Jason Herndon: Welcome everyone. We’re so glad to have you join us for this conversation today. My name is Jason Herndon and I’m a clinical psychologist and the Director of Care Training and Development here at Brightline. Brightline provides virtual mental health care for families with kids ages zero to eighteen.

Kendra Read: And my name is Kendra Read. I am also a clinical psychologist and the VP of Therapy here at Brightline. We are so privileged to be able to sit down with Celeste Parker, Director of Employee Benefits and Relocation from Costco today to talk about her own experiences using Brightline. Welcome, Celeste. Thanks so much for being here.

Celeste Parker: Hello. Yes, thank you for having me. It’s always a pleasure sharing my own personal experiences using the benefit programs that we offer to our employees.

Kendra Read: It’s our pleasure to have you.

Jason Herndon: Absolutely.

Kendra Read: Celeste, just to get us started, tell us a little bit about yourself. How long have you been at Costco?

Celeste Parker: I’ve been with them for a little bit now. I started June of 2000, and during that time I’ve primarily been part of the Employee Benefits Department. When I very first started, however, I worked at the Membership Contact Center while finishing up school for HR management and supporting the amazing employees and the work that they put in every single day tirelessly, that’s something that I’ve always been really passionate about. I’ve always wanted to support those individuals who are making our company the great company that they are. And taking care of our employees is something that Costco states in what we call our Code of Ethics, and we take it pretty seriously. And here in the Benefits Department, we actually get to be a big part of that by ensuring that we’re offering our employees exceptional benefits that allows them and their family members to always get the right care at the right time. And without them having to pay very much for that. We believe that cost should never be a boundary to getting the right care that they need.

Jason Herndon: We love to hear that. Tell us, how did you first learn about Brightline?

Celeste Parker: So I actually first learned about Brightline a couple years ago through our medical plan partner Aetna, and we were struggling with our employees being able to get the right care for mental health support at the right time. And so, we’d been working with Aetna for years trying to solve for that issue. And when someone is needing help emotionally, time is everything. They can’t wait weeks or months, and we were especially seeing this access and availability issue with pediatric mental health. So at that time, a couple years ago when we were really knee-deep with Aetna trying to solve for this problem, they informed us about Brightline that offers live one-on-one counseling and therapy for children under the age of eighteen, virtually, within days of requesting services.

Jason Herndon: I’m so glad. What made you decide that Brightline was the right benefit to bring to Costco employees and their families?

Celeste Parker: Yeah, so when Aetna first informed us about Brightline, we were absolutely amazed by their capabilities. Specifically Brightline’s program is able to get first appointments scheduled within days as opposed to weeks or even months, which is what some of our employees were experiencing when they were trying to get their children in for their first session. Brightline was also able to show that they track their patient’s progress to ensure that the service that the child’s getting is actually effective and actually working. And so the ease and the timely accessibility along with the quality-driven care that Brightline provides really made it easy for Costco to determine if it was a right fit to be added to our benefits program.

Kendra Read: Have you had any personal experience as a parent with a child with mental health concern?

Celeste Parker: Yeah, I’ve actually used Brightline twice now with both of my children. The first occurrence was with my daughter. She’s now thirteen, and she’s struggled with anxiety for years. And there was one evening a few years ago that she had an anxiety attack that was really frightening, not only for her but also for myself. And I remember her saying, “Mom, I know I’m not feeling right and I don’t want to feel like this anymore, but I simply can’t help it.” And the fact that her anxiety was so bad that it was controlling her in such a negative way, that made me want to get her help and quickly.

And so with Brightline we were able to get her the help she needed very timely, and she’s in a much, much healthier mindset today than she was a few years ago. And no sooner than she stopped treatment with Brightline because she had graduated, she was better, my son then needed some care. So he was diagnosed with ADHD, I call them ADHD superpowers, which means his mind is very rapid, very fast. But so fast sometimes it controls his ability to make the right decisions, and that can lead into some social and behavioral issues at school. So we started with Brightline, and again, it’s another success story of being able to get the help we needed for our son.

Kendra Read: Thank you so much for sharing that. It can feel so vulnerable to share those personal details, but it’s so valuable for other parents out there to hear that because this is a shared experience across so many families. So really appreciate you sharing. What would you say to parents and caregivers out there who might be struggling with how to best support their child with a behavioral or mental health concern?

Celeste Parker: So the very first thing I would say and express is that you’re not alone. There are a lot of children that are needing some level of support with their emotional health. It’s not like it was when we were a kid. I really do feel like more children are needing help in this area than maybe they were before. And you’re definitely not alone and be encouraged because there is actual good help out there. There’s hope, there’s relief, I promise that, it’s just a matter of finding the right help, but it does exist.

Jason Herndon: Yeah. When you said you’re not alone, it was so powerful. It gave me chills. Have you heard feedback from employees who have signed up for Brightline?

Celeste Parker: Yeah, so we really depend on feedback about our benefit programs. It’s how we gauge if it’s the right fit for our employees. And so the feedback that we’ve received specifically about Brightline from our employees has so far been very positive. Employees have commented about how responsive, caring, and thorough their child’s therapist was. We’ve also had employees come forward about how Brightline has really redefined the new form of getting quality therapy for children. So no more making numerous calls, waiting for callbacks, driving long distances or having to compromise the time that the children is in school or their extra activities or sports, the things that actually really help the child thrive. So no more compromising that time. You can get in during off hours and not have to consume all your time trying to find a provider and get in for your first schedule.

Kendra Read: Really appreciate that. And know, as individuals who’ve been practicing in this field, we’ve seen all of those barriers to care. And so those are the things that bring us to work at Brightline too. So, so many shared values there in improving access to care and the ease with which people can get relief for the things that we know are common challenges. So right there with you. What would you hope, Celeste, for the future of mental health services for our kids and teens?

Celeste Parker: So my hope and true belief is that it will get better. We as humans, we’re smart and we’re built to fix problems. That’s what we do every day. We accomplish this by working together and committing to a mindset of understanding as opposed to judging and never giving up regardless of how hard it gets. The children, the teens of today will soon be the employees and leaders of companies like Costco and creators of programs like Brightline. So it’s our responsibility and our investment to ensure that we’re getting them the help that they need now.

Kendra Read: Absolutely. Completely agree. We’re working for the future here, but we’re also working in the here and now for how we can help people feel better today. So appreciate your time, Celeste, and our partnership with Costco is so near and dear to us. Thank you, thank you, thank you for everything and for joining us on this journey.

Jason Herndon: Thank you so much.

Celeste Parker: Thank you.