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Welcome everyone to the Becker's Healthcare podcast series.
I'm Ryan Muhammad with Beck's Healthcare. I'm thrilled to have with me today Dr.
Kevin Simon from Boston Children's Hospital. Dr.
It's so nice to talk with you today. How are you?
I'm doing pretty well. Thank you for having me. How are you?
Yeah, I'm so good. Thank you so much for asking. Um, to begin,
would you mind introducing yourself and telling us a bit about your background?
Yeah, so I'm Dr. Kevin Simon.
I am a child and adolescent and addiction psychiatrist out of Boston Children's
Hospital. Uh,
I also hold the role of Chief Behavioral Health Officer for the city of Boston,
originally from Brooklyn, New York. Um, but now Boston has been, uh,
home for the past several years.
Perfect. Thank you so much. I'm in New York now, so that's very exciting.
. Um, so the first question that I have for you is,
what are the biggest issues you're following in healthcare in 2023?
Yeah, so, um, given my role in,
in what the society and nation have been, uh, talking about,
so behavioral and mental health, uh, has been the biggest issues for me. Uh,
particularly looking at access to mental health services,
access to substance use services, um,
and then also how is it that we can kind of increase the number
of behavioral health professionals given that there seems to be a workforce
shortage. Uh, so access,
workforce shortage and then communication efforts has have been another issue
in that there are communities and persons who need services yet
currently don't get access to the services. In part,
sometimes there's a language barrier around, uh,
the information that is pre presented to them. And so, um, at least in Boston,
we're trying to think about how it, that we can improve, again, communication,
access, uh, and then even the workforce.
Perfect.
Thank you so much for that insight and for you and everything that you're doing.
What is making you excited right now?
And also is there anything that's making you nervous?
This is a good question. So in terms of, let's start with nervous.
So nervous I would say is that we have a particularly
good opportunity here, um, nationally to make a,
a particular impact on how mental health,
behavioral health is perceived, um,
and then also how it is actually provided.
And I think what makes me nervous is not seizing the opportunity that we're in,
given that the surgeon, general president, a number of individuals,
uh,
have identified and and mental health organizations have identified that we are
in a state of crisis, particularly on the youth side.
So I just think knowing that the crisis is present
and there is federal funding, state funding to um,
implement new programs and plans, uh, what makes me nervous is,
is potentially not seizing that opportunity.
And what makes me excited is just the flip side of that coin,
which is to say that I think more so now then in the past
decade, there is a certain amount of energy around the idea of
improving mental and behavioral health, be that from the societal standpoint,
so social determinants of health, um, as well as to the clinical bedside.
I think that a lot of providers, a lot of healthcare organizations,
institutions have recognized the important of mental and behavioral health.
And so even my role is new, um, and,
and there's a new administration within the city of Boston and the
idea of having somebody who is thinking about mental and behavioral health
from a public health standpoint,
just alongside colleagues that think about housing, think about economics,
think about arts, think about libraries, um,
to me that that's what's exciting about the time that we're in.
Yeah, absolutely.
I completely agree with you on that last statement and everything you said about
mental health. Um, and before I let you go doctor,
the last thing I wanted to ask you is what will the most effective healthcare
leaders need in order to be successful in the next two to three years or so?
Yeah, so I think in order to be the most effective,
um,
leadership at the highest level is gonna have to do what successful leaders have
always done, which is to say, how is it that we create collaborative teams?
In part, there will never really ever be one person, um,
or even one institution to solve all of our problems.
And so the more dynamic leaders are in terms of
creating this, um,
team concept and really bring all voices to the table, um,
be that from, in my role, having community at the table,
having persons with lived experience at the table and and recognizing that it
can't always be a top down, um, to, to solutions.
I think that that's what will have healthcare executives and
leaders be particularly successful in that when you have a
wide array of people and organizations and stakeholders present
and you let them really feel and know that
their input is valued, their opinions are valued,
their experiences are valued,
I think that's when people really feel as though they're a part of something.
Um, and so part of a culture that might be shifting.
So I think those are some of the aspects that, uh,
would allow for a healthcare leader to be most effective in the next two
to three years.
Perfect. Thank you so much for the final thoughts, doctor.
This has been an amazing discussion.
So I wanna thank you so much for coming on Becker's Healthcare and I look
forward to connecting, connecting with you again soon.
Thank you for who much for having me.