ERC Pathlight Invests in Teammate Engagement
Denver, Colo.—Eating Recovery Center and Pathlight Mood & Anxiety Center (ERC Pathlight), the nation’s leading mental health care system dedicated to the treatment of eating disorders and primary mood, anxiety, and trauma-related disorders, announces a major investment in teammate engagement as part of its ongoing commitment to being an employer of choice in the behavioral health field. With 2,000 teammates providing treatment to approximately 9,000 patients per year, this investment will help to further strengthen the company’s leadership in clinical quality, support ongoing diversity, inclusion, and belonging initiatives, and deepen teammates’ connection to the company's core values of collaboration, compassion, integrity, inclusion, accountability, and flexibility.
“With this strategic growth of our People Team, we are investing in our teammates; we are investing in our future,” said Rebecca Steinfort, Chief Executive Officer of ERC Pathlight. “Our great clinical results are driven by our passionate and talented teammates. By strengthening our company from within we ensure that, individually and collectively, we’re poised to achieve our mission of providing the very best care to our patients, their families, providers, and teammates every day.”
The investment in teammates comes as ERC Pathlight recently announced an expansion of its virtual intensive outpatient programs: Eating Recovery and Pathlight At Home. With 30 facilities for in-person treatment at the intensive outpatient, partial hospitalization, residential, and inpatient levels of care in addition to nationwide virtual services, the expanded People Team aims to enhance communication, engagement, and a sense of belonging among teammates nationwide as ERC Pathlight increases its ability to provide life-saving mental health treatment to people regardless of where they live.
New leaders on the People Team Dorie Ramey, Chief People Officer; Michael Marotta, Vice President of Teammate Experience; Selina Griswold, Director of Diversity, Inclusion, and Belonging; and Sara Sinclair, Senior Manager of Teammate Communication and Engagement, will focus on programs and initiatives that make ERC Pathlight an employer of choice.
Ramey will lead the People Team and oversee the entire teammate journey, including talent acquisition and development, total rewards, organizational planning and effectiveness, people services, teammate communication and diversity, inclusion and belonging. Ramey is an experienced human resources and professional services leader who previously led teams at naviHealth, Cotiviti, Mercer, and Express Scripts prior to joining ERC Pathlight.
“Our teammates are so passionate about serving others, we want to invest in them so they can do their best work and reach their full potential,” said Ramey. “We aim to provide the same world-class experience for our teammates that we provide for our patients.”
Marotta, a seasoned internal communication leader has spent the past 25 years inspiring and connecting diverse teams, many of which were in the health care field. He joins ERC Pathlight in this newly created role to help align the teammate experience with the company’s mission and values.
“We have incredibly talented and passionate teammates here at ERC Pathlight,” said Marotta. “We’re here to help them feel trusted, valued, and celebrated for who they are and what they do. To give them space to share their stories—stories that bring our mission and values to life.”
Inspire, connect, inform; these are the three goals Marotta has outlined and hopes to achieve with his new teammates Griswold and Sinclair.
Griswold is the author of three diversity textbooks and comes to ERC Pathlight from Black & Veatch where she served as the Global Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. She has also served as the Director of Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging at the Centering Healthcare Institute and was the principal consultant and chair of Griswold Diversity Consulting Company, LLC. Additionally, Griswold is an adjunct professor at the University of Texas. In her new role, Griswold will help to create and sustain a sense of belonging for all teammates. With a focus on relationship building across departments, Griswold will develop a multiyear diversity, inclusion, and belonging strategy and will help to drive specific, measurable action toward these objectives.
“It’s important to assess how people feel about company culture, to hear their voices, and support them with best practices for their toolbox,” said Griswold. “All employees benefit by having diversity, equity, and inclusion and emotional intelligence training and resources. Supporting our teammates in this work will not only help them to connect and feel a sense of belonging but will also help them to better serve patients.”
Sinclair joins the ERC Pathlight team with 10 years of experience as a professional communicator in the health care field handling both external and internal communication. She was most recently a communication and engagement program manager for a health care organization where she was the creative force behind several successful employee engagement initiatives. Sinclair will help strengthen internal communication and engagement efforts to build stronger connections and more rewarding experiences for ERC Pathlight teammates.
In collaboration with clinical and operation leaders, the People Team recently launched a new, comprehensive onboarding program, Lighthouse, for all new teammates. The program consists of two weeks of centralized learning through multimedia, instructor-led training, and practical application, with the first three days specifically dedicated to introducing new teammates to ERC Pathlight’s mission, values, and culture. Lighthouse is designed to deliver a productive, impactful, and welcoming experience for all new teammates.
“When our teammates feel supported, informed, and motivated from their first day, we are in the best position to continue providing the high-quality care patients, families and providers trust us to provide,” said Ramey.