HPA/LiveWell owner prioritizes teamwork
Albany mental health clinic offers help for those with eating disorders
When Julie Morison, the owner and director of HPA/LiveWell, founded her mental health clinic in 2009, she only had four patients. Morison did not know how the logistics of her Albany clinic would work, nor did she know how to bill patients, but she was determined to lean on her expertise as a psychologist to treat those dealing with mental health issues. Morison’s practice quickly grew as she brought on a team of counselors and health care providers and established the LiveWell Intensive Outpatient Program — a four-day-a-week program that allows patients to get treatment for eating disorders while still living at home.
Q: You said that your team at HPA/ LiveWell are all likeminded in focusing on and feeling passionate about patient care. How is that company culture fostered?
A: My goal always is to help people capitalize on their strengths. My expectation of people is pretty simple. I expect people to work together. I expect them to respect each other, to work hard, but I treat them with respect as well. They show up every day looking to work hard, and they buy into that. Our eating disorder team is going to New York City together; we have a conference to go to. It’s funny — hands down, no question — everybody wanted to go. They want to be together. I think they actually like work. We do hard work. They have a ton of backup and a ton of support. It’s just a good vibe. And I bring my dog to work, so everyone likes that.
Q: Mental health became an even bigger problem facing so many during the COVID-19 pandemic. How did HPA/LiveWell deal with the increased demand while also having to manage the logistics of the pandemic?
A:
We were so together because we were remote and on my Teams all the time. We were running programs all the time. Patients were super sick. Eating disorders spiked like crazy. And no one had anything else that was distracting them, so they were working all the time. It was almost like a team-building experience. You get it because you were there. I think that it was a shared experience and a valuable one and a genuine one. It was hard and it was scary. In the most unpredictable time any of us have really faced, we made it so predictable and it was reliable and it was structured. We were constantly there talking to each other, getting through stuff, helping each other navigate learning alongside each other. It made us all better clinicians, and I think it brought us together very significantly.
Q: You and your employees have emotionally taxing jobs. How do you alleviate some of that hardship as a team?
A:
We laugh a lot. We have fun. It’s serious when it needs to be, but it’s light and full of memes and joking around and people laughing about things that happen when we can. But also, people know when to dig in. And when it’s tough, they get to call me or call their direct supervisor and say ‘This was tough.’ I am literally always available.