Community Mental Health Center · Upper Manhattan, New York City · ~5,000 clients annually · Engagement began 2021
A community mental health center in Harlem entered a period of organizational transition in 2021 with financial fragility, leadership gaps at every level, and the challenge of rebuilding — from therapists to C-suite — in the most competitive behavioral health market in the US.
A community mental health center in Upper Manhattan serving approximately 5,000 clients annually — across early childhood mental health, adult behavioral health, chemical dependency, and supportive services — came to Source EQ in 2021 with gaps at every level of the organization. The center had operated with negative net assets and needed to rebuild leadership from the ground up to stabilize and grow.
The challenge was not a single search. It was an entire organization. Program Directors to run clinical programs. Licensed therapists to deliver care. A CFO to build financial infrastructure. A CEO to set organizational direction. A Chief Medical Officer to lead clinical quality. Each role required a different network, a different candidate profile, and deep knowledge of the New York community behavioral health ecosystem.
Christine became the organization's primary recruiting partner starting in 2021 — placing clinical staff first, then program leadership, then C-suite over five years. Each search drew on a different part of Source EQ's network, but every candidate went through the same EQ Factor assessment: mission alignment, cultural fit for Upper Manhattan community health, and genuine capability to build rather than manage.
The multi-year relationship created compounding advantage. Deep institutional knowledge of the organization's culture, its gaps, and what kinds of people actually thrive there made each successive search faster and more accurate than the last. That is something no single-transaction search firm can replicate.
The organization's IRS 990 filings document the transformation. In 2021, the center carried negative net assets and operated near breakeven. By FY2024 it had grown revenue from $17.7M to $24.9M — a 41% increase in two years. Net assets grew from $1.3M to $7.4M. Program services revenue grew from $13.8M to $19.7M.
The organization moved from financial fragility to genuine organizational health — built on a team Source EQ recruited across five years, from therapists to the C-suite.
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