Q: So, for those in our audience not family with the Hegira Health, can you share with us the services you have available to those in our community?
CZ: Since 1971, Hegira Health, Inc., a private, non-profit organization, has been committed to meeting the diverse behavioral healthcare needs of our community. We serve persons of all ages, infants through older adults, with a broad range of mental health, substance use and or intellectual and developmental conditions. Our 30+ different programs, which are offered out of our seven facilities, in a variety of community-based settings including private residences, group homes, schools, FQHCs, district courts, jails, emergency departments, primary care offices and on telehealth platforms, are designed to help each child, adult and family achieve their wellness goals. www.hegirahealth.org

Q: Tell us about your position as Executive Director?
CZ: I have been a member of Hegira Health’s leadership team since 1993: from 1993-2012 as the Director of Programs, COO from 2012 - 2016, and Executive Director from 2016 – 2021. In 2016 the Executive Director position was created part of a succession plan for the current CEO. In May 2021, I was appointed by our Board of Directors to the position of CEO, effective October 1, 2021.

As Executive Director, I have six executive level direct reports and am responsible for a staff of about 400, from whose talent and contribution generates approximately $27 million in annual revenue. The last five years have been busy; some highlights of my achievements during my time as Executive Director, include restructuring our executive team, engaging a PR firm to formulate strategic rebranding to increase community presence, positioning our agency as a friendly partner with public and private payers, legislators, other non-profit sector administrators, leading our internal EI development, revamped our recruiting and onboarding processes and securing federal grants of nearly $5mil.

Q: As a private non-profit how has Hegira Health made a difference in our communities over the years?
CZ: With 50 years behind us, Hegira has a rich history of community contribution and is known for our eagerness to engage in innovation, pilot projects and emerging best practices. Hegira has grown more than 3-fold since I began in 1993. One of several significant ways we now reach out to our community that has changed over the years includes our development of children’s specific services. We opened to our first child in 2005 and have since grown to become a comprehensive provider of children’s’ specialty services and the 5th largest in Wayne County. In 2016, Hegira was contracted by our local public funder to establish an integrated, central point of contact, mobile-focused adult behavioral health crisis service for all persons residing in our County. Our new service has since provided 12-14k persons seeking higher levels of immediate behavioral health care with crisis assessments, referrals, and treatment each year. Most of these services provided in the community; our teams cover more than 600 square miles, 24/7. In 2018, Hegira Health became a Zero Suicide organization, meaning that we committed to the belief that no one should die by suicide and set out to train our entire staff and everyone who would be part of our mission. We have since trained thousands of persons in our neighboring communities in the suicide prevention curriculum Question, Persuade and Refer (QPR), have more than a dozen master trainers on staff and in 2020 were the only organization in Michigan selected to receive federal dollars to support our Pathways to Suicide Prevention (PSP) program. We are so very proud of the work our PSP program has done in prevention and postvention. Our “Dear Survivor” initiative (YouTube Dear Survivor Hegira Health), a series of 5 brief videos reaches out to the persons left behind after a loved one dies from suicide, has been amazing. Also, during this same time 2018 to 2021 Hegira Health worked very hard toward the nationwide goal of reducing abuse of opioids by providing, among other services, innovative jail based services, community rapid response teams, support for pregnant opioid addicted women and partnerships with community emergency departments, we worked hard against the devastation of the opioid epidemic. And in yet another opportunity to further our mission’s work, also in 2020, Hegira was selected as a federal grant awardee of a highly coveted, $4mil CCBHC grant, allowing us to increase our existing efforts to improve integration of behavioral and physical health care, provide no cost community education on prevention and treatment of behavioral health conditions and offer no cost services to persons in our community that are uninsured or underinsured.

Q: How many people do you serve each year? How was 2020 with the country shut down?
CZ: approx. 25,000

2020 was an incredible, and surreal year, in so many ways. We never shut down. We converted many of our services to a telehealth platform, literally overnight; between March 16th and 18th, 2020, our phenomenal IT staff moved nearly 250 therapists, administrators and support staff out of our offices and into their newly established home offices. With added precautions and reductions in capacity for distancing, we continued in person crisis services and residential substance use treatment programs to meet the needs of our community. We had a great many concerns for persons with exacerbating mental health and substance use problems who we suspected were both afraid and unable to reach out for help. Within the first couple of months of the COVID shutdown, Michigan was reporting a 35% increase in opioid related emergency department visits, though outreach for substance use services was declining. And while we knew our kids were in need of more help than ever, our children’s department referrals dropped off as kids, whose issue are frequently flagged by teachers, were isolating at home, and very likely with adults that needed help as well. It was a very difficult situation for mental health professionals to know that people were unraveling and with not much more that could be done other than wait. From a look-back perspective, I am always reminding others of the opportunities that have emerged, from funding, to expanding our creative energies, to needing to better understand each other’s challenges, to understanding and appreciate how we have all extended our previously perceived limits to our capabilities. 

Q: What is it you like to say to potential donors and volunteers?
CZ: While we accept all insurances, as a primarily Medicaid and grant-based service provider, we are always operating in a difficult financial environment; it is tough to makes ends meet, continue great services that’s funding has run out and adopt new services due to the cost of training and implementation. Unfortunately, people’s needs don’t change, nor do they go away because the economy gets tight; these are in fact the times when persons with behavioral health conditions become worse. We are always appealing to donors to help us meet the needs of persons that aren’t paid by traditional health insurance. Prevention is a huge unpaid answer that just doesn’t have enough funding to be as effective as it could be.


Q: Do you have any advice you can share for those women who may want to pursue a career in the Nonprofit sector?
CZ: The work is amazingly rewarding. If leadership is your goal, the gender gap in higher level positions is not as apparent as in other industries. My goal has always been to help persons, not be able to help themselves to be the best they can be, whether based on internal or external resources or some combination. Knowing that I actually do that every day helps me sleep at night – when I am not worrying about how we are going to finance what we do! 

We work long hours, we leave piles on our desks at the end of every day and for the most part, we are not able to compensate our staff doing this amazing work competitively. It leaves you struggling frequently. We have a lot of young professionals that I think are disillusioned quickly. It’s critically important to be mission driven and it’s also important to know that it’s ok if this line of work is not for you. 

Q: What do you, personally, spend most of your time on?
CZ: I am always trying to think of the next best way to do something. How to improve a service. How to increase access. How to impact people’s lives in the way we intend. But I think I spend most of my time thinking about how to satisfy, motivate and express appreciation for the persons with their boots on the ground doing the individual and family work at our clinics and in the community. We need them more than we need me.

Q: Were there moments in your career that were pivotal to getting where you are today?
CZ: Very early on, before I began my career and was still in school, I had a one semester internship at a program called “Vail Place” outside Minneapolis. From my experience with the persons there living with mental illness, and a great mentor, I learned the tragedy of mental illness that fueled both my passion and compassion for this work. Five or so years later, in my first leadership position and before I joined Hegira, there was a hospital administrator that I really admired. I was several steps below him, so I did not report directly, but he was involved enough with everyone to model great leadership. I took away a lot from him. After nearly 30 years I caught up with him and was able to let him know how pivotal he was in my leadership skill development.

Q: What are the best practices you have employed to build a successful career? 
CZ: Of course, working hard, doing a good job, caring about what you do is always critical. I’ve always had this thing about the quality I expect when I put my name on something. I am sure those standards helped me along. But I think developing good relationships (I tell young people ‘never burn your bridges’), making your interests known, and focusing on finding solutions and volunteering for new opportunities – not waiting for someone to say “can you…” vs taking the initiative and saying “I can…” first has definitely helped me continue to expand my path.

Q: What is it about your job that most excites you?
CZ: My job is different every day. There is nothing mundane in my world and I thrive on change. I can face a similar issue three days in a row, but each day involves different people, with different needs, which requires thinking through a different approach to be successful. I have opportunity to genuinely make a difference – for the persons we serve, for our staff and our community, every single day.

Q: What's your advice for women in male-dominated fields?
CZ: What’s that? Ha! When I was a young girl, my mother used to tell me it was “a man’s world.” I heard her but I never understood it and never took it to heart. Just be your best self. While I can’t say that I have never been treated lesser than as a woman, I have, and quite blatantly. I just have never let it stop me from doing what needs to be done. Take a step back. Think it through, find another way, use your assets. Actions speak louder then words or heel height.

Q: What's the greatest fear you've had to overcome to get where you are today? 
CZ: I would say the fear many have of forging forward into the unknown. Today I consider myself a thoughtful risk-taker. But there was a time when I had to get over the fear of taking on novel situations, to rely on my ability to integrate old and new information to manage risk and in the end, not just say, but truly believe, that every experience is a learning experience. I am still reminding myself of that from time to time.

Q: Can you tell our audience one of your most memorable moments your career?
CZ: I don’t recall exactly when this occurred, but it was during a period when I was taking on more and trying to prove myself to be a leader. One of my co-workers, who I had known for many years and admired very much, became very emotional when I confided in her my fears of a particular business situation. I don’t recall the situation, but I do recall her response “if you’re afraid what are the rest of us supposed to do?” It was not until then that I realized the weight of my words and presence on others around me. At that moment I felt like I had arrived in some way. I never did that again.

Q: What’s one lesson you’ve learned in your career that you can share with our audience?
CZ: I think a mistake I made early on in my career was to become too narrow in my scope of work. I loved what I was doing in operations and did not step outside those lanes until I was faced with a desire to make a next career move. While I knew I was capable of that move, I lacked awareness and connections to be successful. It took me a while, and it took getting some outside guidance to help steer me in the right direction.

Q: Which woman inspires you and why? 
CZ: I am a huge admirer of Patti Poppi, former CEO of Consumer’s Energy. To me, she is the epitome of an inspired and inspiring leader. She is an incredibly brilliant, engaging, face-forward boots on the ground leader, concerned about her workforce and compassionate about the people served by her service. I heard her speak one time and have been a fan and follower ever since.

Q: What are some of the challenges you feel women face today?
CZ: I don’t think women’s challenges have changed a whole lot – balancing family, work, self-improvement, personal interests. I see some changes in the spouses of younger women professionals taking on more – but that the traditional women still do more than her lion’s share when family is part of her life.  

Q: What advice would you give to young women who want to succeed in the workplace?
CZ: Having positive relationships with others is very important. Keep your mind open. Be willing to take on new assignments. Listen to constructive feedback. Get noticed through accomplishments.

Q: After high school, where did you feel your career path would take you? 
CZ: I expected to be well educated and have a profession, but I am not sure I had any more thought than that.

Q: Can you tell us how you manage your work life balance?
CZ: Not very well. It is a work in progress. I don’t let go of work very easily, on occasion, but not often enough. My lack of balance has been difficult on the executives below me that try to keep up; some are better at setting their own limits than others. I tried to set text and email limits for everyone a couple of years ago, but I was the first to violate.  

Q: What would be the title of your autobiography?
CZ: I Did the Right Thing

Five Things About Carol Zuniga

1. Where’s the strangest place you’ve ever been? 
Not ‘strange’ but unusual and captivating both for the history behind it and the actual sculptures – seeing the Terracotta Soldiers Museum in Xi’an China.

2. What would your perfect vacation look like? 
10 days in a well-appointed villa a few steps from the ocean, sunshine and 85 degrees, a clay tennis court nearby, alone with my husband 5 days and 5 days joined by my step-son and his wife and family and a fabulous Italian chef for every meal.

3. Favorite Dessert? 
Raspberry Vacherin (from the Grand Colbert, Paris)

4. Favorite City? 
Florence, Italy

5. Tell me about the best vacation you’ve ever taken. 
I have been fortunate to travel a lot, so I have had many wonderful and unique experiences. World Cup in Russia. Chateaux in Bordeaux. The Taj Mahal in India. Riding camels in Morocco. Many new year’s celebrations across Europe’s great cities. I think the best vacation was when my husband and I went with my parents to Italy and among other great sites, visited the cities in Sicily where my grandfathers were born. We saw the little corner store that was owned by my great-grandfather and actually visited the home where my mother’s father was raised and took a portrait of him off the wall to bring back to the US to give to my grandmother.

6. What would you sing at Karaoke night? 
Carpenters, Rainy Days and Monday