Shelisa Foster, COO at Bergen's Promise, was featured in the September Edition of NJAMHAA News. Shelisa was recently appointed as a NJMHI Board member in July and is excited to serve in this role. Below is the excerpt from the NJAMHAA News and can also be found here: https://njamha.org/FB/NNews-Se...
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Shelisa Foster has served as Chief Operating Officer at Bergen’s Promise, a Care Management Organization, since 2013. She oversees the overall operations that provide unique, community-based services to more than 1,800 families daily, supporting children with emotional, behavioral, developmental and substance use needs. During her tenure, Bergen’s Promise became the first program in New Jersey to implement a Pediatric Behavioral Health Home, utilizing wraparound care coordination. Foster also serves as Vice Chair of the Human Services Advisory Council, which focuses on planning, advocacy, resource allocation and program review to enhance the quality of human services for Bergen County residents. She previously served as a residential program clinician, and she designed service programs.
In all her roles, Foster has strived to ensure that families and providers’ voices are heard and incorporated to “ensure our work is relevant and responsive to their needs,” and serving on the NJMHI Board provides additional opportunities for her to contribute to this vital mission. Her experience and perspective as both an operational leader and clinical provider and long-time involvement in New Jersey’s Children’s System of Care (CSOC) will undoubtedly prove to be assets for NJMHI – as well as NJAMHAA since NJMHI’s initiatives benefit providers. Foster has worked closely with families, providers and other community partners, and she is well connected at the state level. “I have a practical understanding of how behavioral health care and the
CSOC work, including transitions from the CSOC to the adult and family system.
As COO, I oversee putting strategy into action,” she added. “NJMHI has the ability to connect with providers, advocates and community partners around a shared goal of strengthening the system and increasing access, and it is willing to lead on issues to strengthen the field through workforce development, leadership, coaching and training,” Foster said. “NJMHI does more than identify barriers; it finds solutions to increase access for underserved communities through cultural competence and other innovative initiatives, as well as having influence on statewide policy discussions, which are all connected with NJAMHAA.”
“We all have financial pressures and workforce challenges while needing to meet quality expectations,” Foster said, noting value-based payment as an important example. “That perspective helps ensure our initiatives stay grounded in provider agencies and connect to family engagement.”
Foster also reinforced NJMHI’s role in helping providers “embrace the paradigm shift of the integration of physical and behavioral health care and social determinants of health. NJMHI can help shape that future where integrated healthcare providers make it easier to access care that is better coordinated,” she said.
