How to Add Holistic Programming Without Hiring More Full-Time Staff
Behavioral health organizations are under constant pressure to provide more meaningful programming.
Clients want variety.
Clinical teams want additional resources.
Leadership wants to differentiate the treatment experience.
Staff need support.
At the same time, adding several new full-time positions may not make operational or financial sense.
That creates an important question:
How can a behavioral health facility expand its programming without building an entire wellness department in-house?
One solution is to develop a coordinated partnership with a multidisciplinary wellness programming company.
The goal is not to avoid hiring.
The goal is to make sure your staffing model matches the programming you actually need.
Start With the Programming Gap
Before hiring anyone, look at what your facility is actually missing.
Ask:
Where are clients disengaging?
Are there gaps in the daily schedule?
Do different levels of care need different programming?
Are mental health and substance use populations receiving appropriate programming?
Are clients getting opportunities for experiential learning?
Does the facility need individual wellness services?
Are staff asking for additional wellness support?
Does the facility need professional training or program development?
The answers should drive the staffing decision.
Sometimes the answer really is an internal employee.
Sometimes the answer is a single contractor.
And sometimes the best solution is a multidisciplinary partner that can provide several services through one relationship.
The Problem With Hiring for Every Specialty
Imagine a facility wants to add:
Trauma-Informed Yoga
Sound Healing
Breathwork
Nutrition
Somatic Programming
Reiki
Meditation
It could hire or contract separately for each service.
But now the facility is managing multiple providers.
That means multiple:
Schedules
Contracts
Invoices
Credentialing processes
Communication channels
Coverage issues
Cancellations
Administrative relationships
The facility may have solved the programming problem while creating a coordination problem.
A multidisciplinary partnership can consolidate many of those needs into one relationship.
One Partnership Can Provide Multiple Specialties
Instead of hiring one full-time employee for one specialty, a facility can work with a coordinated team.
At Inward Bloom, facility programming may include:
Trauma-Informed Yoga
Sound Healing
Breathwork
Yoga Nidra
Guided Meditation
Somatic Awareness
Nutrition Education
Individual Wellness Sessions
Employee Wellness
Professional Training
Consulting
The actual mix is customized to the facility.
That distinction matters.
The goal isn't to sell every modality to every facility.
The goal is to identify the programming gaps and build the right combination of services around them.
What This Can Look Like in Practice
A facility may not need a full-time wellness employee.
Instead, it might need one full programming day each week.
For example:
Morning
Trauma-Informed Yoga
Nutrition Education
Midday
Sound Healing
Afternoon
Individual Wellness Sessions
That creates multiple programming touchpoints during one provider visit.
The following month, the schedule might rotate:
Morning
Breathwork
Somatic Awareness
Afternoon
Individual Wellness Sessions
This gives clients variety without requiring the facility to maintain a separate employee for each specialty.
Start Small Without Staying Small
One advantage of a partnership model is that facilities don't have to make the largest commitment on day one.
A smaller organization might begin with a Foundation Partnership of approximately 4–8 hours per week.
That is typically structured around one full programming day.
As the facility grows, the partnership can grow with it.
Foundation Partnership
4–8 hours per week
Typically one programming day.
Growth Partnership
8–16 hours per week
Typically two to three programming days.
Programming can expand to include both mental health and substance use populations, rotating specialty groups, individual services, and ongoing program strategy.
Comprehensive Partnership
16–40+ hours per week
Designed for facilities seeking broad or near-daily coverage, multiple providers, multiple levels of care, daytime and evening programming, employee wellness, training, and consulting.
Explore the current options:
One Visit Can Replace Several Separate Trips
A common misconception is that outsourced wellness programming means bringing a provider into the facility for one hour.
A well-designed partnership should look different.
A provider may be able to lead two groups back-to-back and then provide individual wellness sessions afterward.
For example:
9:00–10:00
Trauma-Informed Yoga
10:15–11:15
Nutrition Education
11:30–2:30
Individual Wellness Sessions
The exact timing depends on the facility's schedule and requirements, but the principle is simple:
Make each facility visit operationally useful.
That approach is one reason Inward Bloom structures partnerships around programming coverage rather than isolated classes.
Expand Programming Without Overloading Your Clinical Team
Another reason facilities consider outside programming is the pressure it places on existing staff.
A therapist should not have to become the organization's yoga instructor.
A nurse should not have to coordinate every wellness vendor.
A program director shouldn't have to spend hours each month finding coverage for a canceled specialty group.
A coordinated wellness partner can take on some of that programming responsibility while remaining complementary to the clinical team.
That allows your internal clinicians to focus on clinical care.
Mental Health and SUD Programming Can Be Customized
Expanding programming does not mean creating one generic schedule for everyone.
A facility may need different offerings for:
Mental health
Substance use
Co-occurring populations
Detox
Residential
PHP
IOP
For example, a SUD-focused schedule might emphasize recovery-oriented groups, breathwork, mindfulness, and nutrition education.
A mental health program might place greater emphasis on trauma-informed movement, Yoga Nidra, somatic awareness, and sound-based relaxation.
The right mix depends on the population and the facility's goals.
Employee Wellness Can Be Included Too
The same partnership can support the people doing the work.
Employee wellness options may include:
Guided Meditation
Sound Healing
Breathwork
Trauma-Informed Yoga
Stress-Reduction Workshops
Wellness Events
Professional Training
This can be especially useful for organizations that want to support staff without hiring a separate employee wellness coordinator.
For more on why this matters:
Staff Burnout in Behavioral Health: Why Employee Wellness Matters More Than Ever
What Should a Facility Look for in a Partner?
Not every wellness provider is equipped to support a behavioral health organization.
Before choosing a partner, ask:
Can they provide multiple disciplines?
You want a team, not just one specialty.
Do they understand behavioral health?
Providers should understand the populations and environments they are entering.
Can they support both groups and individual services?
A broader service model creates more flexibility.
Can they work with both mental health and SUD populations?
This may be especially important for facilities with multiple levels of care.
Can they scale?
Your needs may look very different six months from now.
Can they support programming beyond direct services?
Professional training, consulting, program design, and schedule development can add significant value.
Who manages the relationship?
You should know exactly who your point of contact is and who handles scheduling and communication.
The Goal Is Not to Avoid Hiring
This distinction is important.
Outsourcing isn't automatically better than hiring an employee.
For some facilities, an internal full-time position makes perfect sense.
The question is whether the facility actually has enough consistent demand for that position and whether one person can provide the range of services needed.
A facility may have 40 hours of programming needs.
But it may need eight different specialties within those 40 hours.
In that situation, a multidisciplinary partnership may provide more flexibility than hiring one person and trying to make that role cover everything.
Build the Program Around the Facility
Your facility should not have to adapt its treatment model to fit a vendor's package.
Instead, the programming partner should understand:
Census
Level of care
Population
Existing schedule
Clinical priorities
Budget
Staff needs
Growth plans
Then the schedule can be built around those realities.
That is the difference between purchasing a class and developing a programming partnership.
Holistic Programming Should Strengthen Clinical Care
The goal of holistic programming is not to replace therapy, psychiatry, nursing, case management, or other clinical services.
It is to complement them.
Clients can learn about coping, regulation, nutrition, or recovery in clinical settings and then have additional opportunities to practice those concepts through experiential programming.
That connection is part of what makes a multidisciplinary approach valuable.
Read:
Why Information Alone Doesn't Change Behavior in Mental Health Treatment
More Programming Does Not Always Mean Better Programming
The purpose of adding services isn't to create a calendar packed with random wellness activities.
The goal is to create a thoughtful, engaging schedule.
Clients should encounter a combination of:
Education
Practice
Reflection
Movement
Regulation
Nutrition
Individual support
Community
That variety can make treatment feel more intentional without requiring the facility to employ a different full-time person for every modality.
A Better Question for Facility Leaders
Instead of asking:
"How can we hire another wellness person?"
Ask:
"What programming do our clients need, and what is the most sustainable way to provide it?"
That question opens up more possibilities.
Sometimes the answer is hiring.
Sometimes it's contracting.
Sometimes it's a multidisciplinary partnership.
The right model is the one that gives the organization the coverage, quality, flexibility, and support it actually needs.
Prefer to Watch?
Maryanna Staerk shares practical insights on behavioral health programming, client engagement, and leadership through the Inward Bloom Wellness YouTube channel.
See the Services From the Client Side
Many of the modalities available through facility partnerships are also offered through Inward Bloom Wellness for individual clients.
To see what one of these experiences looks like in a direct-client setting:
Sound Healing at Inward Bloom Wellness
Continue the Conversation on LinkedIn
Follow Maryanna Staerk, MPH, MBA, LDN for additional perspectives on behavioral health programming, client engagement, staffing models, and whole-person care.
Related Articles
Should Behavioral Health Facilities Hire In-House or Outsource Wellness Programming?
What Does a Full Day of Behavioral Health Programming Look Like?
The Biggest Mistake New Behavioral Health Programs Make (And How to Avoid It)
Why Clients Check Out of Treatment
Explore Inward Bloom
Frequently Asked Questions
Can outsourcing reduce the need for full-time wellness staff?
It can, depending on the facility's needs. A multidisciplinary partner can provide access to multiple specialties without requiring the organization to create a separate full-time position for every service.
Is a multidisciplinary partnership appropriate for smaller facilities?
Yes. Smaller facilities may benefit particularly from the ability to access multiple specialties without maintaining several internal positions.
Can a partnership include only a few services?
Yes. Programming should be customized. A facility may begin with several high-priority services and expand as needs change.
Can Inward Bloom provide multiple groups during one facility visit?
Yes. Depending on scheduling, groups can be arranged back-to-back, with individual wellness sessions or other programming following them.
Can programming support both clients and staff?
Yes. A partnership can include client programming as well as employee wellness and professional training.
Does outsourcing mean the facility loses control of programming?
No. A strong partnership should be collaborative. The facility's population, treatment structure, clinical goals, schedule, and budget should inform the programming plan.
About the Author
Maryanna Staerk, MPH, MBA, LDN is the Founder and CEO of Inward Bloom. She partners with psychiatric hospitals, detox programs, residential treatment centers, PHPs, IOPs, and other behavioral health organizations to strengthen client engagement through multidisciplinary wellness programming, nutrition services, employee wellness, professional training, and consulting.
Ready to Expand Programming Without Building Another Department?
Inward Bloom helps behavioral health organizations access a multidisciplinary team through customized programming partnerships designed around census, level of care, population, schedule, and organizational goals.
