As a mental health facility treating some of Indiana’s most vulnerable, Midwest Center for Youth & Families in Kouts has a consistently positive impact on the Region as a whole. It wouldn’t be nearly as effective, however, if it didn’t have team members like Director of Utilization Review Carmen Gober dedicated to making the lives of all the center’s residents as fulfilling as possible.
In her role, Gober works closely with both the service providers at Midwest Center and their residents’ insurance companies to ensure that residents can continue receiving the treatment they need.
“I like to say that I'm the advocate from a macro level for our kids here,” Gober said. “It's my job to read all the clinical documentation that our therapists and psychiatrists write daily for our residents. Then, I create a synopsis or summary to present to insurance companies to advocate for our residents to be able to receive treatment.”
Gober finds immense joy in her work; helping adolescents who experience mental distress brings Gober a sense of satisfaction she hasn’t found elsewhere. Initially, though, Gober planned to work with a much younger crowd.
“I thought I was going to be a nurse and work with babies. Once I was exposed to working with teenagers though, I knew that that’s what I wanted to do,” she said. “Teenagers are just real – they tell you how it is. Whether you like what they say or not, they're pretty blunt and forthcoming.”
Gober has served as the Director of Utilization Review for three years, but she’s worked with Midwest Center for the past seven years. She started her career as a case manager, but was looking for a way to make a more direct impact on her clients.
“I wanted to do more one-on-one direct client care,” she said. “Midwest Center seemed to be a really good fit in a lot of different ways. Here, I think I’m making the impact I wanted to make. It’s a little different in this role because I’m working at a more macro level – I’m able to help more kids than just the 10 on my caseload. I’m able to advocate for them in a different way.”
Since Gober has experience in boots-on-the-ground direct care, she’s able to be more effective and successful in her current behind-the-scenes role by combining perspectives. She’s able to take a clinical file and present it as a story, giving a fuller picture of the need each resident has for services. This helps when dealing with insurance agencies and when working with difficult clients.
One case Gober will always remember is a client from a minority family experiencing severe mental distress. Thanks to a combination of societal and cultural factors, minority people with mental illness tend to go untreated longer and experience worse outcomes. Gober hit a wall in her treatment until she stopped focusing on where the client could one day be and instead met them where they were.
“That case sticks out for me so much, because I think it's the first time that I was like, ‘Don't focus on what they can't do or what they're unable to do and focus on the ‘cans,’’” Gober said. “Sometimes, as clinicians, we forget a patient’s cultural role in the tools we provide. I don't look like you, I don't come from the same background as you, but I can still help you. Being able to build that connection with families is super important in the therapeutic process.”
Gober couldn’t see herself anywhere besides Midwest Center. Between the clients she’s able to help and the team she gets to work with, she’s found a home. The connections she’s built have helped her to succeed in an additional role at the center: Director of the Service Excellence Program.
“It's the fun committee,” Gober joked. “We get to build and design what the culture here looks like. I love being able to get not only the residents but our staff involved in the facility. It's important for people to know what actually happens at the Midwest Center. We do a lot, not just our residents but our community also.”
To learn more about the Midwest Center for Youth & Families and the services it offers, visit midwest-center.com.
