Meet Dr. Tara Chalakani: A Creative, Empathetic Leader Whose Heart is Bigger than Her Ego

Episode notes

In this episode we meet Dr. Tara Chalakani, who holds a doctorate in Behavioral Health Leadership. As a practicing counselor and Deputy Chief Executive Officer of Preferred Behavioral Health Group, she has extensive knowledge of the behavioral health issues we face today. She describes herself as having a “Not for Profit Heart” and a “For Profit Brain” melding the best of both worlds to serve her organization, employees, clients and community. Having to pivot to tele-medicine, Dr. Chalakani describes that Preferred Behavioral Health held over 100,000 tele-health appointments. They were one the swiftest adopters of virtual medicine so that mental health services were uninterrupted. We talk a bit about the importance of getting help and dispel the myth of “high functioning depression” or “high functioning alcoholism.” “We need to normalize that mental health needs are important” and remove the stigma around care. As a leader with good boundaries, she sees herself as the head of a family who sets structure, a sense of security, providing opportunities for employees to grow.

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