NJAMHAA News Winter 2023

16 Winter 2023 experience behavioral health concerns, so it is important for us to put the framework in place tomeet patients’ needs in all care settings. NJAMHAANews: What new challenges and opportunities does your current role present? Robert Szapor: One challenge is being a nurse administrator coming into the world of social work. My nursing background helps me in many responsibilities of this role, but I certainly have much to learn and gain frommy social work and psychiatry colleagues. We’re dealing with a moving target. We’re dealingwith the opioid epidemic, the mental health crisis affecting youth and the increasing behavioral healthcare needs of the aging population. In this population, there is a large projected number of people who will suffer from geriatric depression or dementia. It’s a challenge to meet all these needs across the landscape amidst the Great Resignation, so my focus is to be innovative about development and engagement of the workforce, both current and future. NJAMHAANews: What are your vision and specific goals for AtlantiCare neurosciences and behavioral health care? Robert Szapor: Our approach at AtlantiCare is for patients to be able to access behavioral healthcare services within services AtlantiCare provides as a health system. This includes continuously assessing needs and evaluatingwhere touchpoints are andwhere we can integrate services for patients of all ages across the diverse communities we serve. For example, AtlantiCare’s foundation is finalizing its 2022 Community HealthNeeds Assessment. One of the key findings is that our community is expressing greater needs for behavioral health and substance use resources. We are expanding our behavioral health services, in part, through our recent acquisition of John Brooks Recovery Center. We have such a robust system of care at AtlantiCare. Our legacy of caring has blossomed over the years under Julie Drew [Robert’s predecessor and a NJMHI Board member who retired in April 2022] and we will build on that. For nearly 30 years, AtlantiCare has taken a system-wide approach to caring for the behavioral health needs of our community. We will continue to expand our programming and implement evidence-based treatment options for patients to be a national leader in behavioral healthcare services. To be placed on our mental health professional referral list, email info@njcts.org. NJCTS provides: answers to families through referrals to programs and services; education and training so that peers and professionals will be better qualified to help those affected; and support to research programs so that we can find better treatments and a cure. www.njcts.org