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July 31, 2025 12 mins

CHE Behavioral Health Services provides mental health support to seniors in skilled nursing facilities through a holistic, client-centered approach that addresses past trauma and current challenges. Their 31-year expertise helps facilities meet compliance requirements while delivering compassionate care through psychiatry and psychology services.

• Dr. Phyllis Kennedy Howell (National Clinical Director of Psychiatry) and Heidi Rogers (Regional Director of Operations) describe CHE's comprehensive behavioral health services
• CHE serves psychiatry and psychology populations in skilled nursing facilities, focusing on CMS guidelines and quality measures
• Early signs of mental health conditions include changes in environment, mental status, physical status, and seasonal transitions
• Childhood trauma often resurfaces during senior years when people have more time to reflect on memories
• CHE offers services to skilled nursing facilities, rehab centers, assisted living facilities, and PACE adult day programs
• The organization provides outpatient mental health services for facility residents and their family members
• Understanding your own mental health and knowing when to seek help is crucial for everyone
• Client-centered care ensures mental health interventions meet individual needs rather than following rigid templates

Visit www.cheservices.com to learn more about their services.


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Episode Transcript

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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to the let's Get Comfy podcast.
And yes, we're in Orlando,florida, at the Florida
Healthcare 2025 AnnualConference and Trade Show, and I
have some wonderful,magnificent guests with us today
from CHE Behavioral HealthServices.
Thank you, ladies, for joiningus on the platform, but, as
tradition, one thing I always doI always let the guests

(00:21):
introduce themselves.
I always say healthcare workersand professionals don't like
talking much about themselves,but I'm going to let you kick it
off.

Speaker 2 (00:29):
All right, I'm Dr Phyllis Kennedy Howell.
I am the National ClinicalDirector of Psychiatry.
I am a nurse practitioner and Ihave my doctorate degree.

Speaker 1 (00:36):
All right, yes, ma'am .

Speaker 3 (00:38):
And I'm Heidi Rogers.
I'm the Regional Director ofOperations.
I oversee Florida and Tennessee.

Speaker 1 (00:43):
All right, thank you.
Thank you both for joining theplatform.
Give you a round of applausefor joining us Thank you.
Thank you for giving me theopportunity.

Speaker 2 (00:50):
Thank you for having us.

Speaker 1 (00:51):
Yes, ma'am, yes, ma'am.
So 60-second pitch, Dr Howell,on CHE, its origins.
And who do you serve?

Speaker 2 (01:00):
All right.
So CHE has been in business for31 years, so we serve the
psychiatry and psychologypopulation for mental health and
skilled nursing facilities.
So we particularly look forthings like CMS guidelines,
gradual dose reductions,compliance, quality measures all

(01:21):
of those things that will helpour residents have a much better
mental health outcome and makesure that they have the things
that they need when it comes totheir mental health there in the
skilled nursing world.
Okay, so what's your role withCHE?
So I am the National ClinicalDirector of Psychiatry.
I oversee the nursing nursepractitioners that go into the
facilities and I also take careof any of our education and

(01:43):
compliance stuff that happens todo with psychiatry.

Speaker 1 (01:46):
All right, all right, all right.
That's a wonderful introductionto CHE and yourself, ms Rogers.
Tell us who you are, ma'am, andyour role with CHE, behavioral
Health Services as well.

Speaker 3 (01:58):
So I'm the Regional Director of Operations.
And what that looks like forFlorida and Tennessee we have
several buildings.
And what that looks like forFlorida and Tennessee we have
several buildings and I'mresponsible for making sure that
we have the right fit forproviders, making sure that even
having that relationship withfacilities, so that we are
making sure that they have theright in services, the right
groups and every facility needsto be tailored differently.

(02:19):
And as a regional director, Ineed to know my facilities up
and down the coast.

Speaker 1 (02:23):
I love that.

Speaker 3 (02:24):
I'm partnering them with the right providers,
services and even making surethat we provide them with the
right care in terms of clinicaloperations as well.

Speaker 1 (02:33):
Okay, so your role as regional director of operations
and your role as clinicalleader how do you guys
collaborate to ensure betterpatient outcomes?

Speaker 2 (02:42):
Okay, so for Heidi and I we collaborate in a way
from the clinical lens andclinical standpoint.
I used to be an operator, so Iused to be a regional director
for Georgia and so I'm able toguide Heidi in some direction
and operations.
But my main role is to help herguide her in the right
directions in facilities withher clinicians that she has

(03:04):
there to support them, and to inthe right directions in
facilities with her cliniciansthat she has there to support
them and to support the rolesthat they have with the
facilities.
As Heidi mentioned, we doin-services, so I do a lot of
those in-services to help thefacility staff understand the
mental health care of patientsand how that reflects those
residents as they are goingthrough the different changes in
their life.

Speaker 1 (03:24):
Okay, that's amazing.
All right From a stigmastandpoint.
Of course, mental health is abig topic today, as it should be
, but also behavior health aswell.
What are some stigmasassociated with mental health
conditions?
You'd say.

Speaker 3 (03:41):
So I often hear, especially with my background as
an occupational therapist, fromthat demographic.
They're always saying I youknow there's a stigma behind
losing their independence, notwanting to get crazy and not
being able to advocate and behappy.
And that's the beauty ofpsychotherapy, is that not only
do we give them that outlet tobe able to talk about feelings,

(04:02):
we also give them the strategiesto be able to deal with those
things.
But also our in-services, withour staff and facility, let's
them see trigger points andsigns in those residents so that
we can come together and have aholistic approach.

Speaker 1 (04:16):
I love that.
What are some early signs youthink you can identify for,
let's say, a skilled nursefacility?
A new admit comes into thefacility may not have the, I
guess history right.
What are some early signs ofmental health conditions that a
loved one can monitor whether apatient is in skilled nursing or
at home receiving care?

Speaker 3 (04:36):
So I always like to say it's changes, whether it's a
change in their environment,change in mental status,
physical status, even changes inseasons, because then when
you're in the but holidays arealways going to bring out those
red flags.
So you should be perked up tonotice like, okay, as soon as a
person moves into a new facility, there should be a baseline

(04:56):
drawn right then and there,because that's a really big
change in their life.
So that's one of those trickypoints that you're going to see,
and anytime you're having uscome in and do those assessments
, it gives you that baseline.
So if you're starting to seethose changes, we can always go
back to the beginning and letyou know where they're starting
and where they are now and howwe can impact them with therapy.

Speaker 1 (05:18):
That's wonderful, good, good.
So, dr Howell, I want to askyou my pastor said something
before.
He said he believes that 70% ofmental health or behavioral
health issues stem fromchildhood trauma or experiences.
What's your thoughts on thattopic?

Speaker 2 (05:36):
Absolutely Everything that happens to you in your
childhood can always rear itshead in your adulthood and
really in between thosechildhood and adulthood.
But when you become a senior,those things come back to you
because you have memories andsometimes that's all you have is
memories.
So you go back and you look atthose traumas and you kind of
think about them and all youhave is time.

(05:57):
At this point, when you're inyour senior years, you're
thinking about all the things Icould have done, or all the
things I didn't do, or all thethings that happened to me.
So the one thing I can sayabout CHE is that I love the
fact that we look at thosethings.
We look at the trauma that theywent through in their childhood
, in their adulthood, and thenwe look for ways to help them

(06:18):
not be re-traumatized in theirsenior years.

Speaker 1 (06:20):
Wow.
So from an onboardingstandpoint, if you're onboarding
a new facility, have a newpartner, what's sort of your
process that sort of make it aseamless you know a streamlined
all the processes in regards toonboarding.
Sort of, make it a seamless youknow a streamlined all the
processes in regards toonboarding, but make it seamless
for the facility as well.

Speaker 2 (06:37):
So we do our very best to make sure that we are
meeting the things that theyneed in their facilities.
So we come in and we educatethem on our processes.
But we also understand what theprocesses are for the
facilities, what theirregulations are and what those
things that they need for us tomeet those regulations.
Our compliance department andour programs here at CHE we are

(07:00):
very much in tune with what CMSregulations are.
So we know what the facilitiesare looking for and we have
compliance and quality that alsohelps us with those things.
We have a huge qualitydepartment that helps us with
compliance and making sure thatwe're doing the right things so
that the facilities will bedoing the right things.

Speaker 1 (07:19):
So, Ms Rogers, do you guys only partner with just
facilities, skilled nursingfacilities, or is it ALFs you
tell them?

Speaker 3 (07:27):
We do so.
We actually work with quite afew skilled nursing facilities,
facilities, rehab facilities andassisted living facilities as
well, and we actually work withan organization called PACE,
where they have adult dateprograms.
It's really nice that we'reable to go in there to their
adult date programs and be ableto even give that component of
outpatient therapy as well.

(07:47):
So the family knows that we'rein there and we get the family
opportunity to partner with usas well.

Speaker 2 (07:52):
That's really good, yeah, the other part of that too
is in our we have an outpatientprogram, so we have psychiatry
and psychology for outpatients.
So maybe the family membersgoing through a really hard time
putting their loved one in anursing home that's a very
difficult decision for people tomake, so sometimes they may
need that mental health care andwe do provide that on our
outpatient program.

Speaker 1 (08:13):
That's really good.
I love the fact you guys dooutpatient for sure, I think,
with evolutionary health care,that's one thing, a growing area
for us.
We look at things holistic aswell, but you go into these
facilities a lot of times.
They want you to follow thepatient once they discharge back
home.
So that's something that we'regrowing and we're going to be
providing here soon as well.
So this platform is all aboutknowledge and resources.

(08:36):
What knowledge and resourcesfor the everyday person you guys
can share today?
Just give us, let's say, two.

Speaker 2 (08:43):
All right.
So knowledge would beunderstanding your own mental
health, understanding where youare with your mental health and
knowing that it's OK to get helpwhen you need help and it's OK
to be strong when you need to bestrong.

Speaker 1 (08:58):
I love that.
That's really good.

Speaker 3 (09:00):
So I'm going to come from a different standpoint.
I think it's important as aperson on the outside If you're
going to be a mental healthadvocate, make sure that you're
always keeping it to beclient-centered, make sure
you're caring them, especiallyin the facilities.
Everyone wants to go in andgive their own template, and the
director of nursing wants to doit this way.

Speaker 1 (09:19):
That's true.

Speaker 3 (09:20):
Nobody's taking into account what the patient needs
and wants, and that's thebiggest part about psychotherapy
is that we are client-centeredat the base of it, absolutely.

Speaker 2 (09:29):
Person-centered care.

Speaker 1 (09:31):
Great answer.
I'll say that I'm sold.
I'm sold.
So theme song CHE what would beyour theme song?
Either one of you can respondto that for the organization as
a whole.

Speaker 3 (09:45):
So it was so funny.
When we saw that question, weposted to our group and we all
came on lean on me.

Speaker 1 (09:51):
Lean on me.

Speaker 3 (09:52):
Yeah, like, because not only do we want the
residents and the families tolean on us, but we also need the
facility to lean on us.
I love that we play a huge rolein like making sure that their
state audit goes well.
So lean on us well.
So lean on us trusting that ourprofessionals are high quality
providers and that you lay thatin our lap and lean on us.

Speaker 2 (10:10):
And we got it and then, when you get done having
to lean on us, we want to giveyou the tools where you can be
successful and lean on yourselfa little bit.
I love it.

Speaker 1 (10:19):
I love it.
So last final question Allright, dr Howell, you're a
Georgia Bulldog fan.

Speaker 3 (10:27):
I am, I'm a.

Speaker 1 (10:27):
Florida State, Seminole yeah, I am.
So you tell me what's yourexpectations on the season this
year?

Speaker 2 (10:33):
National championship Abby National championship.
Yeah, go Dawgs, right Go Dawgs.

Speaker 1 (10:36):
Go Dawgs, all right.
Well, go Noles, actually.

Speaker 2 (10:39):
Go.

Speaker 1 (10:39):
Gators.

Speaker 3 (10:40):
Go Gators.

Speaker 1 (10:43):
Go Rattlers too.
Yeah, so thank you all fordoing the platform.
If you will let the audienceknow where they can find you,
your website, all theinformation to share as well.
Any final message to theaudience as well.

Speaker 2 (10:57):
Absolutely.
I just want to say that myfinal message for you all is
take care of your mental health.
Make sure that you talk aboutit it's OK, it's not.
It's not one of these thingsthat if you talk about it, it's,
it's a bad thing.
I want you to make sure thatyou're asking for help when you
need help and then the way thatyou can get us.

(11:18):
We have a website it'swwwcheservicescom, and we're
ready to help and we're ready tomake sure these facilities have
what they need and that theyhave the successful need and
that they have the successfulmental health that they, you
know, need for their residentsand the care that they deserve
well, yes, well, any finalmessage for you.

Speaker 3 (11:35):
So I always like to say I don't.
There's a lot of psych groupsout there and I don't know if it
could go wrong with any of them, but I know how you can go
right in the cag we've been inthe business for 31 years.

Speaker 1 (11:46):
You're selling now.

Speaker 3 (11:51):
Our chief director of compliance and quality
assurance.
She started off as a providerand she's been here for 18 years
, and so we're not creating newideas.
We are building the blueprintthat we've already had for 31
years.
So that's why you come to atrusted provider that you know
have been across the nation withservices and we are built on
providing good, compliant care,not just numbers, and coming in

(12:12):
your building.

Speaker 1 (12:13):
Listen, I'll tell you what y'all have me sold.
Thank you for joining us.
I'm so grateful you joined theplatform.
Thank you Special shout out toour sponsor, evolutionary
Healthcare, cmc Media, lessonComfort Podcast, che Behavioral
Health Services.
Check us out, thank you, thankyou All right, y'all killed it.

Speaker 2 (12:31):
Thank you.

Speaker 1 (12:33):
Thank you.
Thank you so much.

Speaker 3 (12:34):
I appreciate it.
Yes, ma'am, y'all killed it.
Take your show.
This episode of let's Get Comfywas brought to you by
Evolutionary Healthcare.
Caring is what we do.
Advertise With Us

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