Caldwell

It’s hard to believe that Christmas is over and the holiday season has come to an end. It’s even harder to believe that 2019 and the second decade of the century are over. Time marches relentlessly onward, taking us with it. But a New Year and a new decade lie ahead, bringing with them all the possibilities and dreams that we can imagine and that we can bring to fruition with determination, hard work and passion.

The New Year is a time of renewal that offers each of us the opportunity to revive our commitments and undertake new challenges. For Origins, it is an opportunity for us to reflect on the previous year and look forward to the new initiatives that will define our organization in 2020.

2019 was a time of improvement and innovation for our organization.

During the spring, Hanley Center at Origins was honored to be chosen for the first-ever ASAM certification process, which was independently and comprehensively assessed by CARF International. After a rigorous independent review, we received certification as a provider of Medically Monitored Intensive Inpatient Services. Our South Padre Island programs followed with their own certifications a few short months later. Origins’ Center for Brain Recovery, an innovative new program designed to facilitate healing, health, and wellbeing of the whole person, began providing cutting-edge care to our patients in May. This new service took advantage of an ever-improving knowledge base about brain science and recalibrated the evidence-based focus of our programs. We rounded out the year by initiating an essential partnership with Windhaven House and Windhaven Counseling in Dallas, Texas.

We made great strides in South Padre Island, Texas, where we redoubled our efforts to provide sophisticated care to men and women.  

In 2019, we were pleased to select Kim Garrett, LCSW, LCDC, CCISM, MBA, as the new Executive Director of Origins Behavioral HealthCare’s programs in South Padre Island, Texas. Already, we have seen how her decades of mental and behavioral health experience is serving our staff and patients. We also brought our Texas medical team in-house for the first time, allowing us to concentrate our medical services and operate with a higher degree of accountability to our patients. Dr. Marsha Sargeant also joined our team to lead the Center for Brain Recovery in Texas, and she now serves as a full-time psychologist for Origins Recovery Center and Hannah’s House.

Providing integrated medical and clinical services that address all dimensions of health–body, mind, and spirit–remains at the heart of Origins’ mission. 

Gender and age-specific programming will continue to be our enduring focus as we deliver quality care which extends beyond the traditional 28-day model. At all of our locations, we will focus on improving our programming in ways that supports total health and wellness. This includes programmatic enhancements that will reinforce our clinical model, enhance our focus on the transition from residential to outpatient levels of care, and continue to leverage relationships with our trusted professional referents across the country. Our expanded Alumni Care Team also saw critical changes last year that will influence our initiatives in 2020. We plan to invest heavily in our alumni by offering a robust events calendar that features national workshops, improving our digital outreach with a webinar series and our new “Origins Connect” app, and increasing in-person and phone communication and support.

2020 will also be a time for our organization to improve our commitment to the Dallas area, where our corporate headquarters are located. 

Our efforts in Dallas will include building on Windhaven’s extended care model and enhancing it to better serve local families in need of recovery. Alison Watros and her team are committed to our mission, and we know they will continue to serve as powerful partners in launching new local initiatives. We are also poised to engage the professional community through continuing education events, including an upcoming Experiential Training, as well as the annual DFW Behavioral Health Symposium. We look forward to strengthening our relationships in the region and doing more to provide support for those affected by the scourge of addiction in the Dallas-Fort Worth area.

As providers of mental health services, we are given the task of disrupting the stigma of addiction and removing the barriers to treatment that men, women, and their families face on a daily basis. 

While the discussion of addiction treatment in America is rapidly evolving, the need for exceptional quality care remains evident. We plan to meet that need with all resources at our disposal. Measurement-based care and quantifiable treatment outcomes will be key focuses for us over this year. This will help us lay refined structures over the foundational elements that provide the best chances for success in recovery. Through collaboration with insurance providers and trusted partners, we will continue to embrace significant marketplace changes, creating greater accountability and transparency in all realms of our business.

Providing hope is our calling.

I often remind our team that we must “keep the main thing the main thing.” For Origins, that is making sure that our mission–to provide a clear path to a life of healing and restoration–remains our primary focus. Regardless of how we strengthen our established commitments or adapt our model to meet the changing landscape of addiction treatment, that mission stands first and foremost in our hearts and minds. Each day, our team works tirelessly to provide excellent care by meeting patients where they are. More importantly, we give our patients the road map to an abundant life and the firm belief that they can achieve what once was only a dream. This will serve as our guiding light into 2020 and beyond.

For information on our programs, call us today: 561-841-1296.