This edition of the Magellan Quarterly Peak highlights Matt Hardin, LCPC, crisis systems director for the IBHP.

What do you love the most about working at Magellan?
Collaboration. I'm a big believer that it takes a village to truly support each other, support our community, and thrive. I enjoy working alongside the amazing Magellan team here in Idaho and synergizing with the great stakeholders statewide. It is a real treasure to have the Magellan national team to consult with and other national crisis programs to learn from. There is always something new to learn and Magellan has provided a lot of opportunities to do so. 

What inspires your work in behavioral health? 
My parents lived a life of service, personally and professionally. There was an expectation of helping family, friends, neighbors, and strangers. I was working on my B.S. in Psychology and I had a professor suggest that if anyone was interested in becoming a therapist, they should read Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl. In part to my parent's influence, I connected with his idea that we can heal through meaning, and we can find meaning through encountering others authentically (simply put). I mentioned collaboration above. It’s through these connections that we can begin to heal each other, our communities, and thrive. 

What did you do prior to working for Magellan?
While in grad school, I worked as a Community-Based Rehabilitation Specialist (CBRS). That was my first step into the mental health professional world. After graduation I worked as a therapist in a specialty court program providing mental health and substance use treatment. When the opportunity came to open up a behavioral health crisis center in my community, I jumped at the opportunity to bring a new, much needed resource to the area. I learned the true power of collaboration there. I felt the connection we were able to create in our community was a springboard to now helping support the new statewide crisis program with Magellan.

What do you enjoy doing outside of work? 
I have a wonderful family and two dogs. You could find us competing amongst each other in a tense game of Mario Kart, at the pool, or hiking the mountainside. I absolutely love reading sci-fi. It could be a classic Asimov story from the 1950s or a modern classic short story from Ken Liu or Ted Chiang. I’ve played soccer for 35+ years and (knock on wood) hope to continue until my body tells me otherwise. I am an avid Liverpool FC fan. We have the best team motto which, I think, sums up this whole spotlight. The motto is, “You’ll Never Walk Alone.”