Celebrating their 20th anniversary since launching their behavioral health practice, Betsy Harrison and Susan Borchert continue to expand their practice by making sure insurance is not a barrier for clients.
The partners, who were named the Small Business Administration’s 2024 NH Small Business Persons of the Year, met while working as therapists at Riverbend Community Mental Health. When Riverbend closed its New London location during a consolidation, Harrison saw that demand for local mental health services remained high.
“The idea of being an entrepreneur really spoke to me. I could decide with Betsy the shape of our organization and scale up,” from part-time to full-time, says Borchert, who was a business consultant at Bain and Company before pursuing a career in mental health services, and who had four small children at the time.
Counseling Associates of New London now has 50 full-time employees and 35 part-time employees over five locations with plans to add offices in Concord and Keene this month. They even opened an office in Mississippi after one of their therapists moved there and was originally providing services through telehealth. However, she missed the face-to-face interactions with clients, so the partners decided to open an office there.
“Some of our success has been our ability to work together creatively and respect each other’s abilities and good intents,” Harrison says. “The needs in the communities have often been the drive [for growth].”
As the partners found clients driving greater distances to access services, they started opening offices closer to their client base where there was most need. That need was spurred in part by more providers not accepting insurance due to low reimbursement rates and administrative headaches.
“For us, removing barriers to access has always driven us,” Harrison says, which included accepting all insurances, including Medicare and Medicaid. “That has propelled our growth and demand,” Borchert says.
The need for mental health services exploded during and after the COVID pandemic. “There is a lot of anxiety and dealing with uncertainty,” Harris says of the issues facing many people.
Current Issue - December 2024