2013 Employees of the Month

December 2013: Monica Hugee

I nominate Monica Hugee for December 2013 Employee of the Month. Monica provides a full range of therapeutic services to a population of children and their families. Monica maintains appropriate continuity of care with each client, having no clients not seen in more than 90 days. Ms. Hugee demonstrates knowledge of evidenced based practices (TF-CBT, CBT, MI) and can show the use of evidenced based interventions in her clinical documentation. Monica continues to exceed productivity expectations for FY2014, averaging 76 billable service hours per month. She completes clinical service notes well within the required time frame and also completes POCs, Progress Summaries and CBCLs on time. Monica’s ability to adapt should also be acknowledged. She consistently follows through with each new task and responsibility presented to her as evidenced by her most recent assignment of taking on school-based clients at Eagle Nest Elementary School while the assigned clinician is on extended sick leave. Monica has managed this additional responsibility and maintained continuity in treatment with her own school-based caseload.

Monica is a pleasure to supervise. Her professionalism and dedication to her clients is consistent with DMH’s mission statement of Hope, Healing and Recovery. I believe, and staff at Dorchester agrees, that Monica Hugee deserves this award.

Brian Musolf, MA, LPC
Human Service Coordinator II
Supervisor, Region 1 Lower-Summerville

November 2013: Kim Logan

I would like to nominate Kim Logan for employee of the month for November 2013. Kim has always been an excellent performer in her core job duties, providing outstanding clinical care with QI-star level documentation and unsurpassed consistency in meeting or exceeding expectations for productivity. In recent months, the ACT-Like teams experienced a dramatic increase in staff turnover, with 3 new clinicians starting since May. Since then, Kim has embraced a role in assisting these new clinicians to adjust to their new positions, helping this team continue its high standard of care for some of the MHC’s most vulnerable clients. Kim’s experience in her current role, as well as her previous experience with Homeshare, has placed her in a unique position to coach and support all of her teammates, and her advice on therapy, documentation, organization, and system navigation is invaluable. A team is only as strong as its weakest link, and Kim’s devotion and care for both her clients and co-workers have helped to ensure that ACT-Like Team 3 remains strong indeed. For these reasons, I believe Kim exceptionally deserving to be honored as Employee of the Month.

Submitted by David Gehr

October 2013: Jeanette Coaxum

I recommend Jeanette Coaxum for October’s Employee of the Month. Jeannette is an exceptional therapist who manages an adult caseload of SPMI effectively and has a low hospitalization rate. She is a team player, willing to help out as needed. Jeannette came to us with little case management experience from Crisis Stabilization. Since then she has blossomed into an effective therapist who is open to learning different evidenced based practices. She has attended DBT trainings and consultations, CBT trainings and MI trainings. She has started to incorporate MI philosophies into her groups. It was from one of her groups that the idea for the Recovery Calendar was born! She meets or exceeds her productivity on a monthly basis. Jeannette would be considered a ‘Steady Eddie’ as she works very quietly and independently. She has an active caseload and meets with her clients on a regular basis in the clinic and community. She uses the resources at the center and within the community to get her client’s needs met. She honestly cares about the well-being of her clients, and it shows in the ease that she develops rapport with her adult population. She brightens a room with her presence, and I am happy to nominate Jeanette Coaxum for October’s Employee of the Month.

Submitted by Becca Scott
1A Team Leader

September 2013: Joyce Ewell

I nominate Joyce Ewell for September 2013 Employee of the Month. Joyce provides a full range of therapeutic services to a population of children, adolescents and their families as well as several adult clients. Joyce maintains appropriate continuity of care with each client, having no clients not seen in more than 90 days. Ms. Ewell demonstrates knowledge of evidenced based practices (TFCBT, CBT, MI DBT, PCIT) and can show the use of evidenced based interventions in her clinical documentation. Joyce has a strong clinical knowledge base and designs interventions to meet a varied population’s needs. She exceeded productivity for FY 2013, averaging 62% a month. Joyce also excels in the area of Quality Improvement and documentation. She completes clinical service notes well within the required time frame and also completes POCs and progress summaries on time. She completed 83.5% of all her notes for the past three months on the date the service was rendered! Joyce’s ability to adapt should also be acknowledged. She consistently follows through with each new task and responsibility presented to her as evidenced by her most recent assignment of taking on school-based clients at Summerville High School while that position was back-filled. Joyce managed this additional responsibility and maintained continuity in treatment with her own school-based caseload and clinic-based PCIT clients. Joyce is a pleasure to supervise. Her professionalism and dedication to her clients is consistent with DMH’s mission statement of Hope, Healing and Recovery. I believe, and staff at Dorchester agrees, that Joyce Ewell deserves this award.

Brian Musolf, MA, LPC
Human Service Coordinator II
Supervisor Region 1 Lower-Summerville

August 2013: Jeffrey Hair

I would like to nominate Jeffrey Hair for the outstanding job he did in helping to prepare both the Charleston and Dorchester Clinics for our CARF audit. Jeffrey’s preparation started in earnest in December, 2012. He travelled to another MHC to meet with staff there to see what they did in preparation. Jeffrey also designed an enormous data base for this CARF audit that included everything the auditors would be reviewing from the past 3 years. He also had to FIND everything the auditors would be reviewing for the past 3 years! The data base included things such as our Cultural Competency meeting notes for the past 3 years, safety inspections for the past 3 years, links to our website, newspaper articles about the Center, our Mental Health Heroes information and all the amazing things that our Center does on an everyday basis. He made sure all our local policies were updated and that the data base included links to DMH policies. Jeffrey met with the staff that would be meeting with the auditors to help prepare them as well as cleaned offices, moved desks, and checked for safety issues. The auditors raved about the amazing job Jeffrey did as well as his friendly and positive attitude. Jeffrey deserves this award not just for his dedication and preparation but also for keeping a smile on his face for the whole three days.

Submitted by Stacy Cody
Director of Quality Improvement

July 2013: Kelly Astle

I nominate Kelly Astle for the Employee of the Month for July 2013. Kelly has been the Entitlements Specialist for the Charleston Dorchester Mental Health Center for the past two years. On a daily basis, she demonstrates the meaning of team work, flexibility, dependability, professionalism, and loyalty to this center and most of all to the clients. Kelly’s main duties for the past two years has involved assisting clients with SPMI complete applications necessary for Social Security Disability, Medicaid, food stamps and to manage the administrative functions for the Home share Program in Charleston and Dorchester Counties. Kelly has taken on additional duties upon request with a smile on every occasion. She was asked to liaison between the Mental Health center and the Probate courts to organize the DE (Designated Examiners) scheduling, Assist the front administrative staff when shorthanded, and most recently, took on the scheduling of doctor appointments as one of her peers is on extended sick leave. Kelly helped to develop and presented an educational forum for clients about financial incentives while working.

As her supervisor, it is a joy to have her as an employee. I believe and others have agreed that Kelly is well deserving of this award.

Submitted by Joyce Brown, MA.
Special Service Coordinator

June 2013: David Diana

I am very pleased to nominate David Diana for Employee of the Month for June 2013. David has done an exceptional job in event planning and execution over the past couple of months. He set up and marketed our first two “Ask the Doc” sessions, which were facilitated by Dr. Michael Kassur and Taylor Crews, RN. We received excellent feedback from those who attended. He secured the Circular Congregational Church downtown to host “The Art of Recovery”, a two week Piccolo Spoleto Art Exhibit that featured over 90 pieces of art from our clients all over the state! Through David’s marketing efforts, we had around 150 people at the opening reception, including our State Director, John Magill. The church was an excellent venue for the exhibit and he has already secured the church again for next year! Last, but definitely not least, David was instrumental in the success of our 2nd Annual Lowcountry Mental Health Conference held on June 27 and 28 at the Physician’s Memorial Auditorium at the College of Charleston. He secured the location, the speakers, the sponsors, and led the conference staff team’s efforts to make this event one of the highest quality conferences in the Southeast. David’s marketing expertise shined, as we had over 400 mental health professionals coming from as far as Hawaii, California, Arizona, Minnesota, Ohio, Georgia, and North Carolina to attend! The feedback we have gotten has been excellent! We raised approximately $24,000 for Mental Health Heroes (our non-profit organization that supports the works of this mental health center)! Under David’s direction, the conference has become a true community partnership and collaboration. He has already started planning for next year’s conference! We are very fortunate to have David as part of our mental health team here at CDMHC! I could go on and on about all the wonderful things David does in the community to reduce stigma for people with mental illness and raise community awareness about our Center and mental health issues. Check out our website to see more about CDMHC events. (By the way, he is also our webmaster and keeps our website current). Thanks David for all your hard work! It’s been an incredible couple of months for CDMHC’s community events!

Submitted by Jennifer Roberts

May 2013: Taryn Reed

I would like to nominate Taryn for employee of the month. She repeatedly works hard on extracurricular functions for the Center to ensure it will be viewed as an exceptional center. She always goes above and beyond the call of duty, even on projects that she is not assigned. Taryn has shown true dedication to this Center with several last minute projects to include; “Ask The Doc”, “Staff Wellness Event”, “Art of Recovery” and the upcoming “Lowcountry Mental Health Conference”. She does whatever is needed to ensure that these functions are carried off in the same exceptional manner. She never waivers when last minute failures are dropped in her lap. She is always a great team player and performs beyond the scope of her job.

Submitted by Blaire Foutz

April 2013: Becca Scott

I would like to nominate Rebecca Scott as Employee of the Month for April, 2013. If you attended the Wellness Event at Wannamaker County Park you will understand this nomination is based on the success of this event. However, most people do not know the amount of organization and thought she put into the planning of this day. Becca’s focus throughout was “ What will our teams want?”. Instead of repeating last year or what would be the easiest thing to do, she spent time trying to figure out what people would enjoy. She had to work within the constraints put on her by Columbia and our budget and searched for the best lunch deal among multiple vendors. She spent hours asking for donations for the silent auction. Becca picked out the flowers and gift cards for door prizes. What impressed me most of all is that she managed this with a smile on her face. Even when frustrated by unhelpful salespeople, duplication of vendors, and jammed copy machines she kept a calm, positive attitude. From 7:15 the morning of the Wellness Day until the last box was loaded and floor swept she was upbeat and easy to be around. I believe Becca Scott is very deserving of this honor!

Submitted by Stacy Cody

March 2013: Eric Vom Lehn

“Over the past couple of months, Eric has done an excellent job supervising the IT Department and has gone above and beyond to meet the IT training needs of our staff. He has come in on weekends (and continues to) to train and assist new doctors in getting on the computer and navigating the EMR. He has agreed to be on-call for these staff for a time period, as well, so our weekend clinics can run smoothly. Eric has taken on more of a responsibility with the EMR and now plays an integral part in setting up new staff in the EMR. He assisted in the development of protocols to streamline the process of starting new staff and getting them all the computer access they need quickly. He makes requested changes to EMR efficiently. He is always looking for ways to improve Center processes. Eric’s supervision of the IT department and his dedication to supporting the IT needs of our staff help our Center be more efficient. Ultimately, an efficient Center is more likely to have improved outcomes and client satisfaction because more time can be spent serving clients vs. troubleshooting clinic and/or IT problems.”

Submitted by Jennifer Roberts
Performance Improvement/Corporate Compliance Director

February 2013: Twana Richards

“The jail team has had a rough few months! With half the normal team out, including the extended sick leave and loss of one long time teammate and another on maternity leave, Twana has enthusiastically stepped up to help ensure inmates’ mental health needs are met. She has seamlessly been able to manage and navigate numerous tasks typically performed by other members. She has not only excelled at performing these duties, she has done so with perseverance, poise and a calm determination. She has taken on the responsibility of collating monthly reports, coordinating hospital admissions, performing daily suicide watch clearances and completing the notorious 1A (disciplinary unit) visitation rounds. Being the sole fulltime MHC on the team, she has been a vital link in stakeholder meetings, keeping track of numerous high priority chronic care cases. Because the team’s ability to function would not have been possible without her skill and willingness to take on a leadership role, I nominate Twana Richards for employee of the month.”

Submitted by Tamara Starnes

January 2013: Blaire Foutz

“I would like to recommend Blaire Foutz as Employee of the Month. Recently, CDMHC completed its Internal Audit conducted by the DMH Office of Internal Audit, which reports directly to the SC Mental Health Commission and the DMH Agency Executive Director. The last audit the CDMHC received was in 2008 and contained 12 recommendations for improvement. By contrast, the most recent audit only had two recommendations, one of which the MHC had already initiated (emptying warehouses). This is considered a superior audit as it is generally unheard of for a MHC to have only two improvement recommendations. While the overall audit results represent a team effort involving Budget, Finance, Procurement, Contracts, Physical plant, Human Resources, and Information Technology, the great majority of the audit focused on areas managed by Blaire Foutz. Through the use of past audit results, preplanning, and on-going monitoring Blaire was able to ensure past deficits/errors were corrected and CDMHC was in compliance with the many DMH and State of SC rules, regulations, processes, and procedures.

Blaire is a dedicated, hard-working, manager who strives for efficiency and compliance with standards while practicing continuous quality improvement and expecting the best from the staff she supervises. CDMHC is fortunate to have staff as committed to professionalism and excellence as is Blaire Foutz.”

Submitted by: Kirby Bond