Ovation Partners with Hideout Salon and Lounge

At a recent Chamber of Commerce meeting held in Williamson County, there was much discussion of the significant impact mental health services have on businesses. Employee and employer excellence, innovation, community, accountability, productivity, and overall well-being all had positive outcomes in companies that provided mental-health services as part of their healthcare benefits. In attendance were Gina Drobnick, CEO-Ovation and Steven Shampain, Executive Director-Ovation. While listening, they observed it was mostly large and established organizations that provide these benefits to their employees. Conspicuously absent from this discussion were small to mid-size companies that cannot afford to provide mental-health services to their employees from options in the marketplace. Both concluded there must be a way to get these same services to these businesses at an affordable cost and with similar productivity, success, and employee well-being outcomes. 

Enter Chelsea Joffray, owner of both the Hideout Salon and Lounge and Raven Beauty Bar in East Nashville. Steven had been going to the Hideout Salon and Lounge for years to get his haircut and had scheduled an appointment with Chelsea days after the Chamber of Commerce meeting. 

During this visit, there was an opportunity to discuss the idea of providing mental health services to small and mid-size businesses. Chelsea offered her unique thoughts and perspectives on what it would mean to offer mental health services to her employees. In fact, in a moment of serendipity, Chelsea had just returned from a Stylist conference where the hot topic was mental health and the impact it was having on her industry. Chelsea was looking for ways she could provide services to her employees. “I remember the moment Chelsea and I realized this was no accident! The timing was perfect!” laughs Steven. The conversation soon became a partnership, and a concept was born. 

Today, Chelsea has partnered with Ovation for provision of accessible virtual therapy services to its employees as a healthcare benefit. Chelsea recognized the overlapping critical contribution mental health counseling services would provide for her employees’ personal well-being and the success of her business. “Mental health and job performance go hand-in-hand,” she explains. “I have had plenty of people call out sick from not being able to cope with life issues, and having those resources is vital to having people show up. My entire time being an employee anywhere, people have always said ‘you must leave it at the door, but that is not how humans work.” 

To equip employers with counseling resources that will maximize employee well-being and productivity, Ovation applies a unique partnership approach connecting with business teams in person. “To gauge interest and help the Hideout employees feel comfortable with us, we did an employee survey and an onsite session where we talked about our process. One of our lead clinicians also did a virtual mindfulness activity with them to show the power of virtual therapy,” explains Gina.

“We also worked closely with Chelsea from a financial perspective in creating a program that fit comfortably into her business plans while providing the level of care her employees were asking for.” 

Chelsea is already seeing firsthand how this partnership is making a difference, not only through the analytics Ovation provides, but also in candid conversations with her team. “I have had employees come up to me and say, ’I do feel like this is helping me,’” she shares. The data provided by Ovation concurs. For example, one Hideout employee has shown growth on the Hope Scale, a primary metric Ovation used to gauge a person’s hope. For this assessment, “hope” specifically refers to a person’s belief that the future will be better and that they have the power to make it so. This employee’s Hope Scale metric showed a remarkable increase over the course of their therapy journey, growing from a 40 (out of a possible 64) to a 54. Their metrics for anxiety and depression also decreased significantly. 

At the Hideout, Chelsea strives to create a work environment that is as accepting and safe for employees as it is for clients. Offering mental health resources for staff is a critical part of demonstrating that commitment. “If I’m hiring someone, I am taking on some responsibility for that person as a whole and being supportive to them,” she says. “Do not leave it at the door, that does not fix anything. Bring it in and we can be vulnerable together. It is part of life. You do not have to ignore it.” 

In a post-COVID world, many employers want to offer mental health benefits but feel they cannot do so for a variety of reasons. Small to mid-size businesses cite lack of resources to provide them or say it is too expensive. Chelsea sees this as an investment in her people and her business. “The value of this investment in my employee’s mental health goes beyond simply making sure people clock in for work. It is about helping employees feel good about themselves and the success of the salon. Ovation gets this. They understand the unique balance of mental health needs and investment in services working creatively with business owners to make this happen.”