Scaling Success in Behavioral Healthcare: Cameron Bolish on The Lead Climb Podcast

The Lead Climb Podcast continues its mission of delivering valuable insights for behavioral healthcare leaders, and in this episode, host Steve Donai sits down with Cameron Bolish. As a seasoned professional in the addiction treatment and behavioral healthcare space, Cameron shares his expertise on scaling operations, refining patient care, and navigating industry challenges. If you’re an executive, founder, or operator in this field, this episode offers a wealth of practical takeaways.

Who is Cameron Bolish?

Cameron Bolish has made a name for himself in the behavioral healthcare industry by driving operational excellence and business growth. His experience in executive leadership roles has given him a unique perspective on what it takes to build and sustain successful treatment programs. With a deep understanding of the intersection between clinical care and business strategy, Cameron has been instrumental in shaping the future of addiction treatment facilities.

Key Takeaways from the Episode

1. The Importance of Scalable Systems

One of the main themes of this episode is the necessity of creating scalable systems that allow behavioral health organizations to grow efficiently. Cameron explains that many treatment centers struggle because they lack repeatable processes, which makes expansion chaotic and unsustainable. Implementing the right operational infrastructure early on ensures long-term stability and better patient outcomes.

2. Navigating Regulatory and Compliance Challenges

The behavioral healthcare industry is heavily regulated, and Cameron offers insights into how organizations can stay compliant while remaining agile. From licensing requirements to insurance hurdles, he discusses how leaders can proactively address these challenges instead of reacting to them after the fact.

3. Leadership and Team Development

Cameron emphasizes that a strong leadership team is essential for growth. Hiring the right people, fostering a culture of accountability, and providing ongoing training are crucial elements of running a high-performing treatment center. He also highlights the importance of balancing business goals with patient-centered care, ensuring that leadership decisions always prioritize ethical treatment practices.

4. Leveraging Technology for Growth

In an era where technology is transforming healthcare, Cameron discusses the role of data-driven decision-making. From electronic health records (EHR) to predictive analytics, he explains how the right tech stack can streamline operations, improve patient care, and increase overall efficiency.

5. Overcoming the Staffing Crisis in Behavioral Health

One of the biggest challenges in addiction treatment today is attracting and retaining top talent. Cameron shares his insights on what organizations can do to build a strong workforce, including competitive compensation packages, career development opportunities, and fostering a mission-driven culture that keeps employees engaged.

Why This Episode Matters

The behavioral healthcare industry is constantly evolving, and leaders must adapt to remain competitive. Cameron Bolish provides a roadmap for executives looking to scale their operations without compromising on care quality. His advice is not just theoretical—it’s backed by real-world experience in successfully managing and expanding treatment facilities.

Whether you’re a CEO, admissions director, or business development professional, this episode of The Lead Climb Podcast is packed with actionable strategies to help you navigate the complexities of the industry.

Read The Podcast Transcript Below

(May not be 100%Accurate)

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Steve Donai: Appreciate everyone joining us again today. Today I have Cameron Bullsh here with strategic readiness, consulting. Cameron. Why don’t you tell everyone about yourself?

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Cameron Bolish: Well, I appreciate that. Thank you, Steven, and and it’s a privilege to be here and and speak to this audience. I’ve spent the last decade, plus in healthcare leadership, primarily focused in mental behavioral health

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Cameron Bolish: and worked myself up. I was an admissions director on the East Coast and then a business development director on the West Coast.

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Cameron Bolish: I worked for corporate Acadia out of Franklin, Tennessee, and then I was privileged to be a CEO for them in one of their Locke psychiatric hospitals. And then, as of late, transition to discovery, behavioral health and ended up being their regional CEO over multiple facilities in Texas. And currently, I’m serving in a freelance capacity.

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Cameron Bolish: A lot of the the colleagues that I’ve met over the years have have asked me to come in and and share experience, strength, and hope with them. And and what a privilege it is to to give back everything that I’ve learned! I I definitely want to give, so that the mistakes that I’ve made along the way don’t have to be made by others.

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Steve Donai: Awesome. Appreciate having you. I’m really excited for this call, too. A lot of the requests that myself and Grocery Co. Get brought in on our very black and white managerial requests, talking about P and l’s talking about finances of treatment organizations. But I’m a leadership, junkie. I love culture. I love leadership. Why don’t you tell me a little bit from your CEO perspective when you enter a new treatment center, either from the ground up or you coming in to replace a former CEO?

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Steve Donai: How do you establish and and share the vision of the culture that you have for the organization? And what are some of the 1st things that you do to lay that groundwork in that new center?

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Cameron Bolish: Brilliant question and and definitely, you know, must be very strategically rolled out. 1st and foremost. I don’t ever try to change anything. I try to learn. I try to absorb. I try to observe. I wanna learn who the players are, whether they’re good players or bad players. If if we’ve inherited them. I wanna learn who they are and the potential that they possess

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Cameron Bolish: and wanna learn where the culture is and and why it is the way it is from where it came and along that observation period, when I’m integrating myself into their culture. Because that’s really what’s happening is I’m starting to take mental notes about things that are working, that we can continue on excelling and things that perhaps need a little refreshment or or revisement.

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Cameron Bolish: And I. I put together a a rollout plan where we’re not changing too many variables at once. And that way we can really recognize what’s working in the progression and what’s not.

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Cameron Bolish: And you know, I I get that question a lot followed up by the second question is, you know, what’s the toughest thing about being a leader. You’ve you’ve run hundreds of hundreds of employees. What’s the toughest thing? And it’s a personality management you you we have to be prepared that everybody has a personality that is subject to change throughout the day, throughout the week, throughout the course of employment. And so, remembering the care, the care.

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Cameron Bolish: compassion we give to our patients, we should also give that same care and compassion to ourselves and to our employees.

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Steve Donai: You know, that’s actually one of the things I had learned early in my career. I’ve I’ve had a blessing in my career of managing individual contributor, managing, taking a step back and having that progression with a reflection period in between, especially early in my career, which is an absolute blessing to be able to reflect upon yourself as a leader, as you mature throughout your career.

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Steve Donai: Probably one of the 1st things I did as a leader early. My career was coming like bullet or china shop, because, of course, I knew it all. I’m the leader, right, and made those mistakes and didn’t take the personality management and check, and didn’t and didn’t earn the respect right? So you had the authority. But you didn’t have the earned influence over that. And, as you can imagine

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Steve Donai: there were varying degrees of results. But at what cost? Right?

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Steve Donai: And so that’s a great lesson for any initial leader. And personally, management is interesting, too. So I don’t know if you’ve seen this. When I take over especially established teams. There’s always those key influencers on each team across each department. I don’t necessarily know if if people who are newer to leadership know how to navigate that, because that can be the biggest gift in your world, or

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Steve Donai: the biggest thorn in your side. Can you share a little about that?

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Cameron Bolish: Oh, absolutely and and thank you for sharing your experience. I’ve I’ve I’ve had similar. And and I think that’s why I’ve learned as of late, cause you’re right. Let let the truth be told, at one of my 1st CEO job. I thought I could rule the world right. You’re a brand new CEO and and you know, was humble very quickly. Specifically, by night nurses and night bhts! They are the ones that will humble you fast. And so

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Cameron Bolish: Going back to your question about key stakeholders and and personalities within adopted leadership teams

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Cameron Bolish: you you we will always see the ones that are positive and and are solution focused. And then, of course, we have the other gamut, those that still can’t let go of the past or let go of concerns that they don’t feel have been resolved effectively. And so I I what I tend to do is is once there’s a period where they are starting to trust me, starting to allow me in starting.

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Cameron Bolish: let their guard down, and and really show who they truly are, not not necessarily the best foot forward anymore. Right? We’re we’re past that. Dare I say, in the workplace honeymoon period and and the the personal rapport starts to parallel the the professional rapport.

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Cameron Bolish: I tend to do exercises with my intimate leadership, teams of vulnerability. Same type of exercises we would do with our patients in a process group evaluating strengths and weaknesses.

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Cameron Bolish: And what starts to come from that is, people start to realize, 1st of all, they’re not alone in their thought process, whether it’s a positive thought or a negative thought. They’re not alone anymore. And we create a safe space amongst ourselves to share openly. And and we’re not trying to solve their individual or world problems. We’re just creating a space that we can appreciate their their point of view.

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Cameron Bolish: And as that starts to build in its cohesiveness, much like a military operation team that literally has to trust. You know the the person to your left and the person to your right. At all times we start to expand that circle of vulnerability to the next managerial level, or the or the line staff level, and and really start to give everybody a voice and and remind everybody. It’s okay to be vocal

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Cameron Bolish: about where you work in a professional mindset because we want you to be passionate. We want you to enjoy coming to work. All of us are energy.

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Cameron Bolish: and and if we can come to work with positive and solution focused energy, our patience will feed off, that the newcomer will feed off, that the the individual that’s having a bad day at home comes to work to get away from that bad day will feed off that and if we’re not careful and we don’t focus on that, then, of course, the negative energy can can intercept.

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Cameron Bolish: And and once again, then that has a ripple effect. And so what what I’ve always tried to do is just give total honor to where that staff is, where they are, how they got there, and then start to allow them ownership of where we want to go, and then I will help create a roadmap for us to get there.

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Steve Donai: I love it, and and I’ll tell you

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Steve Donai: one of the 1st things I do as leaders, as I always try to develop, especially with newer teams. A camaraderie, not a commiseration chain, so that I wanna make sure, especially outreach teams, which is most of my experiences. I want them in the car between calls, calling each other and learning from each other, and and say, Hey, this is happening. How do you handle that? And if you have a team of 1015, 20 outreach reps

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Steve Donai: leaning on each other’s knowledge expertise, you’re having multiple, multiple, higher efforts. But a couple of times in my career. I I’ve seen. I’ve come to points where 95% of the team was completely bought in. Let’s see, 99% complete body. There’s a couple of people

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Steve Donai: who just don’t love the change right? There’s the love the old way they love the old boss. I’m a little weird at times a little quirky, so I get I get it. It’s totally fair right.

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Cameron Bolish: Me, both you and.

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Steve Donai: Yeah, it’s it’s yeah. I’m I’m yeah. A lot of people like vanilla ice cream. That’s not good with me. So

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Steve Donai: so I don’t know if you ever tried this, but I’ve I’ve implemented 3 60 reviews at several organizations I’ve worked for, and for anyone watching this who hasn’t done it, yet

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Steve Donai: very painful, because, no matter how good and confident you are as as a person, as a leader, as a human, you have some blind spots that get called out, and it hurts right.

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Steve Donai: But in my experience when doing that and letting the people who are

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Steve Donai: either hiding their struggles with the organization and that camaraderie they still don’t feel vulnerable, open, and vulnerable enough to share

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Steve Donai: or have been vocal about their resentments and lack in the desire to change. They get it out there. It gives you an opportunity to address it in a very

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Steve Donai: structured, you know. Hr. Friendly and just vulnerable section. But for me as the leader.

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Steve Donai: I recommend to every leader to do this, but I think people watching who have not done that or not seen it done. It, puts the leader in a very vulnerable spot, because they all come back.

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Steve Donai: A lot of negativity, executive leadership. And Hr. Goes what is really wrong versus

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Steve Donai: from my standpoint I’m a flawed human. There’s gonna be stuff wrong. There’s nothing wrong. That’s a bigger red flag.

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Steve Donai: Let’s but let’s address this as a team and let’s move on and and wash this from our our organization. I don’t know if you ever tried that. Are there any other strategies that you like, but I don’t necessarily like 3 60 reviews. But I like the outcomes that come from.

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Cameron Bolish: No, i i i totally. I totally agree. I I when you were saying that I was chuckling, cause I was thinking I all of us at some point, probably have a little Ptsd. From elementary or middle school. When it was the 1st time we had to get in front of the class and read the book report.

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Cameron Bolish: and and those of us that were nervous. like I, and like like. And then we had to get feedback from our peers, and it felt like an attack. And even though the teacher, Aka moderator was there, it still felt, wow, you know. But the more we did it, the the more we were accepting and open to the feedback, the better the book reports and the public speaking became.

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Cameron Bolish: And and so I I truly like you, value that that direct in input to where I can improve. And and I think the key thing about leadership. One of my greatest mentors. A former coo for Acadia healthcare, Mr. Ron Fincher. I can remember when I 1st became a CEO, and we were all in orientation class, and he said something that I will never forget. Don’t let this title

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Cameron Bolish: make you who you are, just be you.

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Cameron Bolish: And you know there, there were times like like you said when I 1st started where the that title got ahead of Cameron Bullish, and so.

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Cameron Bolish: being able to be vulnerable with the leadership team at first, st and and knowing that we’re gonna give them feedback in acceptance of them, giving us feedback, it kind of creates an even playing field almost like the King Arthur Round Table. That’s what I’ve always tried to use the analogy rather than the CEO being up here and everybody else following suit, we should be circular, we we should all have a voice. Now at the end of the day we all have our own responsibilities based on our job titles.

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Cameron Bolish: but when decisions have to be made and and progress needs to be ensued, I I think, having a unilateral, you know, understanding of what I’m good at, and what I’m not good at, and and exposing that to my team so that they can share what they’re good at and what they’re not good at so that we can really operate cohesively. I I it kind of reminds me. My wife and I are are big fans of Brene brown, you know, plus. We live in Texas right now. And and so you know, Brene’s from Houston.

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Cameron Bolish: But there is a a a lecture that she gives about the the inaccuracy of this married couple, which is 50% 50 50 right? Like like the married couple, no matter what always has to equate to a hundred percent.

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Cameron Bolish: And and I love that analogy because she said, you know, sometimes she’s only at a 40%, and maybe her husband’s only at a 40%. So as a as a union, they’re only at 80%. And and they’ve got to give each other more grace. And they’ve got to give each other more support because they’re not together at that full 100%.

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Cameron Bolish: I take that same application to our leadership team at any given point. We can’t always expect to be a hundred 10%, a hundred 20. We’ve got to know our limitations, and where we are because of external, you know, entities or pressures.

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Cameron Bolish: And so once you, we can create that, then we can help each other with our flaws or help each other with our deficiencies. Ironically, the same thing that’s happening in our patient groups, our process groups, our educational groups, the same thing that’s happening in the recovery rooms.

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Cameron Bolish: just using those same principles before personalities in our leadership. Forum has really created a much stronger cohesive entity.

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Steve Donai: It was interesting. You bring that up. I remember during Covid. I was leading an outreach team. Mostly new. About 60% of the team is new.

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Steve Donai: As the year started, we had this great plan. It was we’re gonna do more conferences. We’re gonna do more tours or bring more people to campus. And it was

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Steve Donai: 2 literally 2 weeks later. I was like, forget everything I said new plan. Well, as as the year went on. I don’t think I actually really shared with someone as the year went on. You know I had. I had a new child. My, my my son was 9 months when this happened so 9 months. Yeah, it was. It was something else. I had a passing of a very close family member.

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Steve Donai: And I’m I’m leading this team to which I felt responsible for the 270 people in the treatment center and work there, because I think it’s about 2 70, because if I didn’t produce as a team, we don’t have a treatment center and they have jobs, and I can find a way to pay my mortgage, but the text and the bas and the everyone else can’t, so

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Steve Donai: took on a lot of pressure in about 6 months or so into into the the height of Covid. 2020.

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Steve Donai: I go to my CEO, said. Can I take a day off like I am? I am I? I I’m afraid to take a day off. I’m afraid to take the foot off the gas. I am

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Steve Donai: crushed right now. I am at my lowest energy. It’s 0%. I can keep going if you need me to. But this is not good. He’s like, Yeah, take a few days off. I did.

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Steve Donai: What do you know it? Cameron? Within the next 2 or 3 weeks every other executive on the team had their own personal days on the calendar. My team were taking their days off. We came back refreshed and started growing. We didn’t just survive during Covid we grew, and I think

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Steve Donai: back on that a lot because I’ve been a driver. My whole career. I’ve been that guy who has prided himself being the 1st person working in an organization, and the last person on a given day like I. I can’t say how many times I started, especially when I was in the field, starting my day at 4 Am. In Charlotte, North Carolina, driving to Wilmington

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Steve Donai: to work all day and then to end my day in Savannah like it was just wildness. Right? So

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Steve Donai: so yeah, I think I think, as a leader, give yourself the permission to take that recharge when you’re at 40%, 30% don’t get to 20%

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Steve Donai: happens. But you know, recharge, and I think your team sees that vulnerability with with trust.

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Steve Donai: I’m curious to get your your thoughts, too, on the industry. So the industry.

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Steve Donai: Obviously, there’s a lot of very passionate people. But unlike a lot of industries where leadership is almost a formalized process within their organizations, you know you go to public accounting firms. You go to Fortune 500 where they have leadership development plans for executives. We, outside some of the bigger players don’t have a lot of leadership development training.

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Steve Donai: Where do you see some of the biggest gaps for everyone else who doesn’t have that? And where can we, as an industry, start growing that aspect, so that we ultimately serve our patients better.

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Cameron Bolish: Yeah, that I that is a brilliant thought process. You know, I in my occupational career. I spent a decade plus in education, everything, from a classroom teacher to a curriculum specialist and

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Cameron Bolish: we always made time for professional development. It was required for our licensure. It was required for recertification of credentials. And so it was built in. And so there was never this, hey? We want to do it, but there’s never enough time, or we can’t pull people together. It was just part of our discipline. And then, now fast forward, like you said to healthcare, where once again we’re dealing with licensed individuals.

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Cameron Bolish: credentialed individuals that are sometimes forced to do their own class work or continuing education, you know, outside of work hours, because even though we want to be the very best.

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Cameron Bolish: we sometimes realize the cost of taking somebody off the unit and actually creating a a strategy of classroom is, is not revenue enhancing per se, and the reality is big. Corporate healthcare is so backwards that the more we invest in our employees, the stronger we make them. The more education we allow them to gather with our occupational fortitude.

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Cameron Bolish: the better the outcomes of of turnover, the better the outcomes of of patient and family experience, and and we see it done in small pockets right where the the entity might have a national presence, but isn’t so large and doesn’t want to be so large that they still want to invest in each employee, at each facility, to make sure the quality of care, the deliverable, the product never, never fall short.

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Cameron Bolish: Wish I could say that about some of the larger players that that I’ve worked with and learned from that as soon as some census points start to drop. Well, then, it’s a panic, you know, and then, all of a sudden, no, send this person home. Send that person home make this person work. You know their salary, so make them work a double. And and all of a sudden, you know, they are the pressure that’s reducing that 100%, (908) 070-6050.

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Cameron Bolish: And and I think you know, a valuable organization is one that creates the discipline and values

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Cameron Bolish: proactive progress rather than just continually to stay reactive, investing in employees, investing in professional development, sending leaders to a leadership conference together and trusting their number, twos or their number threes to run the building. I I think you know it. It provides that kind of military mindset where we always have to keep the flag. We always have to keep the flag a a, you know, a a blazing, and

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Cameron Bolish: I only hope that big corporate healthcare starts to realize at the rate of turnover or the the lack of patient outcomes when they start cutting too many corners, that if they were just to pause and not focus on census, not focus on Adc. Adr length of stay, but focus on employees and and the relationship they are building with them so that the employees can then enhance the relationship with the patient revenue comes

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Cameron Bolish: outcomes. Come, you know, it’s it’s really putting the people first, st and the business will come.

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Steve Donai: Absolutely. So there’s some interesting tools, too. So I know for a lot of people. Leadership is for an esoteric concept, right? Like it’s the soft skills. And it’s, you know, it’s not important what’s important to P. And l’s, and the PE company that gave me all this money is expecting me to do all these things totally get it.

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Steve Donai: However, there is actually some really neat tools we have in our space. Now where you can say, hey, this therapist is better at treating this type of patient and the outcome studies. So instead of fighting this, why don’t we

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Steve Donai: relegate our marketing focus to that type of patient to bring into our types of therapists to have better outcomes. Our therapists now feel refreshed.

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Steve Donai: Our outcomes are not better, our revenue is now better let’s look at this entire thing holistically. And to me that’s a fascinating aspect to our space that you

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Steve Donai: it’s difficult to see when you’re in it like you said you get that call on a Sunday night. Our census is down text. All your accounts that we have open beds. It’s like everyone has open beds. No kidding like it’s not gonna do anything. But instead, like, how like, there’s so many systems you can put in place to

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Steve Donai: actually, mathematically leverage, the leadership component, which that, in my opinion, satisfies. A lot of the blue blazers who are saying, Hey, these numbers need to add up, or you’re in trouble. Have you found any systems like that that are actually more

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Steve Donai: quantitative than the qualitative that I know leadership sometimes can feel like it is.

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Cameron Bolish: Dude. This is brilliant. i i i wanna point reference. I literally was on a a phone call yesterday with a colleague new to the CEO role very experienced in in the behavioral health realm and has has progressed up into the CEO role

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Cameron Bolish: and reached out to me yesterday, and we had a very, very similar conversation. This is this is Kismet. You know, he’s tracking Adr average daily rate, and he’s tracking Adc. Average daily census, and of course, corporate is leaning on him. Hey, you gotta hit this number. You gotta hit this number by Friday. And so you know, that became the focus of of his. And that became what he projected to the team. Gotta hit. This number

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Cameron Bolish: gotta hit this number.

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Cameron Bolish: Well, treatment is what treatment is, no matter how much we wrap around a patient.

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Cameron Bolish: Eventually, somebody’s gonna ama. Eventually, somebody’s gonna have to be admin discharged. And hopefully, we can proactively get in front of it where it’s a soft you know, admin discharge, or or perhaps an ama. But here’s some resources to another facility like, we always want to be good stewards, but at the end of the day

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Cameron Bolish: we have to respect our patient population and their uniqueness. And so he was like man, you know. The the staff knew we had to get to this number, but they let so and so ama they let so and so ama, and and then the admin discharge somebody without even calling me like what would you do?

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Cameron Bolish: And I just took a deep breath in, you know, just like you were kind of kind of kind of laying out, I said. Well, 1st and foremost.

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Cameron Bolish: take away the goal of that hidden census number by Friday. Just just take that out of your mind. Take, you know, practice a little. Cbt. Take it out and put it on the shelf. Just just remove it for now and focus on the root cause of the issue. Why did that patient ama? What could we have done different? Why did we have to admin, discharge this person. What could we have done different and and work backwards? You know the hours before the days before? It’s it’s kind of like thinking about. You know those that are in recovery

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Cameron Bolish: when relapse occurs, it’s not necessarily when the drug or the drink enters the body. It’s the mindset. The hour before the the mindset, the day or week before where the relapse really started to build traction until the point of no return.

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Cameron Bolish: and I said, what your staff needs to realize is not, hey? We’re all working to hit a goal. We’re all hitting a number. And and when we do that, wow! We get a pizza party or we get an ice cream. Those are human lives

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Cameron Bolish: behind every census point. That’s a human life. That’s somebody’s loved one. That’s somebody’s mom, dad, son, brother, you know, friend or foe.

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Cameron Bolish: focus on that human life, focus on what we can do better for that person. And if we couldn’t do it for that person. We learn from that person to do it better for the next or for the next, and I get. And I told him. I said, I guarantee you when you, when you game, plan with your leadership team. From that compassion the patient focused compassion and not the Oh, let’s hit the number, because corporate.

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Cameron Bolish: your outcomes will continually be better. And and so to answer your question in in that scenario, it’s it’s where where do we focus our priorities? Are, are we as business leaders, gonna solely focus on excel sheets to run a hospital? Or are we gonna focus on the patients in the hospital, both patients and a staff in the hospital

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Cameron Bolish: to allow them to create positive outcomes. And so I think it’s a mindset. And I I think you know anybody that’s new to the seat. It’s all about numbers. It’s all about quantitative right cause they’re being judged, especially if we come from a biz dev aspect, right? I I can remember big corporate America admission directors, biz dev directors and Ceos man. They’re the 1st ones to go when the census tanked, I mean, literally get fired when the census tanked and so I think. You know I I’d be interested to hear, man, what

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Cameron Bolish: how have you? I know you’ve had a very distinguished career. How have you navigated the the corporate census panic and everybody goes manic? You know. What what are some things that you’ve exercised to get through that and still keep the progression. Steady.

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Steve Donai: You know. Interesting. There’s 2 answers that one is past state, one’s future state. So past state. Very analytical, right? So the numbers don’t lie, and a good example of that is, we had a census dip in the fall of 2020 where I was working.

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Steve Donai: and I was able to really quickly identify that our calls to admits changes. Usually 4 calls, per admit went to 5.1 doesn’t sound like a ton, but that’s a 20 plus percent jump in calls admits. So.

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Cameron Bolish: Open.

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Steve Donai: You know. What would you do first? st Knee jerk, reaction? Well, the Steve of past would have said, admissions team is terrible. They’re not closing. It’s garbage, you know. Everything’s bad.

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Cameron Bolish: Head.

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Steve Donai: Yeah, yeah, let’s just throw someone else under the bus. Let’s let’s blame. But what we end up doing says we, we went down chain kinda like you talk about. Let’s go down chain and see what’s happening. And and downstream. What ended up happening was

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Steve Donai: our historical calls are clinical assessments to approval. So people do a clinical assessment about approved only 85%.

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Steve Donai: That number dropped to 70%.

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Steve Donai: Okay, that’s significant. That’s actually literally causing the difference here as the Delta that we need to find. Why is that? And so, working with clinical working, with admissions? Having several calls, we identified the buckets. At that time. My, this is few months into 2020. Were either 2 mental health, acute to high mental health, acuity due to the isolation.

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Steve Donai: too low of substance, use acuity because they were

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Steve Donai: smoking a lot of marijuana and weren’t residential necessary, but wanted to stop smoking marijuana. And we needed to find a new solution. So I was able to take that information back to the outreach team, back to the marketing efforts and say, let’s redefine how we talk about our program, so we can get less of these edges and and work more in the middle. And 2 months later we were pretty much back on track. And so the pressure from above was Steve. Our census is lower. What are you gonna do about it?

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Steve Donai: Here’s what we found is the problem. Here’s the timeline that’s legitimately going to take to do something about it

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Steve Donai: and what we do something about it without chopping heads and doing awesome. We’re gonna be back to where we are, but better because the call volume we’re seeing is going up. Our call volume will continue to go up, but the value of those calls will increase.

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Steve Donai: And so that’s a very tactical, I guess. Mathematical approach. What what I found with grocer, what we’re doing now, which I really want to grow. It’s something I’m very passionate about is my 1st year into grocery up a full time. I was mostly an independent person, working with treatment centers and lowering my handicap and doing all these great things right.

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Steve Donai: It was a good time. I I enjoy my 1st great clients. I enjoyed working with them. We. We got a lot of movement. But I realized that no treatment center has a single source problem, right? That revenue is all departments. So grocery grew. And the what we’re focusing on now with clients who are open to a full discussion about how to grow is

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Steve Donai: similar to trauma informed care or evidence based. Care is, it’s mission and vision driven revenue generation. And so we’re taking their mission statement. We’re taking their values. We’re taking their vision statement and we’re pushing that into how you grow holistically with that in mind. What does that mean for how does your outreach team operate? Who should be on the bus? What are their pi’s? Or they’re interviewing questions that we wanna have. What do we do to create that person, your marketing efforts?

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Steve Donai: Are you a podcast, person? Are you a webinar, an eblast, a conference?

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Steve Donai: How does it align with here? And so I think my future state is going to be so closely aligned with the core principles of organizations that we work with.

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Steve Donai: that they won’t get that pressure from above, because everything is actually synergistic for once. It isn’t you guys over here make money. We take care of people. It’s we are all part of this process. And and so that’s what I’m excited about industry wide as far as solving the revenue culture gap that I’ve seen at so many treatment centers over the last decade, plus.

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Cameron Bolish: I I agree, 100%. I was in a conversation a few weeks ago. I’m working on a a project. Can’t can’t quite announce it yet, but excited to see it develop, and was talking to What? What a team that has a national presence, and their question to me. You know, as I’m a simulating the leadership team to assist them was, you know, what? What will your priorities be? What were your what would be your main focus? And I literally just looked at all of them. And I said everything.

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Cameron Bolish: No, no, we understand. But you know, in in order, wasn’t it everything?

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Cameron Bolish: And and I think the more seasoned we become, we realize we have to always be able to step back and look at the entire arena, cause you’re absolutely right there. There, you know the the facilities that I’ve worked in, the the facilities that I’ve led, the facilities that I’ve helped consult.

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Cameron Bolish: There is never, ever just one problem, and we have a magic wand. We fix that. And then it’s just, you know, unicorns, rainbows, and and skittles coming down. No.

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Cameron Bolish: and it’s constant. As soon as we repair or revitalize an issue in nursing. Oh, that then stemmed issue in clinical, we we oh! And then the text, and then overnight text, and then days and weeks, and and all of a sudden you realize the easiest thing to do is just step back

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Cameron Bolish: and really start to look at the entire operation at once and realize every everybody is a cog in this beautiful mechanism and machine to make it work cohesively. And as soon as we prioritize one or the other well, then, you’re gonna hurt. Somebody’s feelings. You’re gonna demoralize a department. Well, you know that they’re not that important. They’re not doctors or they’re not that important. They’re not clinicians. No, no, everybody in this ecosystem is equally important.

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Cameron Bolish: We never know who’s going to get the best information from the patient. In my experience it is typically a housekeeper or somebody in the dining hall.

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Cameron Bolish: where the guard of the patient is let down. They speak openly when they’re getting their mashed potatoes, steak, and gravy, and they’re like, you know, I’m really. I’m glad I’m eating this. I’m really craving a drug today. And if we didn’t empower that frontline dining staff to then immediately report that so that the clinician, the care coordinator. Everybody could wrap around that patient.

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Cameron Bolish: Then then we’re doing ourselves a disservice. And so I I love. What you’re saying is, you know, you you got to look at everything. Just step back and look at you know I I wish in my career

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Cameron Bolish: that the corporate overhead that I’ve worked for, not not worked with, but worked for. I wish that at some points they would say, Hey, you know, we think the issue is this, we’re not sure. Find out what the issue is

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Cameron Bolish: more often than not. It’s, Hey, you gotta fix this. That’s the problem. And and that’s from out of state, sometimes 3,000 miles away. They really have no introspective understanding of what the landscape is right in front of us boots on the ground, and so I I hope that as I progress as a leader. I remember that that, hey? You know, when I go into a situation and I assume

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Cameron Bolish: I have the the identified, the problem or the problems that I’m still open minded saying, Hey, this is what I see. But I’m really interested to see what you all think and what you all feel so that we can work together.

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Steve Donai: Awesome.

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Steve Donai: It’s okay. I I appreciate all that. You know, since we’re wrapping up, I want to see if we can get one parting bit of a bit of wisdom for you. What would you say to

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Steve Donai: maybe a new treatment center on a new CEO who’s coming to this industry for the 1st time might have come from industries that don’t have the same amount of interaction with humans, the most vulnerable or even patient care in general. But I’ve decided to open a treatment center and decided, that’s the new business plan I want to do.

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Steve Donai: How would you advise them into starting off on the right foot with their teams, with their programs, with the culture, with their patients, so that they can build a lasting success for what they’re trying to do.

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Cameron Bolish: Absolutely. I I’m gonna answer that by talking to the Cameron bowlish in his 1st CEO chair. Right?

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Cameron Bolish: Man, hindsight is is a is a gift of wisdom

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Cameron Bolish: to anybody that has capital, or that has the means to open a a facility. Take over facility. But but you are a newcomer. Please please remember

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Cameron Bolish: humility.

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Cameron Bolish: humbleness, and honesty.

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Cameron Bolish: You’re not the 1st person to do this, and and you’re you’re not going to come out of the gate, being the best person to do this.

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Cameron Bolish: Think about your network, think about mentorship, think about those individuals that have come before you have failed, until success took over and and have the knowledge and the experience, strength and hope to guide you and mentor you. It’s

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Cameron Bolish: it’s the. And once again you you hear my kind of commonality. I I talk to leadership, and I talk to employees just as clinicians and sponsors talk to patients is you’re not alone. Don’t don’t think you have to operate alone. You know the stronger your network, the stronger solution focused you’re going to be, and and that that I I can’t emphasize that enough. And we’ve seen

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Cameron Bolish: ventures fail because of that lack of of humility or or humbleness. Right? And and you know they had beautiful funding. They had beautiful facility, brick and mortar, gorgeous landscaping the 9. And then, all of a sudden, you know, 6 months down the road Staff’s walking out. Patients are on Google talking about everything and the food, and and you know the the the owner or the Ceos around like what?

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Cameron Bolish: Well, it’s because you tried to make your own agenda

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Cameron Bolish: better than what’s already been working in our industry, you know, and I and I think it goes back. What’s the old phrase? Don’t reinvent the wheel. No, just just, you know.

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Cameron Bolish: Stay open minded to the fact that you’re not, and you don’t have to be the very best. You don’t have to have all the answers. You don’t have to be perfect.

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Cameron Bolish: and and allow yourself the humility to grow. Allow yourself to be vulnerable in, in and around those trusted inaugural members of your team to to allow you to grow with them. And I I just really it’s it saddens me to see really great programs driven into the ground because of poor leadership, or because of poor delegation and and management.

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Cameron Bolish: And and and you know, I like what you, said, man, I was resonating on when you were starting your team in in in what we would learn to be the onset of a pandemic, and you know your your whole playbook, your whole playbook just had to go away and and you know I another thing that you said when I was running a Biz Dev team in California. We had 2

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Cameron Bolish: group text threads. One was me and the entire team, and then I. I asked them also to have a group text without me. And one of them said, Well, why? I said, because I want you all to be able to talk about me behind my back. I want you all to be able to bend. I want you all to come up with creative ideas as a unit and then share them with me. And it it’s just it’s giving everybody the voice. And and I think, you know, in closing, it’s just we’re all human.

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Cameron Bolish: you know. Some of us, you know, prescribe to the belief that we were born perfect, and we become flawed, or we were born flawed, and and strive for perfection. I I just think all of us at some point are a hot mess.

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Cameron Bolish: and once we really get down to to pulling the masks off and and letting the ego not run wild and and really just becoming honest with ourselves, our higher power, each other. We realize we’re all in this together. And so you know what I can accomplish by myself is nowhere near as impressive

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Cameron Bolish: as what I can accomplish when I surround myself with like minded individuals, and we we become solution focused and positive focused. And remember, it’s not about making a dollar. It’s about saving a life.

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Cameron Bolish: And yes, at the end of the day, if we’re business owners, or Ceos, or or we’re, we’re a corporate voice. This is a business we we do have to understand the human capital. We we are in the business of helping others. And and you you said it perfectly

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Cameron Bolish: that that admission coming in generating revenue should not be to make a corporate office rich it should be to give back to the doctor, pay the nurse, pay the clinician, pay the landscaper, pay the yoga instructor, and and then reinvest in the quality of care for the patients and reinvest in the quality of environment for the employee.

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Cameron Bolish: And so I I’m excited to see where the future takes us. We’re starting to see a little bit of a breakdown of the of the large corporate, you know. Infrastructure. There’s more outreach to consultants and to subject matter experts to kind of come in it. It appears we’re on the verge of finally investing back in the employee and and putting forth an education. I I think the whole joke is, you know, between the CEO and the CEO

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Cameron Bolish: Cfo. You know somebody, you know, wants a raise, and the CEO said, or the Cfo. Says, no, it’s gonna cost too much. And so that person quits and the CEO has to hire somebody new. But they want, you know, a starting salary that’s now market. You know. Long story short.

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Cameron Bolish: it costs so less, so much less to invest in your current staff and your current employees and to pour into them, because, remember, they are pouring into the patients they’re pouring into the community. They’re pouring into the the loved ones and the family members, and if you have an adolescent unit, they’re pouring in twice as much to the kiddo, to the parent, guardian, to the, to the to the State.

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Cameron Bolish: We have to remember that everybody’s cup at some point is going to run dry, and we have to be there to fill each other up. And and that’s why, you know, watching the progression of growth, Sherpa, and and seeing what you’re doing and the team you’re putting together, and the the philosophy that you’re allowing us to learn from man. I’m really excited to see where that takes you and your team, but also the infiltration into you know, corporate healthcare America.

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Steve Donai: Awesome. Well, Cameron, thank you so much for joining us today. And if you guys have watched it to this point, thank you. That’s awesome. I hope you enjoyed it, and feel free to reach out to Cameron on the socials like Linkedin, always ping us if you need anything and have a great day.

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Cameron Bolish: Thanks.