Amanda Blanco is the CEO of the Behavioral Hospital of Bellaire, who started her career with UHS as a Mental Health Technician over 10 years ago. In her tenure with UHS, she has successfully driven initiatives to convert a facility to seclusion free and started clinical trials on acute schizophrenic patients through MERCK, a research organization.
Today, she joins the show to talk about how a personal tragedy led her into the field of mental health, advice she would give to other mental health technicians, and the improvements she hopes to see in the mental health industry.
Key Takeaways
01:23 – Amanda Blanco joins the show to talk about her amazing journey from mental health technician to CEO of a hospital system
06:09 – Turning tragedy into hope
07:14 – Achieving a Bachelors & Masters degree while working at UHS and what it’s like working at Universal Health Services
09:59 – Advice Amanda would give to mental health technicians
13:24 – What’s next for Amanda
14:31 – Amanda speaks to her hope for the evolution of mental health
17:03 – Dr. Flowers thanks Amanda for joining the show and lets listeners know where they can connect with her and the Behavioral Hospital of Bellaire
Resources Mentioned
JFlowers Health Institute – https://jflowershealth.com/
JFlowers Health Institute Contact – (713) 783-6655
Subscribe on your favorite player: https://understanding-the-human-condition.captivate.fm/listen
Behavioral Hospital of Bellaire Website – https://bhbhospital.com/
**The views and opinions expressed by our guests are those of the individual and do not necessarily reflect those of J. Flowers Health Institute. Any content provided by our co-host(s) or guests is their opinion and is not intended to reflect the philosophy and policies of J. Flowers Health Institute itself. Nor is it intended to malign any recovery method, religion, ethnic group, club, organization, company, individual, or anyone or anything.
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Saying Yes To Opportunity With Amanda Blanco [Episode 83]
Starting A Career In Mental Health
In this episode, I am thrilled to have the CEO of the Behavioral Hospital of Bellaire. It’s an amazing UHS system. It’s Amanda Blanco. I have to say that we both have beautiful last names.
I think so too.
Flowers and Blanco is a great combination. You can’t get better from that. Thank you for seeing our patients. We love working with you. I love the UHS healthcare system in itself. I’ve been a part of it historically and it’s a great system.
I agree. That’s why I’ve been with them for many years.
I am even more excited to read your bio. You were here and I was out so I didn’t get to meet you. We’re doing this episode and I was like, “Send me your bio.” I got it and I was like, “Are you kidding?” You started your career years ago with UHS and you were a mental health tech, which is amazing. As you and I both know, mental health techs protect everyone and take care of everyone. They are such an important role in a hospital system.
You started as a mental health tech. You’ve worked at several UHS facilities over the years and held several roles. It’s amazing. In ten years, you went from a mental health technician to a case manager. Without case managers, we can’t function. You went from that tech role and do a case manager role. You then went into a group facilitator role. You did so well as a group facilitator. They said, “Come on board as our Director of Utilization Management.” That is a hard role.
It very much is. You’re fighting insurance companies.
You have to be a bulldog to be the Director of UM. You did that and also case management again. Another extremely important role is Director of Risk Management and Performance Improvement, Joint Commission, and all of those things. You moved into that role. You became the Chief Compliance Officer and then the Chief Operating Officer. You rolled into the Chief Executive Officer role. Here you are.
When I read that, I thought it was quite boring and then you read it, I’m like, “It’s not so bad.”
Turning Tragedy Into Purpose
What I do want to talk about is your amazing journey. Part of your human condition in life is that you started there as a mental health technician and now, you are an amazing CEO of a hospital system. Tell me about that journey.
It’s interesting. Every orientation for new staff starts with the CEO’s speech. I go in and introduce myself. I do talk about myself for two reasons. A lot of times, I’m uncomfortable talking about myself and it’s good exposure therapy for me to do that but most importantly, I want the direct care staff to know that there’s a lot of growth within UHS. I use my history as an example of that.
When I became a mental health technician, it was interesting. I applied for the job because I needed a job. I was intrigued with Psychology and mental health. I also had a personal event in my life where a grandfather of mine who I was very close to suffering from depression. Unfortunately, he ended up committing suicide. That event did something to me. It made me think, “What do I want to do with my life?”
I applied as a mental health tech thinking, “Let me see if this works for me.” I fell in love with it. It’s funny because we talk about crossroads. There’s a fork in our life and road where you start to see which way you’re going to go. At that time that I had the interview as a mental health tech, I also had an interview as a store manager for a very big store chain and a lot more money but when I did the tour at the hospital in Tequesta, Florida, which is a little residential treatment center for kiddos, I loved it. There was something so intriguing about it.
“It’s funny how we encounter crossroads that reveal our path. I had interviews for a mental health tech and a store manager at a big chain, which offered more money. But during my tour at the residential treatment center for kids, I felt a strong connection and intrigue.”
That’s so cool. Going through what you did with your grandfather, I often talk about in my show the tragedies and loss in my family. I’ve lost my father and his sister to addiction. People always ask, “Why do you do what you do?” I wasn’t cut out to do anything else. Losing your grandfather to suicide, I’m sorry. What you’re doing must make him jump up and down.
That’s how I look at it.
He’s saying, “Congrats, I love you.”
I appreciate that. I like to look at it that way too.
You and I share a little bit of history also. You’re not from South Texas but you have family members in South Texas.
I do in McAllen, which is considered South. McAllen and Alice as you mentioned. Texas is in my blood.
My mom was born and raised in McAllen. My dad was born and raised in Alice. We’ll have to take a trip to the valley. We’ll have a big family visit. I also want to say that you do have a Bachelor’s degree and an MBA in Healthcare Administration. You did that at Florida Atlantic. Talk about that journey. Were you working at UHS already when you were doing your MBA work?
I was. What was lovely was I didn’t know what I wanted to do. At the time, I had a wonderful mentor and her name was Laura Contreras. She was my clinical director. She’s the one who gave me the opportunity to be a case manager. I talked to her and said, “I don’t know what to do.” She’s like, “Once you’re done with psychology, try different things. You’re going to figure out what you want to do.”
I thought I wanted to be a therapist but as I started getting more deeper into case management, I realized that I needed to do something more extreme and be at a higher level to make change. The people in the trenches, case managers, and direct care staff do a lot of work but a lot of change comes from the top. That’s what motivated me to go to Florida Atlantic University and acquire my Master’s in Healthcare Administration. That’s a great school. I have Owls all the way. Go, Owls.
“I realized, as I got deeper into case management, that I needed to do something more extreme. I needed to be at a higher level to make changes. The people in the trenches – the case managers and direct care staff – do a lot of work, but a lot of change comes from the top.”
Good for you. I was telling you I had privileges years ago. We need to redo that. I’d love to see patients there again. Talk to us about UHS and the hospital system.
It’s going to sound very cliché and maybe in a way, ironic but it’s very family-oriented. Alan Miller was the Founder of Universal Health Services and his son, Marc Miller, is overseeing the company. I would not be at a company if I didn’t share the same virtues, philosophy, and everything as the president. I’m very biased because I’ve been given tremendous opportunities there. There is a sense of care like nothing I’ve ever seen. A big thing that we talk about in a lot of our corporate meetings and town halls is safety. It’s a business. We want to bring in volume but safety is always at the top. We have to provide excellent patient care. I share that philosophy. I am very dedicated.
“I would not be at a company if I didn’t share the same virtues, the same philosophy, the same everything as the President.”
I know a lot about UHS. I’ve had a history with them. It’s fantastic that they nurtured you through your MBA. You did that role while you were climbing the corporate ladder. You’re able to affect such change. What advice do you give to mental health technicians, case managers, and people who you see walking the hallway? I know you must be a very engaging CEO.
I am. I round a lot.
I bet you have an open door policy and you’re interactive with your staff but what do you tell people who are in that role and aspire to grow?
Here’s the first piece of advice that I give anybody and what I start at orientation. As I’m doing my rounding, I say the same thing. I say, “Say yes to opportunity.” We can become so narrow-minded. We want what we want but sometimes doing jobs or taking on responsibility that goes outside of our comfort zone is where you’re going to grow. I can tell you everything on that list was very difficult for me to do.
“Sometimes, doing jobs or taking on responsibilities that go outside of our comfort zone, that’s where you’re going to grow. That’s what we do as humans, we grow. We grow from challenges and obstacles.”
There were many times when I felt like I couldn’t do it but that’s what we do as humans. We grow from challenges and obstacles. My advice to mental health technicians in particular, and I specifically point out all my MHDs, is to say yes to opportunity. If I ask you, “Do you mind sitting up at the front desk or the receptionist for a day?” Say yes. You never know who you’re going to meet. I did it. I was nervous. You did it. We’re in great positions now. It’s a matter of taking what we go through and growing from it.
Something that I learned early on many years ago was I remember one of my first jobs. I worked a late night shift at a convenience store. I was making nothing or tiny dollars. My shift was over and I wanted to get home because I had to go to school the next day. My manager walked in and she said, “Before you go, would you mop the floors tonight?” I said, “Excuse me?” She said, “Mop the floors.” I was like, “I’m a cashier.” She said, “Tonight, you’re going to mop the floors.” I said, “I need to make a quick phone call.” I went and called my mom. I said, “Mother, I need to go home and study. She wants me to mop the floor.” My mother said, “You get in there and make that floor shine. Never say no.”
It’s a great advice. When you said that, I thought of my mom. I took that and got home. I got another lecture about saying no. I live that life as well. Take a chance, take a risk, and step out. I tell some of my patients, “This is a difficult process. It’s scary. You feel like you’re in the dark. What I want you to virtually do is take my hand, walk out in the dark, on the plank, let’s jump into this ocean, and see what happens. More than likely, you’re going to flourish, swim, do well, and grow from it.” I’ve seen that in my life and I can tell that from your philosophy as well.
I feel like you understand that more than anybody.
Striving For Success And Patient Care
What do you see next for yourself at the hospital? If you’re okay with saying it now that you’re already CEO.
It’s interesting because it might be a flaw of mine but I always look 2 or 3 steps ahead. I want to make BHB or Behavioral Hospital of Bellaire as successful as possible. I want patients to come in. When they leave, I want them to call their parents, family, and friends and say, “I feel better.” We have a lot of tools where we can look at surveys.
“Right now, I want to make BHB – Behavioral Hospital of Bellaire – as successful as possible. I want patients to come in and when they leave I want them to call their parents, family and friends and say, ‘I feel better.’”
We already see that. We have great people and team but I’m a believer that there’s always room for improvement. I start to see that on a consistent basis. I’m getting letters from patients, thanking us for what we did for them. My next goal is to do that for a few years. After that, we’ll see. We want to grow outpatient and work with wonderful organizations like yours.
Thank you. Let’s wrap up here a little bit and this is a longer answer than we can possibly do. I know we could talk about it for hours. Where do you see the mental health system in the United States, not where it is but where it needs to go?
I don’t need to say this to you but healthcare is on a continuum of care. I’m an AACHI member. I went to a seminar and it was a panel of internal medicine doctors and wonderful women down in Florida that I went in. I wanted to hear what they had to say. The need very much is behavioral health. You go into a hospital as a patient.
Let’s say you are in kidney failure. We have to stop looking at, “They have kidney failure but they’re also suffering from depression.” It’s not about that. What caused the depression? Is it the fact that they are in kidney failure at this point? We need to understand how it goes hand in hand. If healthcare can come up with a way of understanding the connection there, we could be able to do wonders with treating both of those things.
I cannot agree more. The timing is odd that’s happened. I was sitting down in my kitchen. I whipped out my iPad and created this Instagram post. It was six little short case studies of what I call misdiagnosis. It is exactly what you were talking about. It is people who may have depression, may look like they’re in psychosis, and may have mental health difficulties who have an underlying medical condition.
I bet you’ve seen this at your hospital but sometimes they will end up in a psychiatric hospital, a therapist’s office, their husband or wife, or whomever puts them in therapy. They’re anxious and seemingly psychotic and have cognitive issues. We look at them. Sometimes psychiatrists will diagnose this borderline bipolar or whatever it is when it could be an underlying medical condition.
We see it all the time.
If we look deeper and work in a collaborative role, then we can have these proper diagnoses, treat the mental health issue and the medical issue, and resolve both of them together. I am so excited. Thank you for coming.
Thank you for having me.
You’re amazing. I am going to continue to watch your career trajectory because I know it’s not stopping anytime soon.
I appreciate it.
You’re amazing. We enjoy our collaborative relationship with you.
Me too.
If anyone has a need for the hospital, how do they reach the hospital?
How To Connect With Amanda And BHB
We have a website and you can reach out to us there. You can either do it via the website or have our phone number on there. You’ll get connected straight to our intake department and they’re going to take care of you.
I can tell you they will take care of you because we’ve experienced it with referring several of our patients. You guys do an amazing job.
Thank you.
If you need help with diagnostic evaluations or treatment, look us up at JFlowersHealth.com. Thank you, everybody. Thank you so much for being here.
Thank you.
It’s a fun day.
