NNews-July-2023

27 July 2023 NJAMHAA Congratulates New Executives KimVeith and Lisa Dressner an MSW from FordhamUniversity Graduate School of Social Work and a Bachelor of Arts degree fromRutgers University. Veith is a Red Cross Mental Health Responder and teaches Social Work 101, Addiction Counseling and Recovery Support, as well as Professional Responsibility, as adjunct faculty at Ocean County College. In addition, she serves on the Board of Trustees for Community Medical Center, the Administration of the Courts’ Data Outcomes Subcommittee, the Division of Mental Health and Addiction Services’ Addictions Professional Advisory Committee, Ocean County Human Services Advisory Committee and Ocean County Opiate Overdose Task Force. NJAMHAANews: What inspired you to pursue a career in behavioral health and to develop expertise in a variety of areas? KimVeith: My mom is a psychiatric nurse practitioner and I always found it interesting. I was an English teacher and found I was drawn to the kids and their stories. However, teaching didn’t feel like the best fit, and friends suggested social work. So, I went back to school for an MSW. I was drawn to working with children and families, especially oppositional adolescents. Then, I gradually moved to serving kids who were struggling because of trauma. Twenty years ago, we didn’t talk about trauma much. In my leadership positions at Bright Harbor Healthcare, I have focused on the business and how to best use our resources. People typically don’t think that behavioral health care and business go together, but behavioral health care is a business. We need to get services to the most people. NJAMHAANews: What are your thoughts about changing the agency’s name? KimVeith: It was important to do as we moved into the 21st century. Ocean Mental Health Services was a wonderful name, and the agency has a strong history and legacy. The name change fits into our development and change over time. We’ve added substance use treatment and primary care, in addition to our mental health services. We’re the only Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinic (CCBHC) with primary care embedded locally. We needed a name that speaks to what we’ve become over the past couple of decades, and other names with Ocean were trademarked. Amajor focus of NJAMHAA’s advocacy is strengthening and expanding the behavioral healthcare workforce. The association also fosters individuals’ career development through the New Jersey Mental Health Institute Leadership Academy for Behavioral Healthcare Professionals. An additional way of demonstrating support is featuring new executives at member agencies. Below are interviews with recently promoted individuals, Kim Veith, MBA, MSW, LCSW, LCADC, Chief Executive Officer, Bright Harbor Healthcare, and Lisa Dressner, MSW, LCSW, Vice President, Behavioral Health, Trinitas Regional Medical Center. KIM VEITH KimVeith joined Bright Harbor Healthcare in 1998 in the adult residential programwhile she was working toward her MSW. She was promoted to Director of Adult Clinical Services in 2011 and appointed to the position of CEO in October 2022. She gained an expansive array of experience through her previous roles in direct service, which included Case Management and Intensive In-community Service Program Coordinator, Therapist, Residential Case Manager and Psychiatric Screener. She is licensed and certified in several specialties, including crisis intervention training and disaster response crisis counseling. In addition to her clinical knowledge and skills, Veith has expertise in setting metrics and monitoring outcomes; regulatory compliance and standards; and data aggregation and analytics. She received an MBA fromGeorgian Court University,