The Catalyst Podcast

Jim Wallis is  Director of Business Development with Chestnut Health Systems. He has over 32 years in behavioral health, starting his career in 1989 as a Deputy Juvenile Officer, working with at-risk adolescents in Missouri’s Pike, Lincoln, and St. Charles Counties. With Chestnut, he’s been instrumental in expanding Chestnut’s footprint across Missouri. We discuss:   How his background in criminol...

Chestnut’s Dennis Watson and Justin Bell join us to discuss the role of peer support specialists in substance use disorder treatment and the challenges they are facing in today’s environment.  Dennis is a senior research scientist, and Justin is a behavioral scientist.  They are among the authors of a recent article in the Journal of Substance Use and Addiction Treatment titled “Advancing peer sup...

Marvin Ventrell is the CEO of the National Association of Addiction Treatment Providers (NAATP).  Since 1978, NAATP has served its membership by providing training, education, and technical assistance, while supporting the addiction treatment industry via thought leadership and policy advocacy. We discussed:  How the Ventrell part of the Gannett and Ventrell law firm went from practicing law to hi...

There’s no better person to help us navigate and understand today’s chaotic - her word - mental health ecosystem than Monica Oss, the CEO and founder of OPEN MINDS, an award-winning information source, executive education provider, and business solutions firm specializing in the health and human service industry. We discuss: What prompted her to start Open Minds in 1987,  the changes that have had...

On this episode of the Catalyst Podcast we speak with Chestnut Health Systems' CEO Dr. Dave Sharar. We discussed:  Dave’s 35-year career at Chestnut Health Systems, including his current role as CEO and his previous leadership of Chestnut Global Partners, where he managed behavioral health services for over 600 employers and 1 million employees worldwide. The significant shift in public and politi...

We’re joined by Melissa Sienna, Executive Director of MDFT International (Multidimensional Family Therapy), and by Sandra Arguelles, National Trainer, also with MDFT International. MDFT transforms lives through family-centered treatment for youth struggling with mental health and other challenges, including  Substance Misuse Mental Health Crime & Delinquency Antisocial & Aggressive Behavio...

Dateline: Washington, DC. This week’s guest is Chuck Ingoglia, President and CEO of the National Council for Mental Wellbeing, the. unifying voice of America’s community mental health and addiction treatment organizations. Together with more than 3,300 member organizations, they serve more than 10 million adults and children living with mental illnesses and addictions. For fifty-five years, the or...

There’s lived experience…and there’s lived experience . Patrick Hibbard, Assistant Research Scientist at Chestnut Health Systems, has had anything but a conventional career path. Patrick shares his journey, from incarceration to his current role with Chestnut, and how his background inspires and informs his work. We discuss:    How he uses econometrics and quantitative methods in evaluating public...

Dale Shreve is  President and CEO of MHCA (Mental Health Corporations of America), a national association of innovative, entrepreneurial behavioral healthcare organizations focused on the development of C-suite executives. We discuss:  MHCA's Role in fostering executive development for behavioral healthcare leaders, highlighting the importance of peer connections among CEOs and the organization's...

Jordan Green is the Founder and CEO of Remble Health, developers of a mental health app that empowers individuals, providers, and clients with innovative AI tools, mental health resources, and 24/7 AI-powered chat support. With Remble, mental health support is accessible, confidential, and personalized to each user’s unique journey. We discuss:  What Jordan was seeing and experiencing during the p...

We have the two founders of CogniTrainer on to find out (spoiler alert: it can). CogniTrainer uses AI to create a simulated training environment for students and mental health professionals, ensuring that they’re prepared for real-world clinical encounters.  Michael Glowik, Emile Rutherford, and I discussed:  The gaps in mental health training and education CogniTrainer fills The challenges in men...

A lot can change in just ten years. This conversation with Emory University’s Justine W. Welsh, MD, discusses recommendations for updating adolescent use treatment and policies that have been in place for over a decade. Dr. Welsh is an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Emory University School of Medicine, where she is Vice Chair of Child, Adolescent, an...

Dr. Michael Giles, a licensed psychiatrist, founded Sonara Health during his residency at UT Southwestern Medical Center - a remarkable feat by itself! Sonara makes it easier for people with opioid use disorder to commit to their methadone treatment program to achieve their recovery goals.  In this episode, we discuss: Michael’s unconventional journey from residency to entrepreneurship, bypassing...

Dr. Gracelyn Cruden is a Research Scientist at Chestnut Health Systems’ Lighthouse Institute-Oregon Group. Her research leverages systems science, decision science, and implementation science to develop tools, processes, and partnerships to implement evidence-informed programs and policies. We discussed:  What is “decision science”? How is it applied, and how does it help get groups to a consensus...

Jodie Dewey is a Research Scientist and Program Evaluator with the Lighthouse Institute, the research arm of Chestnut Health Systems, where she focuses on substance use, recovery, and criminal legal system involvement. But that speaks to only a portion of Dr. Dewey’s broad experience, having worked as a probation officer and full college professor - and now in her current role - a remarkable and u...

Public transit is vital to city life, but safety concerns like substance use, mental health crises, and homelessness can significantly affect the rider experience. In the St. Louis Metro East region, an innovative program developed by  Bi-State Development (BSD) and the St. Clair County Transit District (SCCTD) in partnership with Chestnut Health Systems, is redefining transit security—not through...

Today we're joined by Tom Karl, Founder & CEO of R1 Learning, an education company providing interactive evidence-based curriculum that engages and retains individuals in service, increases practitioner effectiveness through workforce training, and generates data for measuring outcomes. R1 delivers greater engagement for the leading evidence-based and best practices for mental health & wel...

Belinda Willis is Evaluation Director for Chestnut Health Systems with over 30 years of research, program evaluation, database management and administrative experience. "The Figure in the Carpet" is a short story by novelist Henry James that’s about a narrator who is intent on discovering the secret meaning of an author's works, which is likened to discerning the hidden “ figure in the carpet." Th...

We’re joined by Mr. William L. White, known far and wide as Bill W, a true giant in the field of addiction and recovery.   Bill is an Emeritus Senior Research Consultant at Chestnut Health Systems/Lighthouse Institute and has worked full time in the addictions field since 1969.  His book, Slaying the Dragon – The History of Addiction Treatment and Recovery in America, received the McGovern Family...

Dr. Yifrah Kaminer, Professor Emeritus of Psychiatry and Pediatrics with the Alcohol Research Center, University of Connecticut School of Medicine, joins us to discuss substance use disorders (SUD) and suicidal ideation among our nation’s youth, a worsening crisis that has started to extend to middle schoolers. Among the topics we discuss are:  Yifrah’s background, clinical experience, and his par...

We had an eye-opening conversation with Dr. Tess Drazdowski, a research scientist with Lighthouse Institute, who joined us to discuss her innovative, important and inspiring work on substance use recovery for emerging adults (ages 18 to 26).  We talked about:  the need for more evidence-based services for this age group, as they are the most likely to use substances and have the least access to tr...

Here's a representative portion of an eye-opening conversation with Dr. Tess Drazdowski, a research scientist with Lighthouse Institute , who joined us to discuss her innovative and important work on substance use recovery for emerging adults. She calls on an end to the stigma around substance use struggles and the outdated belief that it’s a moral problem requiring will power, tough lover or wait...

We're joined by Lora Passetti, Evidence-Based Practice Center Program Director at Chestnut Health Systems (CHS) where she trains and certifies clinicians across the country on several well-established, specialized behavioral treatment approaches for addressing substance use disorders among youth, young adults and adults. We discuss:     The EBP Center’s mission and how it’s changed in the 28 years...

We're joined by Barbara Estrada, Chestnut Health System’s Director, GAIN Coordinating Center and Software Development, to discuss:  Her favorite band, Pink Floyd (which we weave into our conversation at critical junctures).  What inspired her to do the work she does.  Her role in developing and implementing the GAIN (the Global Appraisal of Individual Needs) Her role in developing MOSAIC, a cloud-...

Dr. Lisa Saldana is Associate Director, Senior Research Scientist, and Director for the Center for Implementation Science at the Lighthouse Institute. Lisa discusses her work as an implementation scientist (and what one does), provides a definitive description of social determinants of health (while crisply clarifying misconceptions surrounding it), the Just Care for Families continuum of care ser...