An executive with more than 20 years’ experience in behavioral health and substance use recovery service operations, Patrick Wilder, MSW, LCSW, has an impressive record of assisting organizations in achieving operational success, maintaining regulatory compliance, and improving patient care.
With a background in hospital operations, regulatory compliance, performance improvement, and risk management, Mr. Wilder has participated in the development of a competency based, evidenced informed model for conducting suicide risk assessments. He uses the experience gained from previous positions with Universal Health Services, Kaiser Permanente, and Trinity Health. Mr. Wilder has completed successful projects which address care quality and cost benefit. In addition to holding a Master of Social Work, he has certification as a Joint Commission Accreditation Professional and holds a certificate in Corporate Health Care Compliance from George Washington University’s School of Public Health.
Mr. Wilder was kind enough to take time out of his busy schedule as Vice President of Northpoint’s Washington Market to sit down for an interview.
So much of your formal education and training is centered around social work, and much of your career before Northpoint included work with some big healthcare players (Universal Health Services, Kaiser Permanente, Trinity Health) to involve social work more deeply into their systems of care. What is it about social work, specifically, that drew you in, and how does it inform your healthcare philosophy today?
I was drawn to social work after a conversation with my colleague advisor, who explained the variety of opportunities available with a social work degree—working in medical hospitals, home health, travel, behavioral health, and traditional outpatient work. He was right! Over my career I’ve had the opportunity to see so many sides of healthcare.
My overall focus is on creating and sustaining an operation that is healthy from a clinical, safety, quality, financial, and culture perspective. Stewardship of the business, as well as the safety and care of our patients and staff, is my top priority.
Part of your career experience involved developing a suicide prevention training program for more than 150 inpatient facilities. What did this work involve, and how would you say it affects the work you do with Northpoint Washington?
The project involved working to adapt an evidenced-based curriculum, which was focused primarily on assessment and management of suicide in an inpatient psychiatric hospital setting. We worked with The Joint Commission to ensure that the training met their evidenced practice standards. Then we completed a massive rollout across 150 facilities across the nation, utilizing a “train the trainer” model. It was a massive project.
In terms of how it affects work at Northpoint, we treat individuals who come to us from a variety of settings. Having that understanding and evidenced-based background helps me lead the team in ways so that we can continue to keep the importance of suicide prevention at the forefront of our work.
What strategies do you and your staff utilize to motivate clients to stick with their recovery goals?
First, I want to recognize how brave clients are for making the decision to come to treatment. That is a hard decision! I am proud of the team approach our staff takes to motivate patients. The team is great at identifying patients who may need some assistance in sticking with their recovery goals and often knows just the right staff to connect with the client for a discussion.
Our alumni support group helps clients continue to remain sober. We regularly circulate information to our staff on alumni success. That tends to keep the team focused on the “why” behind what they do.
How challenging would you say it is to remain compliant with state and federal regulations?
In my experience, when organizations lose focus of prioritizing continuous review of regulations and stop incorporating regular discussions of regulations into decisions being made, it can be quite a challenge from a regulatory perspective.
At Northpoint, we regularly focus on regulation review, with regular meetings, with a focus on reporting compliance with regulations from state, federal, and the Joint Commission, who accredits us. We have a robust corporate team who also assists us in staying up-to-date on regulatory matters, so that helps a lot.
What strategies do you and the staff of Northpoint Washington use to build relationships with local organizations and resources?
We have a great group of individuals in our business development team who are in the community meeting with individuals on a regular basis. It is important to me that we are regularly receiving feedback on whether we are delivering what our partners expect from us.
A priority of mine when I meet with local organization is determining if there are service recovery issues we need to address on our end. We also have a number of individuals involved in board appointments and other community engagement events.
Everyone working at Northpoint strives to embody the core values of inspired, humble, conviction, and heart. How do you feel these value help to better serve clients? At what point in the treatment do you see these values coming into play?
From the time a prospective client picks up the phone and reaches a staff member at Northpoint, we go to work on our core values. The whole team at Northpoint feels the mission and works hard to navigate a client toward treatment. I see this every day, across all departments of our organization. It’s often most valued when the patient physically reaches our care, but, behind the scenes, our great employees take these values to heart.
Find Addiction and Mental Health Treatment in Edmonds, Washington Today
If you or a loved one is battling addiction or mental health issues, Patrick Wilder and the rest of the staff with Northpoint Washington can help. With a commitment to providing quality care in a safe, nurturing environment, our treatments empower people on their journey to wellness. Call 425.599.4579 or contact Northpoint Washington online now to get started.