Case Studies
How Motivo Health Helped Pinnacle Treatment Centers Fill Open Counselor Positions Faster and Increase their Retention by 8%
90% of Counselor Positions Filled
Retention Rate Increased By 8%
Post-to-First Day
9 Days Faster
“Motivo was very in tune with the types of licensures we were going to encounter and how they could support those licensures.
“They get it, they understand what we’re trying to do here.”
David Long
Chief Talent Officer
Pinnacle Treatment Centers
“A lot of our partners, they’ll be really great at something but they only do it in Kentucky… or Indiana… or California.”
Positives for Motivo were cost, flexibility, and the ability to upscale across our company, across states, and across large organizations.”
John Kibler
Director of Talent Acquisition
Pinnacle Treatment Centers
The Challenges
The constant turnover of counseling staff in a behavioral health worker shortage, but even more… Pinnacle Treatment Centers wanted to become the kind of company that cares for their workers as much as they care for their patients.
Pinnacle Treatment Centers experienced a dramatic change in their workforce during the pandemic. More workers left, and it became harder and harder to fill those vacancies.
Yet the number of those who sought help for their opioid addictions doubled—and has doubled each of the two years since.
When there aren’t enough workers, those who reach out needing treatment remain on the waiting list.
Pinnacle’s recruitment and retention issues aren’t unique to the SUD treatment industry. The workforce has shrunk and treatment centers are competing with each other for the same counselors.
“We were hearing from our candidates and also our internal teammates, ‘We need help with clinical supervision to advance our licensure,” Director of Talent Acquisition John Kibler explains. “Candidates turned down job offers because of it and teammates were telling us it was affecting their decisions to continue with us.
“If we can’t internally fulfill these needs with our own clinical supervisors— who can we partner with?”
The constant cycle of recruiting and training takes time and financial resources away from the staff’s professional development.
But more than that, a constant counselor turnaround is terrible for their patients. It’s impossible to help patients progress in their recovery if they are always starting over with new counselors.
…each state is different when it comes to the various licensure, credential, and degree program requirements. It’s a complex web that we need to understand…
We were trying to figure it out on our own and it was getting pretty complex. So we thought ‘There’s got to be someone that we can partner with around developing our teams to obtain the next level.’
“We have over a thousand counselors in nine different states. Their ongoing professional development is key for us,” Chief Talent Officer David Long states.
“With the SUD field, each state is different when it comes to the various licensure, credential, and degree program requirements. It’s a complex web that we need to understand.
We were trying to figure it out on our own and it was getting pretty complex. So we thought ‘There’s got to be someone out that who knows this better than us.’”
The Solutions
“We say that we want people to grow with us personally and professionally,” John adds.
“Now I can say, “We’re going help you grow professionally and personally… We contract with Motivo… They’re going to give you the clinical supervision and the tools that you need to be able to progress.”
We’re going help you grow professionally and personally…
We contract with Motivo… They’re going to give you the clinical supervision and the tools that you need to be able to progress.
Pinnacle’s solution was three-fold.
Define their Employee Value Proposition (EVP)
Pinnacle’s talent team started their process by working with Gartner, a workforce consultancy firm. Through Gartner’s The Human Deal, Pinnacle defined their EVP according to the principles of improving the connections, autonomy, personal growth, shared purpose, and holistic well-being of their teammate.
With an EVP defined, Pinnacle could work toward creating a benefits package for their counselors that would communicate that value to their candidates and teammates.
Pinnacle implemented several changes:
Applied and qualified 90% of their facilities for the federal STAR loan repayment program. 90% of their facilities qualified for STAR LRP, opening the door for 100% loan repayment from the federal government with the commitment to serve in a Star-certified facility for six years.
“Anytime you can focus your clinical staff on bettering themselves, improving quality of care, and growing in their clinical spaces…
it’s going to be a win.”
John Kibler
Director of Talent Acquisition
Partnering with Motivo Health opened up an entirely new recruiting pool—pre-licensed therapists.
Pinnacle Treatment Centers experienced a dramatic change in their workforce during the pandemic. More workers left, and it became harder and harder to fill those vacancies.
Yet the number of those who sought help for their opioid addictions doubled—and has doubled each of the two years since.
When there aren’t enough workers, those who reach out needing treatment remain on the waiting list.
Pinnacle’s recruitment and retention issues aren’t unique to the SUD treatment industry. The workforce has shrunk and treatment centers are competing with each other for the same counselors.
“We were hearing from our candidates and also our internal teammates, ‘We need help with clinical supervision to advance our licensure,” Director of Talent Acquisition John Kibler explains. “Candidates turned down job offers because of it and teammates were telling us it was affecting their decisions to continue with us.
“If we can’t internally fulfill these needs with our own clinical supervisors— who can we partner with?”
The Results
During the shutdown, Pinnacle struggled to balance recruitment with voluntary turnover. They were able to keep their numbers growing, but it was a struggle.
After implementing their EVP at the beginning of 2022, they started to see an upturn not only in counselors— but across their whole workforce.
“We’ve been pleasantly surprised that Motivo has been able to provide support and supervision to our counselors in all nine states we’re in,” Dave shares. “Of the 34 counselors who are in Motivo’s clinical supervision program, only two have left for other work.”
“When we started our partnership with Motivo, we focused on small areas that had the highest need,” John explains.
“Then our executive directors and regional directors started communicating with each other about their experiences with Motivo. They’ve become much more open to including pre-credentialed counselors in their counseling teams. They’ve reached out to Motivo directly saying ‘Hey, we heard you guys do clinical supervision… can we get some help?’
“We’ve had success with Motivo over the past 18 months, but now they’re starting to become a part of the company. Our directors are telling each other “If you need clinical supervision, this is a good place to start the conversation.”
Support your team’s clinical development and open up your worker pool to associate counselors without burning out your staff.
Case Studies
TL;DR
How Motivo Health Helped Pinnacle Treatment Centers
Pinnacle Treatment Centers has facilities in nine states where they provide provides respectful, compassionate, and hopeful outpatient, residential, and medical-assisted treatment options for all alcohol and substance use disorders.
Challenges
Since the pandemic, recruiting counseling staff for treatment centers and retraining their staff has been a challenge.
Retention affects costs and professional development, but more importantly, it improves the quality of care for patients.
Tracking requirements for substance-use disorder counselors in nine different states is complex and difficult.
Solutions
Define their employee value proposition (EVP) so they could effectively communicate it to their candidates and use it to guide their hiring process.
Create a benefits package that invests in their counseling teams so they’ll be motivated to invest their time and energy into Pinnacle.
Partner with Motivo Health to provide remote virtual clinical supervision for their pre-licensed counselors and counselors seeking licensures and certifications.
Results
Pinnacle Treatment Centers significant improvement in headcount, time to fill, occupancy percentages, and retention percentages from Q1 to Q4, 2022.
In working with Motivo, Pinnacle Treatment Centers were able to include pre-licensed therapists in their recruiting efforts, broadening their potential pool of potential workers.
Motivo Health’s compliance department helps Pinnacle address any issues regarding licensure in all nine states that they operate.
Solve clinical supervision for your
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