Posted July 5, 2024
DOORWAYS | 1101 N. Jefferson Avenue | St. Louis MO 63106
Cox Receives Administrator of the Year Award
St. Louis – July 5, 2024 Jess Cox, the Director of the DOORWAYS Behavioral Health program, received the 2024 Administrator of the Year Award presented by the Missouri Rehabilitation Association (https://www.mo-rehab.org/) at their conference on Thursday, June 13. This recognition is bestowed upon an administrator who has provided outstanding service toward meeting the needs of their clients and staff.
“Since I hired Jess in 2020, she has shaped the DOORWAYS behavioral health program to meet the needs of our clients,” noted Pat Plumley, DOORWAYS Chief Program Officer. “Everyday I witness that she accomplishes her counseling and administrative responsibilities with incredible competence, compassion, equity, and integrity. She is a fluid leader, moving seamlessly between her many spheres of responsibility.”
This opinion is supported by data. Of those clients who completed at least two well-being assessments from July 1, 2023, to February 29, 2024: 60% reported clinically significant positive change in their well-being and 85% reported an overall positive change in their well-being. Of those clients who completed at least two assessments for depression, 49% reported clinically significant positive change in depressive symptoms and 31% reported remission of depressive symptoms.
These results were achieved by Cox, two full-time counselors, and two Saint Louis University doctorate students in psychology who served 150 clients. Together they delivered an incredible 1,779 behavioral health services: 1,337 individual and group services, 442 pre-enrollment services, plus case consultations, assessments, and advocacy services. DOORWAYS housing program staff also completed 154 behavioral health screenings during client intake interviews, referring 90 clients to the Behavioral Health Program.
According to Opal M. Jones, DOORWAYS President & CEO, “Jess embodies the characteristics expected for an administrator and counselor of highest quality. With great talent and compassion, she responds to the unexpected challenges faced by our clients who are people battling poverty, mental health conditions, substance use, stigma, isolation, and illness.”
Congratulations Jess!
About DOORWAYS:
DOORWAYS offers housing and supportive services to improve quality of life and health outcomes for people battling homelessness and illness from HIV and other chronic conditions resulting from a life of poverty. Medical research has led to the development of medications that can render the virus undetectable. An undetectable virus is untransmittable, ending new cases. However, it is nearly impossible for an individual to manage an HIV healthcare regimen without stability within the social determinants of health: housing, nutrition/hunger, income/employment, education/skills-building, community, etc. In response, DOORWAYS has evolved over the years to provide assistive, emergency, flexible, and permanent housing programs; Metro and Outstate subsidies programs to prevent homelessness for those in their own accommodations through rent and utility assistance; and empowerment programs offering food security, pharmacy delivery, behavioral health counseling, employment/income assistance, self-development programming, one-on-one goal management, and linkage to resources. In fiscal year 2022, we served 3,184 men, women, and children in the St. Louis bi-state region. For more information visit our website:
For More Information:
Karen Carpentier 314-328-2704 | kcarpentier@doorwayshousing.org
