The career path of Heidi Hillery to the directorship of Behavioral Health Services at Saint Francis Hospital is one she tried early to exit. A Deep Southerner with a home-grown calling to serve others and the only child of parents active in community service work, she learned early to serve others, even as helper-confidante to her friends. Although she was fascinated by the fields of psychology and social work, she tried hard to avoid them as a profession.
“When you’re in this field, you make or break it in the first three to six months,” she said. “Either you have the internal fortitude to help other people with their problems and also know how to de-stress yourself and fill yourself back up so you can come back the next day and continue to help people — or not. I was making the transition from high school to college; I wasn’t mature enough to understand that, so I actually tried to steer clear of it. But I just kept coming back to the helping professions.”
After getting her undergraduate degree in psychology from Louisiana State University, and master's degrees in social work and healthcare management, the New Orleans native answered what she now recognizes as a true calling.
Her efforts for several organizations and employers earned recognition, including an award for her work with troubled teenagers in Houma, La., and ultimately brought her to the North Mississippi Medical Center’s Behavioral Healthcare Center, where she served as executive director. She commutes daily from Tupelo to her office at Saint Francis Hospital. It’s a drive she finds “…kind of fun. It’s a good time to think about the day ahead and, on the reverse end, to decompress.”
Now, after celebrating 24 years in the profession — two of them with Saint Francis — Hillery reflects that it’s not any particular accomplishment or honorable recognition that she finds most fulfilling, but the day-to-day service to each individual, whether staff member or patient.
“Any time we can help someone develop insight into themselves and apply it to their lives, making their lives and their family members’ lives better, that is the greatest accomplishment,” she said.
Although Saint Francis has been in the behavioral health business for some years, it is still a secret in many circles, but growth at several levels is bound to draw attention. Its in-patient program can accommodate up to 40 adults and geriatrics in private rooms, with similarly unique private quarters for an additional 40 patients in the adolescent unit.
Recently, Hillery noted, Saint Francis has partnered with the University of Tennessee to add a medical detox component to the acute care side, and the behavioral health staff works closely in tandem with them.
“I definitely think that Saint Francis has been proactive in also hiring two hospitalists; we have seen growth in our service line since they were added to the services we provide,” Hillery said.
The hospitalists serve psychiatry exclusively, both in the behavioral health area and within the medical-surgical side of the hospital, allowing SFH to address more people in-house.
“But our growth is primarily in the area of the care of the patient, in the services that we provide and the quality of that programming for our patients,” she added.
There are patients in all hospitals who also have mental health needs or issues, in addition to those who arrive as walk-ins or referrals, she pointed out. Saint Francis utilizes a triage process via a clinical assessment center directed by Jason McCown, with whom Hillery works closely. The center is staffed 24-7 with licensed counselors, licensed masters-level social workers and psychiatric nurses who develop a comprehensive assessment of each individual — at no cost — and then consult with a psychiatrist to determine the best course of action to treat the patient’s current issue or illness, either as an inpatient or through an intensive outpatient program.
“We only offer inpatient services here, but the behavioral health community in
Memphis is very tight-knit,” McCown said. “We are able to refer to other programs for lower levels of care.”
Hillery has seen an increase in cases and attributes the rise to the increased education available online concerning mental health and how to seek services. She also points to a decrease in the stigma previously associated with mental illness. “People are feeling freer to seek the help they need,” she said.
She also credits the Memphis Police Department’s crisis intervention team with aiding some to seek treatment, sometimes for the first time.
“People don’t always recognize their needs in mental health," she said, "or understand when they need to seek treatment.”
Although the behavioral health field — a “softer science,” Hillery said — is evolving through improved psychotropic medications, she believes that important development is also transpiring in the team process and the increasing tendency of physicians to work with therapists and counselors to offer patients talk therapy along with necessary medications.
While Saint Francis provides ECT (electroconvulsive therapy), also known as electric shock therapy, which helps people with debilitating depression, "we’re always looking for what’s new on the horizon, to serve patients in different capacities, and that might be a continuum of care in the future,” she said.
Hillery has an 11-year-old daughter who has plans to become either a psychiatrist or a nurse anesthetist, and a 20-year-old son. Her leisure pursuits include reading good books, church involvement that allows her to “fill myself back up,” and travel — especially trips that take her closer to family and friends.
She praises the increased awareness in the healthcare profession concerning aspects of a person’s life that may be impacting them negatively.
“I would just encourage healthcare providers, whatever their profession, to be open and mindful of the fact that oftentimes physical symptoms are a product of depression or anxiety," she said. "Just delve one step deeper into what might be happening with the person beyond their physical presentation.”
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North Mississippi Medical Center