Amid a particularly demanding time in the mental health care field, Sound Community Services in Connecticut’s southeastern corner landed a Top Workplaces award and Chief Executive Officer Gino DeMaio believes he knows a lot of the reasons why.
“We have some rock-solid people who work here, they’re all driven by passion, they’re all servant leaders,” DeMaio said recently at his New London office.
Inviting all of its more than 120 employees to help develop a list of “core values,” Sound Community worked to make that more than a mere sign on the office wall.
For the past two years the private not-for-profit organization has encouraged its staff members to nominate each other for work that exhibits those values, and distributes monthly awards on that basis.
Keeping training, mentoring and professional development as parts of the workday routine for employees has also been important, said DeMaio, who uses that same tools to keep his most senior management engaged and connected.
“Gino is like a driving force, he’s awesome. He’s got the big vision,” said Ed Blonder, who chairs the private non-profit organization’s board of directors.
Sound Community Services provides residential and out-patient treatment for people with behavioral health disorders and addiction, with services ranging from employment counseling, therapy and medication to supportive housing and psychiatric care.
It is among the top mental health care operations in southeastern Connecticut along with Southeastern Mental Health Authority of Norwich and Lawrence + Memorial Hospital in New London.
Last year, Sound Community Services reported serving just under 1,300 individuals, with its staff performing 33,800 direct service hours.
The organization now has a solid relationship with New London’s government as well as the local business community, a major improvement from 11 years ago when it was embroiled in controversy. DeMaio was recruited to help it rebuild.
The Day newspaper reported in 2013 that several top leaders at Sound Community had charged more than $200,000 worth of airline flights, restaurant meals, hotel bills and retail purchases to agency credit cards. Ultimately the managers involved went elsewhere, but left behind was an atmosphere of low morale and mistrust.
“There were some problems with the last C Suite. The board knew I had experiencing with funding for agencies like this, they asked if I’d step in an help. Then a year or two later I become their CEO,” DeMaio said.
“Coming into this we were not in good shape. It was very, very public. Think about the culture: You had articles in the paper and they’re not good, so there was shame and embarrassment, there were people thinking ‘let me keep my head down, do my work and stay out of this.’ Everybody wanted a change,” he recalled.
In most of the operation that first year, DeMaio found strong people performing their day-to-day work very well.
“When a case manager walked out of this building and did a one-on-one with their client, they were doing an outstanding job because that’s what they were intrinsically: They were living their own values,” he said.
In one segment of the organization, that wasn’t the case. Productivity was poor and he concluded a thorough restructuring was necessary.
Establishing statements of mission, vision and core values was a priority, he recalled.
“We had to ask ‘where are we right now, who are we, and where do we want to go?’ I included everybody in the agency in this, I included clients, I included the board,” DeMaio said. “We outlined a plan for the next five years. Things started to move a bit, people started to feel better about themselves.”
Blonder credits DeMaio with establishing a team of senior leaders that’s been successful.
“We’ve given him free reign on creating his upper management staff. He did some juggling of positions, and it’s worked out very well,” Blonder said. “He’s put together quite a team, the staff really likes him. Gino is a very compassionate person, that’s number one.
In recent years, the organization has begun using the Everything Disc and EQ-i 2.0 assessments for evaluating and coaching staff. Senior managers have also made it a habit to drop into various staff meetings on Teams to stay connected and encourage employee self-care in the post-pandemic environment.
The organization seeks to highlight the accomplishments of its employees, and its 2023 annual report is heavy on photos of a range of employees at events ranging from the New London senior center’s health fair and the Safe Futures 4k Walk at Waterford High School to a Healthy Living Festival at Dodd Stadium in Norwich.