As the Chief Executive Officer of Blue Heron Recovery, Christina Varela Mayer, PhD, is a distinguished leader in the field of mental health and addiction recovery. With a wealth of accomplishments to her name, including being a published author, lecturer, and a nominee for Dissertation of the Year in 2015, Christina brings a depth of expertise to her role.
Christina’s credentials include licensure with the Texas State Board of Examiners of Psychologists and certification with the Texas Certification Board of Addiction Professionals as a Licensed Chemical Dependency Counselor. Her research endeavors reflect her commitment to advancing understanding and treatment in the field of mental health, focusing on topics such as post-traumatic stress disorder, depression, and somatization.
Through her studies, Christina has explored important issues such as stigma and barriers to care among Army Combat Medics, as well as pre-existing risk factors and protective factors for Army soldier medics during training. Her dedication to research and her clinical experience makes her a trusted authority in guiding individuals on their journey to recovery at Blue Heron Recovery. As CEO, Christina leads with compassion, expertise, and a commitment to empowering individuals to overcome challenges and achieve lasting wellness.
Below are highlights of the interview:
What core values or principles guide your approach to leadership, particularly in the context of healthcare and patient recovery?
Core values and principles guiding my leadership philosophy are anchored in the tenants of competency, compassion, and accountability. With deep commitment to leading this incredible team, I nurture, teach, and guide them both professionally and clinically. We must lead by example to ensure that objectives are met with competence in a compassionate, caring, and responsible environment.
Consistently modeling professional aptitude and staying focused on our goals to utilize sound methodological practices illustrates solid leadership in the context of healthcare and patient recovery.
With an uncompromising commitment to our patients and staff, I hold myself accountable to the principles we set forth as an organization. In turn, I expect each member of our staff to also maintain professional accountability in a reciprocal, supportive positive relationship. I personally am committed to safeguarding the policies and procedures we set forth to ensure that all staff have an avenue of support for professional excellence. We are building leaders from within.
How do you balance the dual priorities of delivering high-quality patient care and addressing the business needs of Blue Heron Recovery?
Excellent patient care starts with excellent employee support. Counselors, Admissions Coordinators, Housekeeping staff, Recovery Advocates, our Operations and Executive Directors, Nurses, Doctors, Medical and Psychiatric professionals each need to know that they are respected, appreciated, valued, and trusted. We hold each employee to a high standard and in high regard. Further, I think it is infinitely important to share those confidences liberally. Higher employee appreciation leads to higher employee satisfaction which in turn lends to a stronger, more thoughtful, facile working team. When the staff is happy, our patients know it.
What strategies do you employ to foster a culture of continuous learning and professional growth among your team members?
Our industry is in the seemingly unique and enviable position of being able to offer second chances for employment and financial stability to people in recovery from drug and alcohol addictions. It is often difficult for those in recovery to find a new career path or a living-wage earning job. Even the most wonderful, intelligent, and kind humans, when engaged in substance use and addiction may have, through the tumults of their addictions, encountered great trouble with law enforcement, homelessness, unemployment, incarceration, and unexplainable years of missing work experience.
Where appropriate, we offer entry-level business opportunities to people in recovery despite the lack of continuous employment verification for the very reason we exist: second chances. It does not always work out. We have seen a heartbreaking share of relapses among employees too. It is a messy business that requires a dedicated combination of commitment to standards and compassion for human dignity.
Professional growth is determined by each individual staff member’s unique capabilities and supported by the company whenever appropriate. Like most treatment centers, we find opportunities to support our staff in commercial continuous learning programs that offer a seminar and days of attendance to earn a certificate and bolster their educational credentials. However, in addition to offering educational growth and professional development through commercial services, my office door is literally always open. I am here on property every day and am available to employees for clinical direction and support.
How do you ensure that patient needs and preferences remain at the forefront of decision-making processes at Blue Heron Recovery?
To genuinely engage, support, and ensure the best quality of care to each patient, we must follow each individual patient’s progress on a daily basis to determine and ensure maximum outcomes. Each and every day. We must continually assess our engagement as individual providers and a holistic team to be sure we are truly aligned with the goals and support of each individual patient who walks through our doors each day. Anything less is unacceptable. We are entrusted with our patient’s lives and take that honor seriously.
In what ways do you collaborate with other healthcare professionals and stakeholders to optimize patient outcomes and overall operational effectiveness?
Our credentialed team of doctors, psychiatric providers, nursing, and clinical resource specialists, combined with our engagement of quantitative lab toxicologists, allows us to gain a multi-dimensional view of each patient. Blue Heron Recovery engages an accredited specialty laboratory with decades of experience in drug testing services to help our clinicians monitor use of prescription medications and illicit drugs and gauge effectiveness of treatment plans.
We scrutinize real-time research analytics with our well positioned resources for national and regional coverage of important topics including the drug overdose crisis and emerging trends in illicit and prescription drug use in our community. Empowering our clinicians and stakeholders with comprehensive data and trends with focus on the individual needs of our patients allows for the best possible patient outcomes and overall operational success.
What are some of the most significant challenges you’ve encountered in your role, and how have you addressed them?
Our industry is filled with passionate people who are deeply committed to recovery from addiction. Licensed Clinical Social Workers, Licensed Professional Counselors and Licensed Marriage and Family Therapists are required to have a Master’s Degree and supervised clinical hours to provide treatment. Licensed Chemical Dependency Counselors (LCDCs) are required to be at least 18 years old, have a high school diploma or equivalent, successfully complete 270 classroom hours of curricula. (TAC Section 140.406 or meet the educational waiver referenced in 25 TAC Section 140.405(b). The most significant challenge I’ve encountered in this role is ensuring more robust counseling foundations for our LCDCs.
An LCDCs focus tends to be shorter termed, goal-oriented and addresses concrete specific life challenges. Our patients will frequently have treatment plans that affect their abilities to stay sober because of grief, abuse, trauma, anxiety, depression, relationship dysfunction. We need to elevate the industry standard to better equip our LCDCs with the educational support and deeper understanding of treatment methodologies to address long-term health and wellness for each patient.
How do you stay updated on the latest trends, best practices, and advancements in healthcare management and patient care?
Current empirically researched-based practices are essential. Having personally contributed to peer-reviewed published research, I am thankfully able to navigate current research publications. I approach field research, education, and data-driven results through the lens of having worked in the world of research during and after having been awarded my Doctorate in Psychology. Research improves our knowledge base for more effective care and we must, as a community, be willing to embrace change in order to more adequately address the needs in the critical care of our substance use patients. Our community must raise the bar and focus on how to better align our clinical standards and expectations with current evidence-based data. Our patients are exceptional, our employees are dedicated, and they all deserve nothing less than unparalleled attention to training at the highest standards available in order to successfully address the devastating effects of substance use disorder. Together, we can ensure a healthier future for all.
Note from Christina Varela Mayer
“Blue Heron Recovery has been awarded Accreditation by the Joint Commission to verify that our company meets the most rigorous quality and safety standards of care for our patients and communities. If you’d like to include the Gold Seal of Approval to show that Blue Heron Recovery is committed to providing the highest standard of care, I’ve uploaded added the emblem here. This Gold Seal emblem is also included on our website.”
To know more, please visit: https://blueheronrecovery.com/
