Team Wellthy
With our Care Expert Spotlight series, we’re taking a peek into the lives of Wellthy's amazing care professionals.
This month we spoke with Nicole, a Care Adviser with extensive experience in the mental health space. Wellthy’s team of Care Advisers and Coordinators work directly with families to understand their care needs, create a care plan, prioritize tasks, and get things done on their behalf.
What is your background in and what drew you to Wellthy?
I have always been drawn towards caregiving when it comes to my career choices. When I graduated from college I immediately went to work as a therapeutic staff support to work with kids that were on the spectrum. Then after that, I went to a center that was for people that were looking for inpatient care for behavioral health or for substance abuse. I did that for 10 years, and I started to realize that I wanted to broaden my experience a little bit, and I just kind of stumbled upon Wellthy and fell in love with our mission right away. I love the fact that there's such an emphasis on caregivers and work life balance that you don't typically find at other companies. I started working at Wellthy when my youngest was 5 months old and it's been such a great transition. I just really like the way that Wellthy really embodies our values and that we're truly doing good, every day, in our work.
How long have you worked at Wellthy and what is your role here? What do you specialize in?
I have been at Wellthy for almost two years and right now, I am working as a Care Adviser Specialist. I work mainly with mental health tasks and a lot of my tasks are looking for therapists, often helping sons or daughters looking for a therapist for a parent. I also have a lot of caregiver tasks. I have about 4 or 5 tasks right now that are helping members looking for support as a caregiver, as their significant other is dealing with a chronic illness.
How have you been able to use your background to enhance your work at Wellthy?
In my job that I worked at for about 10 years, I dealt with a lot of people calling in who had no idea what they were looking for. I got tons of experience working with these folks to help narrow down options to a specific level of care that would actually be helpful for them. Through this, I built up a really strong foundation in the basics of mental health. For example, knowing when to recommend therapy versus when someone needed immediate support from a crisis center.
I've noticed there's been a couple of tasks that come in as just general mental health stuff. For example, a member is not feeling like themselves, or they want to work on their depression or anxiety. I think this is where my background in mental health really shines. Being able to narrow down solutions for them by looking at things like their age, where they're living, and other factors like that - it lets me find solutions that are super tailored and specific to them. Most of our members are fully capable of finding therapists or resources on their own. However, we are able to open up their options so much more and find hundreds of therapists. We also vet everyone by checking every single online resource to make sure there's not even a single negative review, check all their licenses, and even touch base with them just to confirm that they would be a good fit. It's way better than just handing over some random list of resources, you know?
How do we help families who lack resources in their area?
When we get cases for members who are in areas really lacking support, we try to put our feelers out there and get them other options as well. For example, we might suggest a virtual support group or virtual therapy. The ability to access services virtually is transformative, as it provides support to people in underserved areas who previously had limited local options. By entrusting their search to Wellthy, we can explore various avenues, connect with diverse providers, and ensure we find an excellent fit for each member's needs.
Do you have a favorite project or type of task you enjoy working on?
I really just enjoy all of the mental health tasks. It’s such a huge responsibility that people are willing to tell us the most intimate details about what they're going through, and that they put that trust in us that we're gonna find them the best provider. When I take on a task, I take so much care in these recommendations, that if I'm giving a member a recommendation, I would give the same recommendation to my mom. Each task is really customized and there's never been a single task where I've had the same results, because I look so specifically for each individual person and get to know that person just from their background story that they provide.
How does someone know when it is time to work with a care coordinator?
When you notice you’re sacrificing your own mental health, or you're running yourself completely low, because you're not able to sustain what you've been giving to someone else. When you’re caregiving, you really have to know your strengths and what you lack, and look for resources in those instances where you are lacking. Members often need a home aid to come in or even a therapist for themselves because they are angry or frustrated. I will often try to identify resources for caregivers, like a support group because I feel like it is so imperative to mental health to have people around you that are experiencing the same things as you.
What is the most common mistake you see caregivers make?
Definitely not asking for help when they need it. I know it is so cliche to say, but people feel weaker when they ask for help. However, if you think about it as expanding your network, you’ll be able to find so much more strength in numbers when it comes to caregiving. No one should have to take on caregiving alone. I think of Wellthy as being this mechanism for giving caregivers stepping stones to lead them where they need to go. We do the heavy lifting for you, so you have the resources right there and ready for you when you need them. I think that the main thing that I would love people to understand is that when they ask for Wellthy to help them when it comes to mental health tasks, is that they have the support of a team truly dedicated to working so hard to find the best solution for them. There are so many online platforms now it's insane, but at Wellthy we're truly going to make sure that we find the most helpful solution for each individual.
