Katrine, Reception Manager at the Mental Health Hub at Morayfield, has earned the accolade of Employee of the Year 2020 for going above and beyond to help both clients and her team, whilst showing kindness, resilience and dedication.
Katrine has been working with the Open Minds Mental Health Hub at Morayfield since it opened its doors in September 2018.
2020 was a difficult year for everyone with the COVID-19 pandemic, and the Mental Health Hub wasn’t alone in having to quickly adapt how it operates.
Katrine rose to the challenge, and has earned the accolade of Employee of the Year 2020 for going above and beyond to help both clients and her team, whilst showing kindness, resilience and dedication.
Katrine has regularly taken on additional responsibilities outside her role, she supports clients to feel respected and valued, whilst making her team feel like they are one big family.
When Katrine joined the team, the Mental Health Hub had just three clinicians. Today it employs over 20 highly qualified individuals.
How did the Open Minds Mental Health Hub adapt during the COVID-19 pandemic?
When the lockdown was announced in early 2020, Katrine quickly wrote up processes alongside Centre Manager, Lisa, to enable clinicians to work remotely.
Katrine said: “We had to get the processes and procedures in place to enable us to continue operating.
“At first clients seemed put off by having appointments via phone and video, however they soon got used to the new normal.”
Today appointments are mostly all face-to-face again.
Katrine has a background in managing healthcare centres; she started with Open Minds as a temp but was quickly offered a permanent role.
Today she is Reception Manager and having been with the team since day one, is a fountain of knowledge and information for her colleagues.
The Mental Health Hub provides support in a range of areas such as: depression, anxiety, grief, gender or sexuality issues, stress, anger management, trauma, and more.
In her role as Reception Manager, Katrine is not only the familiar face of the Hub, but is also responsible for keeping things running behind the scenes by ensuring appointments are on track, following up on payments and receipting.
“One of the biggest challenges in my role is identifying a process that needs improving and coming up with a new way of doing it. If something is not working well, it’s a challenge to fix it but it’s also a challenge I enjoy doing. Knowing that I’ve found a way to make a process more cost effective or that I’ve managed to save time is something I find really rewarding.
“Our next goal is to find more clinicians, we need a larger team to meet the growing needs of Morayfield and the surrounding area.”
Our Employee of The Year program is an employee nominated staff initiative at Open Minds. Katrine was selected as the 2020 winner due to the quantity and quality of submissions from other staff members.
Why work at The Open Minds Mental Health Hub at Morayfield?
The Mental Health Hub is one of the biggest clinics on the North side of Brisbane.
Lisa Kishere, Centre Manager, said: “A clear benefit of working here is that the clinicians can all tap into each others’ knowledge and expertise, which you just don’t get at a smaller centre.
“Everyone supports each other to not only provide excellent service to our clients, but also to continue to grow and develop professionally. There’s a real sense of comradery here.”
The centre currently has 15 rooms but has space to extend to 20 – 24 rooms in the future as the centre continues to grow.
We’re hiring! If you’re a clinician interested in working at the Open Minds Mental Health Hub, get in touch today. Open Minds employs over 500 people across Queensland and Northern New South Wales, supporting people living with mental illness and disabilities.
Want to refer a client to us or book an appointment for yourself? Email us on [email protected] or call us on 1300 696 463.