Heather Steiner shares her passion for patient care
09/09/22 01:25:pmHeather Steiner, senior director of operations, Eastern Service Area, first learned about Rogers while doing consulting work for the Tampa clinic. During its first year of opening, she assisted in the development of processes to connect the flow of referral sources, patient admissions, and discharges. Heather jumped at the chance to join the team as director of operations.
“Given the history I had with Rogers and that I loved what they were doing with specialized treatment, of course I was interested,” says Heather.
Prior to Rogers, Heather spent most of her career in the inpatient behavioral healthcare setting.
“I was director of a 77-bed facility, including senior director within the private, for-profit sector,” she says. “I also worked as vice president for a contract management company that opens inpatient behavioral health units within hospitals and takes over units that are struggling.”
Heather became interested in the mental health field in high school.
“I took psychology as an elective when I was a senior,” she says. “From that moment on, I decided I would major in psychology at college.”
During her time as an undergraduate, Heather got a job working as a secretary in an outpatient office for a group of psychologists.
“Before the days of Google, I opened the yellow pages and started calling mental health clinics to see if anyone was hiring for a part-time position,” she says. “I worked as a secretary for two-and-a-half years. It gave me a foundation, an understanding of the behavioral health field from the ground up.”
A licensed mental health counselor for more than 20 years, Heather says she fell in love with operations along the way while maintaining her passion for patient care.
“I’ve realized during my career what’s really important to me,” she says. “While I enjoy working in a leadership position and I like operations, I love being able to do that in a clinical setting. I enjoy having my office where patients are receiving care and when they knock on my door as part of an exposure. I just love being where the care happens.”
A typical day for Heather involves joining a huddle and rounding to check that employees have what they need to do their job. She says she likes the balance of being involved in decision-making and having influence at the director level, while also feeling part of the clinical team.
“I love the moments when my team gets the recognition from patients they’ve treated,” she says. “Or when things really start to click for a newer team member and they become more confident. I also really enjoy developing new leaders.”
Heather describes her leadership style as transparent.
“Transparency is important because there’s a sense of genuineness in what I say and how I say things,” she says. “I believe in letting people know we are all in this together.”
Getting to know Heather
The Steiner family is enjoying their 15-week-old black lab, Archie, who is their third black lab. They also have a cat named Greg.
Heather says she feels like her family is on the heels of a lot of transitions. She’s looking forward to the next couple of years as her kids get older and seeing the people they turn into.
