Amber Nelms 0:01

Well, welcome. Today's guest is Douglas Lessimeta. Welcome to Accelerate with Amber Podcast. We're excited to have you. You are the CEO of Empower Minds ADA and the president of the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce with a background in expanding behavioral health, workforce, development, media, community leadership. Douglas is focused on building clinician-first organizations and developing a strong workplace culture and creating opportunities for both families and professionals to succeed. It's awesome to have you on.

Douglas Lezameta 0:37

Thank you so much, Amber. Thank you for the invitation. Happy to be here.

Amber Nelms 0:40

Oh yes. Tell me first, how did you get started in the industry? I love to know that.

Douglas Lezameta 0:45

Well, The Last Rangers started during the pandemic. Me and my active friends suddenly realized we weren't going to be able to work. And I had this idea about creating a set of global stories which we could possibly shoot in three to five days around the world. And when the pandemic was over, we would sort of sew them together and create a series. Obviously, this became a complete obsession. And me and my partner Will Hawkes spent the next couple of years developing over a hundred stories around the world with different communities, different teams. And we came across about 24 we decided we were going to use. And of those 24, there were two stories which really sung to us. The first one was about a neurodiverse boy in Denmark. And we decided we were going to throw in whatever money we had and try and fly during the lockdown and film this first short. And that went really well. We had a wonderful director, Thomas Levin, and we produced this film which we were really proud of. And then a friend of mine, David Lee, brought us a story about a rhino that was poached in 2012, and he had written a feature film about it. And we thought this was a really beautiful story because this would also speak to nature that was also being affected by the pandemic. So we developed this story and managed to get all our friends when lockdown ended to come to a big event we threw. And we did a big auction and we had lots of donations with music and comedy. And we managed to raise about half our budget. And then two weeks later, we flew to South Africa and we shot this film. And this whole story developed from there, and it had the hundreds of people who gave their time, money, energy, the creativity to help produce this story. And we were very fortunate to get John Powell, the composer who created an incredible score with musicians from South Africa. And eventually it became this beautiful piece which did really well. It was probably more than 10 years ago, my dad and my uncle were collaborating with someone that was working in providing care for kids with learning disabilities. And in that, you know, moment, this organization, this person started also supporting kids with learning disabilities. And one of the things that they realized is that communities, marginal communities that didn't speak the language or didn't have access to insurance were not treated as well. You know, they didn't have the support and the research that they needed. So they started with someone else, a organization, a company agency, to provide services for families with low-income families. And the idea was to provide ethical services, really be able to understand their issues and speak the language. So it was focused on immigrant communities, Spanish communities. And that's how they started in the business. My dog was doing a lot of research on what was, you know, what was ABA and in autism and in the industry in general. And I started hearing about RBTs and BCBAs, right? And I remember having this conversation with my dad at that moment. And he was telling me, this is great, this is gonna be good. We can help a lot of people, but it's also a big need, so we need more agencies. And I know in that moment I was like, I don't know, I never hear about it, you know, because I wasn't on the field. But he proved me wrong. So they started this organization. My dad passed on 2020.

Amber Nelms 4:20

Oh, I'm so sorry to hear that.

Douglas Lezameta 4:22

Thank you. And then I joined them for a while, still with my uncle, and my uncle passed last year. So one day passed, I decided to create my organization following their values, right? Let's put the client first. But putting the client first means that you need to provide support to your clinicians. You cannot have clients first if you don't have a happy clinician, so prepared clinicians. So and so following that, that fell philosophy is that I decided to start Empower Mines last year. Just my uncle passed on July 31st. So I started that around the time because I made a promise to him and to my dad that I was gonna continue the legacy and became like a family business, if you will, but a more than business, family uh commitment to this community. And in a matter of fact, I have a picture of both of them in in the center, and I'm gonna put that picture in every single center so people know where we're coming from.

Amber Nelms 5:21

Wow. That's awesome. Uh, it's lovely that you want to honor their legacy of what they cared about, and you have a strong why to do something that of meaning. That's awesome.

Douglas Lezameta 5:32

Yeah, yeah. The why is is always the driver. We need to understand our why happens, yeah.

Amber Nelms 5:38

Well, you know, talking about that, you often talk about putting people before billing and culture before growth. What experiences shape that leadership philosophy?

Douglas Lezameta 5:46

Being in the places where it wasn't like that.

Amber Nelms 5:48

Being in places where uh So you worked at a lot of other ABA companies before starting your own?

Douglas Lezameta 5:53

I've been in conversation and hear that a lot before PowerMinds, and uh, and it was just more talking about, you know, we need to build, we have to talk about revenue, we need to talk about things that the insurance pay us, right? On top of other things. And don't get me wrong, obviously, this is a business we need to make a living, we need to have payroll and pay expenses, right? But I believe that if we switch the conversation in terms of, oh, we need to build more and switch the conversation of the client needs more support, then everything changes because now we're focusing, knowing in the building aspect that hey, let's get ours, let's put something on the system, rather than are we providing the support that they want? What do we need to provide them more support? I understand and I know I've been in the business for a while that staffing is a huge problem, right? The turnovers are huge, very difficult to find BCVAs, very difficult to get an RBT or BT and try to get them stay in the company and lease for two or three years, where they can develop enough skills to fell in love with the industry and then maybe try to get to do a master and then become a BCVA. That's something that we want. So being in those conversations and understanding again the reason why we're doing this and switching that conversation from billing to support is when I start thinking, yeah, so really I need to start thinking first in my clients, their needs, and what and the reason why we cannot offer services is staffing, is their home. So it's more than just billing. It's more like saying that, okay, we need to return this client because the client is canceling all the time. Rather than I can understand the family situation. Maybe it's canceling because they don't have enough space on home. Maybe there's canceling because they cannot take it to the center because they don't have mixed transportation. Maybe they have other issues. So and then think with my team and it's like, how can we help this client? What can we do? You know, that's why we just open a center in Wanoke where we would like to have clients that maybe had not enough space to get their services, or maybe clients cannot be in home because they have their dad, their uncle, their grandma, their siblings, and it's very difficult. So that's what I mean when I want to switch the conversation from client needs to building. When I put my clients' services on top of everything else.

Amber Nelms 8:11

So is your primary mode of therapy in-home and then you have a one center?

Douglas Lezameta 8:18

Yeah. I mean, this this company, we start the company like a truly startup, right? With a little bit of money and a lot of knowledge, you know, and experience in in how to get credential in the things that we need. And so we did not, and I didn't want to really have a big money coming in because I didn't want to compromise my values. And I seen that happen, you know, when you have a lot of money coming in from different investors or whatnot, you need to answer to those people in terms of like why so many things that you know you are not getting paid, for instance, right? Like there's such a strain. So I don't want to do that. So we start literally, okay, let's start one client at a time. And that's how it started. So at the beginning, it's been uh homes in home services, but now we just open the center this month. We finish the whole, you know, I'll say, you know, get the center ready to start getting clients, and we'll start getting clients probably this week or next week. And then we're about to open another center or secure a location, which is secure a location in another area in Santa Clara here in the Bay Area. Well, we want to do the same. So, but it's again, you know, it's our main, it's in homes, and little by little we will be transitioning to centers. Our concept on centers, we don't wanna make big centers. We want to do small centers because I want to know the name of my clients and my families, and they want to have this close connection. I've been in situations where you have a big center and you don't even know who they are or where they're coming. And what I agree with my team that we want to have this close connection with our family because what we're doing is something really personal too. So we're we're trying to get probably several centers in one city, and that's how we're gonna eventually grow.

Amber Nelms 10:06

Amazing. Between leading an ABA organization, the Chamber of Commerce and work initiatives, what lessons have you learned about attracting and retaining great people in today's healthcare environment?

Douglas Lezameta 10:17

You know what? It's all about respect, understanding, and having a clear communication and clear expectations. We were dealing with a I would say crisis on staffing, right? Every time I seen that, you know, people come and go. Like fortunately, in our company, we don't have that much people coming and go. We have people that come here. We provide all the love that we can provide. And when talk about love is training, we do a lot of training and we work very close communication with all behavior technicians. Our BCBAs are very in close communication with our mid-levels and in the in the VTs. So I think that that this is something that we need to work and we need to make sure that the leaders we are behind our team, pushing them and giving the resources that they need to be successful. So my goal is to try to every single BD that comes to the company, fell in love with ABA and become an BCB. I achieved some, you know, in other companies. I got some people that did that journey. It's not that many as I want, but my goal is always when someone comes to the company, feel welcome, welcoming, have the resources that they need, feel comfortable with the family, and understand that what they're doing is not like a normal job. It's understand that it's a hard job for the doing, but also make clear with them that it's not like a flippy burger job, right? It's something that we're really making a difference in a kid's life, in a family life, and that impacts a lot of people. So I talk about a lot of compassion, a lot of understanding. And be honest, if your first sessions is something that you don't feel that it's for you, it's okay. You know, I'd rather someone tell me, telling me, you know what, I went to the family and this is not what I want to do, rather than just do it for the paycheck and cost more harm. We we're gonna identify it eventually. But I think that uh that's a leaders on this industry, we need to preach how important it's to be a person first, how important is to really have compassion and put our clients first.

Amber Nelms 12:16

Nice. Can you tell me more about your systems and technology within your practice, especially like your CMR scheduling, practice management platform? What do you think has been most critical in selecting any of those with your organization?

Douglas Lezameta 12:34

Sure. I mean, obviously, when you're in a startup, the first thing that you think is price, right? What's the most affordable system? Because those systems are very expensive. So we start my experience always been being CR, Center Rich. I've been using center rich. So we started using center rich extensions in the beginning. It was kind of like a more like basic service, but it didn't work with us because reporting and it wasn't the system for what we're looking to do. So we negotiated to move to center rich enterprise, which is a center rich that everybody uses. It was negotiation because when I tried to move to the platform, we were, I think, 15 employees, 15 team members. So, and they do it when they are at least steady. So I needed to negotiate. Now we're I think I have 58 users, but but in the beginning was kind of like an adjustment. And we use everything in Central Reach. So my clinical director is well versed, she's well versed in Central Reach. So we even are gonna start implementing uh giving the parents a portal that Central Reach offers so they can access the child account and see the progress, see the learning trees, and see everything. So Central Reach is our main client and serum platform, and then we use Google Suite. Our emails and our calendars and meetings and everything is in Google Shift because it's keeper protected. And basically, those are the two systems that we're using. Payroll, we use Gusto right now, and again, it's it's an easy solution, and that's where we that's our kind of like our the framework that that we base our operations.

Amber Nelms 14:12

Okay, very good. Is there any areas you think are under-leveraged right now in the field that could be better when it comes to technology? When it comes to technology, I mean I think or I should say tech stacks, I mean specifically. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Where do you think we're missing in the ABA industry right now?

Douglas Lezameta 14:32

I think in scheduling in parent communication, you know. I know there's some systems that you can communicate with the parent effectively. They're quite expensive, but I think that sometimes schedule communication, there's a lot of mischief happens, you know. And I think that they gotta be like now with AI, there gotta be a way that you can smartly schedule technicians and families input their time, input their their addresses and their behaviors, you know. You know that this family maybe every because you see the pattern, right? Maybe every two weeks they're gonna cancel on Thursday because every other Thursday they have a a doctor appointment, so or whatnot. And but you can track that when you have 10 clients, but when you have 20, 30, 40, it's difficult. So maybe with the AI something that they can just kind of like a smile schedule and say, hey, just so you know, instead of Thursday, can you do Saturday? Kind of like that. You provide opportunities and the same thing with the behavior technicians, understand the behaviors of scheduling in attendancy and maybe predict better something. That's what comes on top of my mind.

Amber Nelms 15:39

I agree. Thank you so much for sharing. Thank you today for getting on the podcast, sharing where you're at and your vision for your company and also some of the areas you think the industry needs to look at. Us coming together and asking these questions is how we become better. So I appreciate your time today. Thank you so much for being on with me.

Douglas Lezameta 16:00

No, thank you, Amber, for producing this content.