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FSPHP Member Testimonials

We need your help.  To fulfill our mission of supporting membership and inspiring future colleagues with an interest in physician health to become members of FSPHP, we would like your assistance in sharing your experience of the significance of FSPHP membership. We would be honored if you would take a few moments to write a brief anecdote or story about how FSPHP has been of value to you and your program, career and leadership—or in helping to bring best practices to your state PHP that makes a difference in the lives of others.

Click here if you would like to share your FSPHP membership experience with a member testimonial.

FSPHP Membership Provided the Gift of Immediate Connections

February 27, 2024
I wanted to take this opportunity to express my appreciation for the opportunity to be part of this wonderful community. I finished leading my last Physician Health Committee meeting and completed my last annual report! Gives me time for reflection……

When I started at the Rhode Island program in January of 2013, I was immediately directed to FSPHP. My predecessor, Rosemary Mahar, gave me names of members of the northeastern region who she thought could be helpful to me. Boy, was she right! She gave me contact information for Sally Garhart, MD, Medical Director of the NH program, Maureen Dinnan, Esq., Executive Director of the Connecticut program, and the “MA PHS folks” – Linda Bresnahan, Deb Grossbaum, and Steve Adelman. I couldn’t ask for better mentors! Then I experienced my first annual conference in April that year, which coincided with the Boston Marathon bombing – and so we were sequestered in a hotel in Cambridge, Massachusetts. I was amazed at all the incredible members of the organization and the treatment communities represented there, too. At that point, running a small program with an “N” of one for director/clinical staff (me) with only a 15 hour per week administrator, I cannot emphasize enough the importance of the gift of the immediate connections provided via membership in FSPHP. I believe that this organization is vitally important for the smaller programs in the Federation.

All this is to say that I have been honored to be part of the FSPHP community for the past eleven years. The support, camaraderie, and opportunities afforded to me will never be forgotten. Thank you all for that! I am sad to leave but after 40+ years working in mental health, I find I need to do so at this point (ahem – something about age here) in my life. What a great way to end my career. I’m so happy that Steve Carreras, PhD, MSW, from the DC program will be at the helm in Rhode Island. It is not often you can find someone who is already familiar with the PHP world so he will be a great asset to the program.

I suppose it is possible I will pop up in some other iteration of my clinical self, but for now, this is my rambling farewell message! I wish you all the courage, compassion, and endurance to continue this important work.

All my best,

Kathi

Kathleen Boyd, MSW, LICSW
Director, Physician Health Program, Rhode Island Medical Society
FSPHP Board Member
Vice Chair of the FSPHP Performance Enhancement and Effectiveness Review ™ (PEER™) Committee 

Thank You All for the Excellent Work That You Do

May 28, 2020
SCRPP joined the FSPHP at the end of 2018, following my appointment as the Program Director. It was a great business decision, and I appreciate the support and feedback that we have received since that time.  The FSPHP has provided us with invaluable resources, including best practices and procedures, to further enhance our program. SCRPP was recently tasked with responding to an RFP issued by the State of South Carolina for continued operation of our current professional program, and we have been awarded the new contract, effective July 1, 2020.  This new contract provides for expanded services and monitoring, with the addition of a full-time addiction psychiatrist and monitoring for mental health related disorders, including disruptive physicians.  FSPHP was very supportive during the RFP process and SCRPP is grateful to be part of a professional organization dedicated to the excellence of monitoring licensed healthcare professionals.  Thank you all for the excellent work that you do.

Tia Cooper, MA LAC CACII NCACI
Program Director-SC Recovering Professional Program            

Always Made to Feel Welcome and that My Voice Matters

January 10, 2020
I have been an active member of the FSPHP for the past 25 years. During that time, I have witnessed the maturation of the Federation organizationally, while the fundamental principles of dedication and service have continued consistently at its core. I have always felt supported by my friends and colleagues in the Federation in my role as a front--line clinician from a rural state with a large geography. From my fledgling days as a newcomer to more recent leadership roles on the Board of Directors, I have always been made to feel welcome and that my voice matters. This is really a testament to the caring and compassion of the FSPHP membership and leadership. I feel we all have an obligation to pay it forward, as those who preceded us in the field of physician health have so capably done. I stand on the shoulders of giants, and I am humbled with the task of carrying forward their legacy of service.

Michael J. Ramirez
Clinical Director, Montana Professional Assistance Program, Inc.

FSPHP Annual Meeting - "Recharge Station!"

December 5, 2019

As Director of the WA State PHP, the FSPHP was instrumental in providing the collective wisdom of multiple members and the wise counsel of its "elder statesmen" whose institutional memory was most valuable. In addition to providing current scientific data from our field of endeavor, the FSPHP annual meeting was the perfect venue to rekindle past and forge new relationships. It was my yearly "recharge station!"

Lynn Hankes, MD
FASAM-FSPHP Past President

Honored & Privileged to be a Member

December 4, 2019
Since joining in 2006 while starting up a state physician health program I have found the resource invaluable and irreplaceable.  The sharing of FSPHP documents and associated guidance in program development by the organization was incredible.  The individual program materials which were freely shared by other state PHPs were instrumental in the development and sustaining of the WVMPHP.  The FSPHP membership provided access to a level of experience and expertise with a willingness to assist our fledgling program which was critical and needed during program inception.  The value of membership far surpasses the associated cost tenfold.  The passion and energy within the individuals of our membership in the work being done is unsurpassed by any organization I've ever been a part.  It has been and continues to be an honor and a privilege to be a member of this esteemed organization.

P. Bradley Hall, MD 
Executive Medical Director, West Virginia Medical Professionals Health Program

The Benefits of FSPHP from The Colorado Physician Health Program

February 8, 2016
The Federation of State Physician Health Programs (FSPHP) has not only been a catalyst in increasing the presence and the face of physician health, but has been pivotal in the Colorado Physician Health Programs’ position in the sector. CPHP recognizes many benefits of the umbrella organization; best practice discussions on broader administrative (nonprofit) issues, quality improvement initiatives and inspiration, and unique perspectives on an industry that does not really “fit” into traditional forms.  CPHP has been fortunate to be an active participant within FSPHP since the organization’s founding in 1990.

In the recent past, FSPHP has become aware that the field of physician health is gaining interest from unexpected communities. This trend has led to what CPHP has deemed of the most essential aspects of the organization; a deliberate quality improvement emphasis. Each member physician health program (PHP) has wholeheartedly endeavored to become the best program they possibly can, and improve not only their clinical expertise in the field of physician health, but their presence in their communities, their impact on physicians (and often other healthcare professionals) and their image across all facets. CPHP has relied upon the quality improvement and best practice conversations among FSPHP participants and leaders to guide our improvement and continual growth. More than the answers offered by this organization, it’s the questions posed and the honest dialogue across the FSPHP that makes us be assured we are providing the best care for CPHP clients.

Sarah Early, PsyD
Executive Director, Colorado Physician Health Program

FSPHP Experience & Devotion

November 4, 2015
Upon arrival to my first FSPHP meeting in 2005, I was warmly welcomed as a “new comer” to the field of physician health and PHPs.  At the time the state PHP where I worked was at a grassroots level of developing a physician’s health program supported by all of organized medicine including the licensure boards. 

Utilization of the FSPHP Guidelines, experience and assistance of many program directors and the leadership of the FSPHP we began the arduous process of legislative development, bylaws and ultimate incorporation into a non-profit 501(c)(3) in August 2007.  We were also able to pass legislation in 2010 providing partial funding of the PHP.  We took our first participant in November 2007 and grew 1000+% by November of 2012.  

Without the leadership of the FSPHP, devoted and experienced passionate membership of the state members and all the other associate, international and honorary members, the PHP would not be where it is today. 

Anonymous