Quality care

Clariane Spain is one of the biggest mental health players in the country, with government contracts worth around US$331 million – triple that of two years ago, thanks to the acquisitions of mental health specialists ITA Mental Health and Grupo 5 in 2021 and 2023, respectively.

But perhaps the greatest value, as CEO Philippe Morin reveals, has been in what the deals have meant for both patients and staff in terms of adding an extra layer of innovation and creativity to the care they receive. Bringing mental health expertise to elderly care and vice versa has created a unique treatment approach.

“When we acquired ITA, which specializes in mental health, we discovered that having so many psychologists in our company could create a positive impact on our elderly care business activities. For example, in Mallorca, where we have six nursing homes, we have developed an emotional support program to talk about end of life with the families,” Morin tells The CEO Magazine.

“We also have set up an intergenerational program, where we bring teenagers from our mental health facilities, who are struggling with eating disorders, to spend time each week in our elderly care locations, for both generations to help each other. Our elderly residents are super happy, and the teenagers think, ‘Wow, there’s a lot I’d like to discuss with them.’

“It has been highly effective and positively impactful, helping to combat prejudice between generations and ease the unwanted loneliness suffered by both the elderly and teenagers.”

Expanding careers

Operating across both mental health and elderly care has also allowed Clariane to enhance and expand the career paths available for its staff.

“We are able to attract more talent thanks to the reputation and the size of our network,” Morin explains. “Having this good reputation allows us to prepare a career path. Our professional psychologists and psychiatrists can participate in training others, mentoring and working on our innovation and research projects.”

Clariane’s expanded talent pool also allows it to treat more severe mental health cases that are complementary to mainstream public health services. Its 63,000 employees can also contribute to a recently launched knowledge-sharing platform, in which they can input their ideas to be selected for development.

The intention is to continue the entrepreneurial spirit that Clariane’s smaller, acquired companies have injected into the business.

“We have a committee to review the proposal and then to open up an innovation project with the financial funding behind it,” Morin adds. “The objective is to have new ideas and to see if they are scalable across our centers and regions, because sometimes you have ideas, but they remain in one center.

“If something is really worth doing, we should spread it all around the organization. I would say it’s one of my objectives for the next two years to have more scalable innovation.

“We’re looking into opening psychotherapy centers that help people more at the level of mental wellbeing. It’s a model we’re developing for people who don’t have a serious mental illness but need psychological support.

“It can be burnout, anxiety, family stress or other mental health issues or social discomfort. For example, today, we are one of the few private mental health providers for teenagers, and we see that we have a lot of needs among teenagers. It’s one of our big areas of development.”

An innovative approach

Morin’s vision builds on an existing track record of quality care that, looking at elderly care specifically, incorporates an approach that doesn’t rely on medication, if possible, which he says is not something found in all elderly care providers across Spain.

“We try to avoid prescriptions as much as possible. The purpose is not to have elderly people sleeping in a bed,” Morin stresses.

“The purpose is to try to have them not in their room, to have them in the common area to participate in activities, to try to develop their brain or at least to keep them aware, so they can keep their autonomy.

“We are a small actor in Spain in nursing homes, but we are well known for trying to take proper care of the elderly.”

Clariane also assists homeless people by providing them with social and psychological support. Since becoming CEO three years ago, Morin’s eyes have been opened to just how many vulnerable people need support.

“It’s much more than I thought initially. When you bring your energy to help these vulnerable people, you receive a lot of satisfaction back,” he explains.

“The industry is really about needs. We’ve discovered that we have a lot of needs that we can offer support for, and that’s very motivating.”