Today we’d like to introduce you to Parker Huston
Hi Parker, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
I opened Central Ohio Pediatric Behavioral Health (COPBH) in January of 2022 after spending the previous 10 years working in children’s hospitals throughout the Midwest. I spent the early part of my career working with developmentally and behaviorally complex children diagnosed with feeding disorders. I enjoyed working as part of a large team with many different disciplines represented and working in tandem to achieve a common treatment goal. Children and their families would attend our program from great distances and stay with us for 8 weeks at a time with the goal of making significant changes to their lives. It was very rewarding for me to watch a child and family improve drastically within that period of time and to be around a group of professionals who were dedicated to improving the lives of children. One challenge that we frequently noted was the difficulty in finding providers outside of the hospital who could follow these families after they discharged from our program. We created training programs and did consultation for free with any provider who requested, but many of the families continued to travel in order to see us here in Columbus because they couldn’t locate someone in their area.
Near the end of my time at the hospital, I had the privilege of being the first Clinical Director of a youth mental health advocacy program called On Our Sleeves. I was able to speak with a wide audience across the country about the importance of children’s mental health and provided free resources to parents, teachers, and other professionals who work with children. It was hugely rewarding, but I also had to give up my clinical work with patients to fill the role. I began to feel a pull back to clinical work and directly helping children and families, but I also became acutely aware of the need for experienced, child and family focused, clinicians in the community. When you spend time talking with leaders in the community about children’s mental health, the most frequent question is: “Well, where do we go to get help for a child who needs it?”
At the same time, I was talking with families about the importance of spending time together and for parents to serve as role models for how to care for their own mental wellbeing. I decided that opening my own practice could serve 3 needs:
1) I could create a schedule for myself in order to spend more time with my children, who were 9 and 5 at the time. I wanted to be there for the important moments as much as possible, to be the chaperone on field trips, and pick them up from school sometimes.
2) Being a referral destination for some of the children and families who need care often found only in a pediatric hospital settings. Pediatric Psychologists are specially trained to manage the overlap between mental health and physical health, which can be hard to find outside of a hospital system.
3) Create a place which specializes in working with children and families and hire other providers to mentor and expand the available services in the community.
I opened the practice with only a home office, as most people were still not going to places in-person near the end of the COVID pandemic. As my caseload grew steadily, I moved into a small office in August, 2022. By December of that year, I hired a part-time therapist, Shaun Ditty, to help with the increasing referrals. Shaun then moved to full time in May, 2023 and we moved into a larger office space in August, 2023. As Shaun and I became busy, I hired another psychologist, Connor Fais, in October, 2023. I feel a great sence of pride about meeting a small part of the need for child and adolescent mental health services in Central Ohio. Our greatest referral sources are educators, pediatricians, and word of mouth from current patients, which tells me we’re serving an important need for people.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
In some ways, the past few years have been smoother than I thought they would be. Having great colleagues to work with, partnering with community providers and schools, and transitioning from a large hospital system to a small practice have all been rewarding for me. The greatest challenges have been related to learning business management and making decisions for how the company will run now and in the future. The first big choice for someone in my profession is whether to take insurance or not. There are benefits and drawbacks either way. In the end, I decided not to accept insurance for the time being, which allows me to focus all my efforts on prividing clinical care to a smaller number of patients. On the positive side, parents often reflect to me that they are surprised about how accessible we are as providers. The main line rings directly to me, we don’t have a receptionist or scheduler, and we often are able to fit people into our schedules within a week or two. The downside is that not every family can afford to pay out-of-pocket for mental health services, and I plan to address that as the practice grows. I talk to every potential new patient who calls and, if we aren’t the right fit for whatever reason, I always try to listen to their needs and provide a few additional referrals they can call. Because we don’t work with insurers, it can be more challenging to keep a steady stream of referrals, so we have had to work hard to make sure people know who we are and how we can help.
Appreciate you sharing that. What should we know about Central Ohio Pediatric Behavioral Health?
Our practice currently focuses on outpatient mental health services for children, adolescents, and their families. We also perform focused ADHD assessments for ages 6-18. All three of us are specially trained to work with children and adolescents presenting with a wide range of difficulties. In addition to common referrals such as anxiety, ADHD symptoms, anger outbursts, school problems, and behavior problems, we also have expertise in the areas of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, feeding disorders, sleep medicine, toileting, executive functioning, rumination syndrome, and adjustment to chronic or acute health conditions.
I’m most proud of the feedback we get from families who work with us. I regularly get messages or comments about how a family is functioning much better, or a child is able to attend school regularly, or a child is sleeping through the night for the first time in years, or a family is able to sit and have a meal together for the first time since they can remember, or…. The fact that our best referral source, without question, is word of mouth from current or former patients is telling for me as well.
What makes us different is the level of attention and care we can provide the families we work with. We maintain smaller caseloads so that clinicians can be available to make phone calls, work on creative treatment strategies for patients who are “stuck,” and attend school meetings among other things. We know that many kids need more than 53 minutes every other week to make improvements that stick for life.
Is there anyone you’d like to thank or give credit to?
My biggest supports, by far, have been my parents, John and Diana Huston. Their mentorship started when I was little, teaching me and modeling for me how to see potential in people and to respect the skills, talents, and challenges that each person brings to a relationship. When I presented the idea of making a drastic change in the course of my career and taking a risk on starting a business, they didn’t hesitate to tell me to follow my passions.
The many colleagues I worked with at Helen DeVos Children’s Hospital in Grand Rapids, MI and Nationwide Children’s Hospital also played an extremely important role in my development. Two people in particular: Nancy Bandstra, PhD and Rob Dempster, PhD are my most significant clinical and leadership mentors. They both continue to be close personal and professional friends and have helped talk me through challenges in starting a practice.
I also can’t forget to mention the many patients I’ve worked with over the years. I firmly believe that many of them teach me more than I teach them. I still remember specific lessons learned from families I worked with over 10 years ago and I continue to feel joy in the work that I do because of the people who come to my office each day.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.copbh.org
- Instagram: @copbh_1
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/COPBH
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@COPBH
