Fresno County’s head of behavioral health is leaving. Here’s what she accomplished
The head of Fresno County’s Behavioral Health Department, who colleagues describe as a problem solver who advanced care for those with mental health issues, will leave for the private sector next month.
Director Dawan Utecht’s last day is Dec. 3, she confirmed, after more than eight years, placing her among the longest serving directors. Only three other directors working in the state’s 58 counties has been on the job longer.
“It’s a challenging, challenging job,” she said. “This is the hardest job I’ve ever had. It’s also the most rewarding.”
The county has appointed Susan Holt as the interim director, and she begins Dec. 6, officials said. She has more than two decades in behavioral health and public guardian work.
Depth of experience
Before joining the county, Utecht worked in hospital administration for Community Medical Centers for more than 13 years and for about seven years was the CEO of the Community Behavioral Health Center, a 61-bed adult acute inpatient psychiatric facility in Fresno.
Among her proudest accomplishments, Utecht said, is the development of an inpatient adolescent unit.
“Parents in Fresno County for many years who had kids with mental illness had to send them out of the county,” she said. “That was really a tragedy.”
Utecht has also been behind the relationship between her department and the Fresno County Superintendent of Schools to provide behavioral health services at every school in Fresno County. She said it’s important to help young people build up resiliency and get services while they are young, and perhaps stave off more severe mental illness.
“The more resources we can put on the front end to give them the resources they need, that’s the best investment we can make,” she said.
As the director, Utecht oversees about 750 employees and an annual budget that has bounced between $360 million and $380 million in the last few years.
She said about 5% of the county’s population need services from the Behavioral Health Department, which is now rolling out a five-year initiative called California Advancing and Innovating Medi-Cal, or CalAIM.
Utecht said the idea is to give patients the ability to get their physical and mental health addressed more directly rather than dividing their care and treating physical and mental health separately as it is under traditional Medi-Cal.
Utecht was involved in another initiative for simplifying care for those with mental health needs, which was called the Multi-Agency Access Program. Insiders call the locations for the program MAP Points, which now are nine sites across the county that link thousands of patients to housing, mental health care, substance abuse services and more.
That effort and others came out of a group called Community Conversations About Mental Health, which Utecht took part in even before joining the county, according to Clovis Councilmember Lynne Ashbeck, who is senior vice president for community engagement and population wellness at Valley Children’s Healthcare.
“She was among the best (directors) in solving problems,” Ashbeck said. “It was always about outcomes and getting better and improving.”
Ashbeck said Utecht was also instrumental in expanding the Exodus Crisis Stabilization Unit, which cares for adults and children having a mental health episode. Those calls for assistance had overrun hospitals and the care would take up a bed that was better suited for other needs, she said.
“There needed to be a solution and hospitals couldn’t do it themselves,” Ashbeck said.
Holt was already working for Fresno County when Utecht came on in 2013. Holt said she was instantly impressed by Utecht.
“She came in with an executive level of expertise and that was transformative,” Holt said. “Dawan brought with her a fresh and unique perspective.”
The Affordable Care Act, also called Obamacare, was new and many more residents had access to services as Utecht took over, Holt said. But, Utecht proved to be the right person at the time, she said.
“Dawan is not afraid of uncharted territory,” Holt said. “She also embraces the spirit of equality culture.”
Utecht had her hands in a slew of other initiatives in the past decade. Fresno County CAO Jean Rousseau thanked Utecht for her work.
“The partnerships she initiated in embedding mental health clinicians with law enforcement agencies and schools along with her leadership in developing the first Suicide Prevention Plan for the county has and will transform mental health services in the county for years to come,” he said in a statement.
Utecht said she’s leaving the county to work for Telecare Inc. in Alameda County as senior vice president and chief development officer. The company contracts with counties for behavioral health and other services.
Confidence in next leader
Holt has worked providing mental health care in different settings, including in an inpatient psychiatric hospital serving all ages for mental health and substance abuse, the release said.
Rousseau is set to retire in December. His replacement, Paul Nerland, spoke highly of Holt.
“I am confident that Susan will provide the leadership to continue the positive work for the community that the department currently delivers,” he said in the release.
Utrecht praised Holt, who she worked with for many years. “She is awesome,” Utecht said. “She is exactly what is needed to fill the role.”
Holt said she believes the department will be in a good position to take over as Utecht leaves and the team is tasked with implementing Cal-AIM using thoughtful planning.
Holt has also worked in an adolescent residential treatment program, a foster family agency, elementary and high schools, community-based mobile crisis response and outpatient treatment programs for adults and children, according to a news release.
Holt beamed about Utecht, saying she is “an incredible leader” more than once.
“She’s an incredible leader,” Holt said. “We will miss her. I think that’s an indisputable truth.”
