This week, we are excited to kick off our new blog series, “The Behavioral Health Career Launchpad.” This 10-part series will provide you with the tips and tricks you need to start or progress your career in the behavioral health industry.

We Need the Brightest Minds Solving Problems in Behavioral Health

If you are reading this post, you probably have some inkling of how many people struggle with behavioral health concerns. In the United States alone, approximately 23% of all adults struggle with some type of mental illness (reference). Despite the great strides that have been made in the last decade to improve mental (and more broadly, behavioral) health, it appears that the rates of mental illness continue to rise (reference).

To curb the suffering caused by mental illness, we need the brightest minds to innovate within the behavioral health space. Attracting and retaining the best talent will ensure that we are continually progressing toward our goal of alleviating the suffering of millions.

Our goal with this blog series is to provide practical tips and tricks for those looking to start or progress their careers within the behavioral health industry.

This series will be co-written by Solome Tibebu, Founder & CEO of Behavioral Health Tech, and Alex Muir, our MBA Intern. Read on to learn a little bit more about us and what is to come.

A Little Bit More About Alex

Hi there! My name is Alex Muir and I am super excited to be co-writing this blog series with Solome. 

A little bit about me: I am a neuroscience lover, having fallen in love with the brain during my high school anatomy class. I remember sitting in awe learning about how a three pound mass controls our entire being, and realizing that there was still so much we did not understand about the brain.

This awe pushed me to start my career in academic research, using electroencephalogram and magnetic resonance imaging to study the biological basis of mental illness. In 2021, I transitioned from academic to the health technology world, working for Datavant in the healthcare data interoperability space. While at Datavant I held a number of different roles, including Chief of Staff and Head of Product Success focused on our payer clients. 

Home for me is in Southern California, but this week I am moving to Evanston, Illinois to begin an MBA program at Northwestern. After completing my MBA, I am excited to dive into the behavioral health technology industry.

Outside of work I love reading, tennis, weightlifting, and playing frisbee with my three-year old labrador, Enzo. I would love to stay connected – feel free to reach out via LinkedIn!

A Little Bit More About Solome

Hello! I am Solome, and I’m so thrilled to be writing this blog series with our brilliant MBA intern, Alex Muir. 

I started in the behavioral health industry first and foremost as an anxious teenager, struggling through panic attacks and obsessive compulsive disorder throughout middle and high school. To learn more about what was going on in my brain (as they say, knowledge is power!), I spent Friday nights in Barnes and Nobles with books about OCD and panic disorders. Entering high school, I thought about this experience and said to myself, “Why can't all teens everywhere get such quick access to this kind of psycho education, and know that they, too, are not alone in these confusing and scary thoughts?” So, in 2006 when I was 16 years old, I started a blog called Anxiety In Teens, which was one of the first for-teens, by-teens online resources for mental health.

That experience propelled me into the field of mental health care, where I had so many opportunities to make an impact on this community - from a corporate sales role to eventually running a philanthropic fund for Melinda French Gates’ personal investment and incubation company.

Today, I'm really excited and proud to be able to organize the largest community focused on expanding access to mental health, substance use and autism & IDD care through health equity, technology, and innovation at Behavioral Health Tech. I get to engage with so many incredible mental health leaders like Alex, connecting people, opportunities and ideas together to advance the behavioral health industry.

Along with my day-to-day responsibilities, I love true crime, keeping my plants alive, and not cooking/DoorDashing.

Our Shared Passion for Innovation in the Behavioral Health Space

As we hope you can tell, we both have a lot of passion for solving problems in the behavioral health space. Both of our personal experiences with mental health have propelled us towards a desire to make an impact, and to do so we need each of you working along with us. 

What to Expect from This Blog Series

So, without further ado, we are excited to announce The Behavioral Health Career Launchpad. Over the next ten weeks, we will be publishing a weekly blog post diving deeper into another topic surrounding careers in behavioral health. Topics you can expect to see include…

1. Types of Roles in the Behavioral Health Space
2. How to Avoid Burnout Throughout Your Career
3. Developing the Workforce for Underrepresented Populations

…among others! You can access each blog post within our weekly newsletter or on the Behavioral Health Tech blog.

Tune in next week where we will be diving into what skills you need to break into the behavioral health field.