After a months-long national search, addiction treatment provider Caron Treatment Centers has announced John Driscoll as its new president and CEO.
The Wernersville, Pennsylvania-based nonprofit’s previous CEO, Bradley Sorte, stepped down in February. Since then, Caron Chief Operating Officer Kristine Bashore and Chief Clinical Officer David Rotenberg have served as interim co-CEOs.
“I’ll also be working with the Caron team to continue to implement our strategic plan initiatives of clinical excellence, financial sustainability, inclusion and national leadership,” Driscoll told Behavioral Health Business.
Wernersville, Pennsylvania-based Caron Treatment Centers is a nonprofit provider that serves patients with substance use disorders. It operates in Pennsylvania, Florida, Washington, D.C., Georgia and New York. The company employs roughly 755 people.
Driscoll most recently worked as senior vice president at Minnesota-based Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation, an addiction treatment and advocacy organization.
“All of my roles at Hazelden Betty Ford – from counselor to senior vice president of all recovery care services – have given me insight into the importance of a full and robust continuum of care to help individuals struggling with this disease achieve the promise of recovery,” he said. “It also instilled in me the importance of a strong clinical and operations team, which Caron has, to make that promise a reality.”
Caron offers services relating to addiction and behavioral health care treatment, research, prevention and addiction medicine education. It provides a continuum of care, serving teens, young adults, women, men and older adults.
“Caron’s mission is recovery for life,” Driscoll said. “In the long term, that means making sure we continue to engage individuals, families and communities struggling with substance use disorder at all points along their recovery journey. We need to meet people where they are at and make sure we have robust recovery support services for our alumni, so we will be looking at opportunities that align with our mission.”
Caron recently expanded its services in Florida, cutting the ribbon on the Keele Medical Center, located in Delray Beach, in January. The facility boasts a medical detox unit, 40 beds for residential treatment programming, a program for seniors, neurocognitive services, research and medical education.
“My focus is to stabilize the workforce after this level of growth, align our resources to better meet our patients where they are at and focus on the future,” Driscoll said about the Keele Medical Center’s opening.
Despite impressive growth, Caron faces a challenge plaguing many behavioral health providers: staffing.
“Our No. 1 issue as a field is our workforce,” said Driscoll. “For many in our field, addiction treatment is a second career, so on top of not having enough therapists, psychologists, psychiatrists, doctors and nurses to treat the 44 million Americans who need help for their substance use disorder, we have many in the field who are nearing retirement.”
Caron expanded its services at its flagship Pennsylvania facility this summer, adding a partial hospitalization program (PHP). Driscoll said the program has experienced success thus far and that Caron is already looking to expand the program.
