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The Scopewell Podcast features candid conversations with leaders transforming how organizations think, operate, and grow. Hosted by James Leuthe, CEO of Scopewell Solutions, the podcast explores leadership, AI, digital transformation, and the operational realities of turning ideas into measurable impact. Each season goes deep into a different industry and the challenges of driving meaningful change inside complex organizations.
Hello, and welcome to the Scopewell podcast.
My name is James Luthi.
Today, we're gonna talk about an important and often overlooked aspect of health care, mental health access for young people, and the novel way one
organization is working to expand it.
Joining me is doctor Mike Stevens, executive director of Hopebound.
Mike, thank you so much for coming on.
Thank you for having me, James.
Really appreciate it.
So, Mike, walk me through your professional background and your journey to Hopebound.
For sure.
For sure.
So I come into this work, I like to say, as one of the biggest cheerleaders for mental health professionals.
Prior to doing this work with Hopebound, I've spent, over two decades in the nonprofit space, specifically at the intersections of youth development,
education, and volunteerism.
So I've got a chance to support young people and school systems across the country in Jacksonville, Florida, Washington DC, Buffalo,
New York.
So I've got a chance to be able to learn a lot, like, learn how commune like, how different communities are.
No matter what the location is, everybody all take they wanna take care of their kids.
They wanna make sure their young person is set up for success and to thrive.
And so those lessons have, like, really stuck stuck with me and has led me to a place where I can now really spend time just helping make sure young people have access to services that they need.
So you're coming from the education space, not health care, but dealing with, young people.
What has the learning curve look like, transitioning, into the health care space?
Oh, for sure.
I would say it's a humbling experience, and at the same time, it's it's been, like, an amazing learning adventure.
So first thing I've just understood, just in the behavioral mental health space, there are so many different, like, there are different tracks.
And along those different tracks, there's various specializations.
So even I I always anchored my experience and, like, in my experience with working with a therapist.
And I've worked with some amazing therapists for myself over the years and then realized, oh, I could have a therapist that's coming from a counseling background.
I could have a therapist that's coming from a social work background.
And the different skills and what they learn along those tracks are very distinct and interesting, but, ultimately, like, allows these professionals to be able to kind of
holistically build a skill set that allows them to support based on their strengths.
So, one, just understanding the different tracks in health care and and, specifically, behavior And mental health has been really interesting.
The other piece I think I've that has been interesting to see, health care and, specifically, mental health.
They are not afraid to acknowledge the environmental things that kind of impact people's health.
Specific so a lot of people always refer these two as social determinants of health.
And so a lot of times where someone lives, their ZIP code can have, like, an outsized impact on their health outcomes and especially, like, mental health, behavioral health,
emotional health.
And something that I've appreciated is, like, health care is, again, specifically mental health.
Folks are not afraid to acknowledge that and then spend a lot of time trying to think about how to, provide supports and strategies with these, specific conditions in mind.
So one thing that's been coming up in all my conversations is this idea of health care being a team sport.
How has that played out for you?
I'm seeing it happen in real time.
I think a lot of what helps me kind of have the same perspective, I think about the work that my organization does and knowing and acknowledging, like, us alone are not gonna solve
youth mental health.
Like, we're not gonna be the one thing that that fixes it all, but it is us in community with other organizations, other stakeholders, and, collectively, it helps to make that work
happen.
With some of the best, organizations that are doing this work, often, I think you could hear them talk about the something that they will hang their hat on to have some pride is having strong referrals
and linkages that they make available to the people that are supporting them.
So just in that just in that vein alone, like, the best of the best already acknowledged, like, them alone are not gonna be the WhatsApp shop for everything, but they got other people who are who they
then connect with and help do to do the work.
Again, I come into this I come into this space spending most of my experience in education and youth development.
So I understand what it takes to set a young person up for success, but I don't come in with the clinical background and expertise.
So I have to be able to have people around me who are, one, able to advise, able to talk the talk and talk the language, and also be able to help, like, build my capacity and
and build my expertise up.
So for me, I'm really fortunate that, one, from, like, a formal standpoint, like, I have board members who, and contractors who have that clinical expertise.
But I'm also really fortunate that outside of that, I have some great, relationships that are from with folks who are in the mental health space.
So all of these people kind of collectively, like, created what I'm, like, dubbed in, like, my, my clinical kitchen table.
Right?
So all of these different people who can be able to provide expertise.
So I have somebody who can give me insight from, like, the mental health perspective, but specifically thinking about social work.
I have somebody else who gives me some great advice about, like, mental health, like, from a school based counseling perspective.
And being able to have, like, that critical group of people, the kitchen table is always bustling and always giving me some good ideas.
And sometimes I get full, but I always keep coming back.
Great.
And so so what is Hopebound trying to solve, and how how does the model come together?
For sure.
So for us, I'd like to say that Hopebound is it has two audacious approaches or two audacious intents.
We are looking to be able to provide take care of the kids of kids of young people today and help train the therapist of tomorrow.
And so the way that this looks, Hopebound provides teletherapy at low to no cost to families.
So regardless of insurance and regardless of income, regardless of ZIP code, if a young person would like to have therapy, they could have access.
And the way that we go about providing this is by delivering a clinical internship experience where we recruit graduate students who are working to get their master's counseling,
social work, marriage, and family therapy.
And we provide them with an in house clinical supervisor who is meeting with them on a weekly basis to help go over cases, be able to guide them in building
their clinical practice, and at the same time, helping to make sure they're advising on all of their cases.
So our young people are also making like, they're under the care of a licensed mental health professional through this clinical supervisor.
And we like to call these interns emerging clinicians.
These emerging clinicians are getting hands on experience and being able to work directly with families.
And in a lot of instances, these emerging clinicians often are people of color.
They are are are local women, and they have a lot in common with the people that they're serving.
Very similar lived experiences, so our clients are also able to see themselves in the people who are who are delivering these services.
When some someone hears that there are prelicensed clinicians delivering care, I think a natural question arises of how do you do that responsibly.
How how would you answer that?
Oh, for sure.
So first things first, the folks who are doing this, they're in the actual internship part of their graduate study.
So they're right at the end.
They've got all of the they got all the theory.
They've been doing all the studying and practice, and now it's time for them to roll their sleeves up and and to learn.
I liken it very similar to the k 12 space around, like, the concept of a student teacher.
So I remember a number of the student teachers that I had growing up, and they work right alongside that classroom teacher, but they understand the lesson that is at hand.
And they're while they're still learning, but they they know they spend a lot of time and intention helping make sure that, the student in this instance, like, understands and is coming along.
It's the same thing when it comes to prelicensed, prelicensed mental health professionals.
They are working directly under the supervision of a licensed clinical supervisor who consults with them every single week on all of their cases.
Also, there's some real good research out there that shows that these prelicensed folks are probably some of the sharpest people you could ever be working with in this time and space.
They are getting feedback constantly.
Every single session that they do, they type up their notes, and then they review those notes.
They get feedback, and then they have to go and then do better next time.
And then after they do better next time, they go get feedback again and then have to do better next time.
I'll go out on a limb and say, working with folks who are prelicensed in this sort of phase, this is when they're the sharpest.
This is when they are getting some great amazing feedback, and all they wanna do is just learn how to be the best.
What made the need for this feel real for you personally?
I'd like to say my part time job is being uncle Mike.
So I have a I have a gaggle of nephews and nieces.
I I love them all dearly.
And what made this really real for me is just watching the experience, my niece was having as a as a a teenager and in in specifically
how she was experiencing social media and being able to just sort of see, like, what that what impact it was having on her and her self esteem.
And so one, like, that is just, I'm I'm watching it in real time.
Like, my goodness.
I didn't realize that, like, the screen could have that type of effect.
But then when I learned later on that, like, her experience is is not in isolation, I think this was the the Pew Center had put out a, report that said in 2024,
forty eight percent of youth, said that social media was harmful to their age group.
That's an increase from in 2022 when it was thirty two percent of youth saying that.
So more and more youth are saying that they see social media being harmful to people in their age group.
So seeing that that is, like, it it is happening, there are things happening in our society that has, like, these outsized impacts on our young people and particularly their mental health.
Like, it makes sense.
It feels like to me one of the most responsible things, but also just, like, in terms of trying to make sure the next generation at least has a better leg up than that we have, making sure that they have
access to these sort of supports knowing that, like, the experience that they're currently they're they're currently having.
Social media is such a big one that I think I'm surprised this that's a high number, but I'm I'm surprised it isn't even higher.
I think it impacts almost everyone.
And then I would say lingering effects from COVID as well and the isolation that a lot of, people experience and and young people especially.
Sometimes they're not brought up in that conversation, but I think that there's a lot of lingering effects from that as well.
Who would you say the model is reaching that the traditional mental health system hasn't?
There's two threads I I I would pull at this.
So the first, would say the model right now, we are supporting young people ages 10 through 24 here in Georgia.
The majority of our folks are coming from
the Metro Atlanta area.
And for a lot of folks, this is their first time accessing services for and, specifically, teletherapy services.
Therapy is not a new concept to to families in this generation.
But teletherapy and the convenience that it provides has been something that has been, a real game changer to kinda see.
So first, I would say, is is seeing families who've not really leveraged teletherapy before.
They've been, like, really jumping into the chat, if you will.
And then the other constituency, I would say, that is really access and services that may not always get access to it.
We like to also say that we focus specifically on providing culturally relevant care, and supporting folks from marginalized backgrounds and marginalized communities.
So something I would say something that we're seeing, we see a lot of our LGBTQ plus kiddos accessing care.
And it's really important because for young folks, you wanna be able to be in a place where you're seen, you are heard, you're validated.
And, unfortunately, there's some some identities in our society right now don't always feel validated in spaces that they go into, and that includes health care.
So right now, it it it's it's both an honor, but it is it is also, like, it's also part of, like, our our call to make sure that any young person, no matter how they identify,
that they will feel seen, heard, and safe and care with us.
So what what does it actually look like on the ground when the model is working at its best?
Yeah.
I would say when, I am thinking about a specific client and parent and clinician that that's coming to mind.
And so I say what it looks like at at the best, you have a young person that young people got busy lives.
I underestimated after I kind of graduated out of high school and stuff kind of went on.
Like, they keep pretty busy.
They they they keep a busy social calendar.
They gotta do all their study and everything.
So imagine just a young person in their life, like, just going through the day, but they know at 07:00, oh, it's my time to hold bound.
And they go, okay.
This is my dedicated time to just talk and kinda have my space with my therapist.
They have that session once a week, and then they're getting a chance to just kind of talk, be free, say share the things that they wanna share.
So for the clinician, they are they're in school right now.
They're wrapping things up.
They're holding a caseload for the first time.
And so for them, they're like, okay.
At 07:00, I get to talk with this particular client.
Last week, we talked about such and such.
I can't wait to hear if they've made any progress and what is going on.
And then from the parent perspective, parents are busy.
You I mean, you know, this is like James.
Like, you you're juggling all this sort of stuff.
But then for them, they know, like, oh, my kid has this time with this person.
And it is one part of our model I didn't really speak to before, but our clinicians do on top of doing weekly check ins with our clients, they also have a session
specifically with the parent every month.
Still maintaining maintaining confidentiality as they're supposed to, but also still partnering with the parent and being a part of the mental health journey that their young
person is going on.
So for the parent's perspective, they know, like, they got that time at 07:00.
When that time is done, there's a conversation around, like, what they learned in therapy.
How is it going?
And so I would say, like, what it looks like on the ground is general excitement for and it's excitement from people be from young person being able to have time and space to, like, talk
through whatever's going on in their life, making sure they're being heard, they're being validated, their emotions are okay, but also giving tools and resources not to just cope but to thrive.
What's been harder than you expected?
What's been harder
than expected has been getting the word out.
I understand, like, immediately, like, why this is valuable.
And I could I go back to thinking about, like, myself as a young person, how beneficial this would have been.
I'll dive straight into the work.
I wanna understand, like, I wanna start doing studies on this on on the work.
I wanna understand I'm a qualitative researcher, so, like, all about, like, the experience the parents are having and getting into that.
Then I realized, like, everybody doesn't know about this.
Oh, I gotta get out here.
There's a lot going on in the world right now.
So I think what what's been hard is, like, realizing, like, we are doing the work that I think is literally going to help sustain not just sustain the next generation,
but it's also gonna make sure that they arrive into adulthood with the tools, resources, mindset, and capabilities to be able to go further than we have.
But trying to do that in a time and phrase where, like, everything everything we hear on the news is disaster or is division.
So trying to trying to get this work on the front page has probably been the hardest part.
Well, hopefully, we let a little bit of the secret of hope found out, here on the Scope World podcast.
Can you speak to any of the work that you're piloting?
So working directly with parents and actually positioning them not just as, like, passive participants.
You're disinformed of what's going on, but really trying to make them more partners with us and their young person on their mental health journey.
We've always been in the practice of doing these caregiver conversations, but we actually wanna take it a step further and now start to actually, like, have, like, a real thoughtful experience for
the parents specifically.
So one of the things that we're looking to pilot in the next upcoming year is a parent support group.
So for parents who have young people who are accessing therapy, one, just making sure, like, we we we celebrate and pick up those parents.
But, also, if their young person is going through this mental health journey, they're also going through this.
And it may be help some of them, it may be their first time, some it may not.
It might be helpful to make community and space just to make sure that they know that they're okay in in being supported through this.
So that's one highlight that we're really excited to be launching in this upcoming year.
Also, what we're really excited to do so I've mentioned these clinical interns, they are getting ready to take off into their career, but they're not the first.
Like, the the one the ones who are doing the service this year, they're not the first go around.
Hopebound has been in existence since 2020.
And so I'm excited to tell to to share with folks that 82% of the of the folks who went through the Hopebound in clinical internship experience, fast forward to today,
are fully licensed mental health professionals and doing really, really great work.
Yes.
Yes.
Yes.
We're gonna send all the all the good vibes to them because they're they're really impressive, man.
If I could just run down the bios of all of them to you, like, they are doing really good work.
And part of our pilot is going to be about being able to look at that group.
So once they go through the whole bound experience, how do we how do keep them engaged?
We wanna make sure that these mental health professionals, as they're going into the field, they they are doing really amazing work.
And you already know when you have folks doing that, like, doing work like this, it can be tiring.
It can be exhausting.
We wanna make sure that if they're going into this field, they're not burning out.
So how do we, one, provide some specific programming for the alumni of the Hopebound experience to be able to, one, build community with other great professionals.
How does Hopebound become a source of resources and connections for them?
And, ultimately, how do we make sure that we help sustain them through the their career and allow them to also have a chance to start mentoring the next wave of mental health professionals.
So if the model scales the way that you envisioned it and described it, what does that mean for mental health access and the clinical workforce workforce, ten years from now?
Ten years from now, what that means is Georgia no longer has the gap in the mental health workforce that it's experiencing.
Like, right now, the pipeline for mental health professionals in the state of Georgia, one of the lowest in the country.
And ten years from now, when we are continuing to do this, Georgia now has, like, another proven method to be able to attract more people into the workforce and be able to
make sure that they're able to get into the workforce right away.
The other side of it, I would say ten years from now, what we would see is a lot more families having a positive experience and feel a sense
of normalcy around accessing mental health care.
In some communities, there's still taboo.
There's still stigma around accessing mental health.
I don't have a big T shirt that says it, but this is also a little bit of stigma breaking in doing this work, making sure that people see it both as normal and okay to talk to a therapist and not having
to wait until crisis.
Something I I tell folks all the time, if you if you think about your young person, if your young person is going through it, they need therapy.
But if your young person is if if it looks like they're doing okay, they need therapy.
It is never a bad thing to make time and space to talk to a mental health to talk to a professional about where you're feeling with your mental health.
Well, I think that's a very hopeful note to end on.
Mike, I wanna thank you for your time and for the work that you're leading at Hopebound.
We appreciate you joining us on the Scopewell podcast.
Thank you so much for having us.
Really appreciate it.