Have you met Lisa Hardmeyer Gray, MA, LMHCA ? She is one of HealthPoint’s 5 Care Coordinators* who provide integrated mental health services and specialize in working with specific populations including veterans, older adults, uninsured, and pregnant and parenting patients. Lisa and her colleagues play an important role on the Care Team by helping patients achieve mental and emotional wellbeing in addition to physical health. They also help patients coordinate their overall care and connect them to needed community resources.
Originally from Mott, North Dakota, Lisa’s path to becoming a HealthPoint Care Coordinator is a winding and fascinating one that includes previous careers in both health care and documentary film making! During her time as a filmmaker, Lisa 
also made many videos for nonprofits, including one for Harborview Medical Center. It was while filming this video that Lisa realized she wanted to get out from behind the camera and help people tell and process their stories in a new way.
“I was interviewing a family whose teenage son had survived a gunshot wound. When I turned on the camera, they started crying,” Lisa remembered. “In that moment I wished I had a different relationship with those people, that I wasn’t just trying to get their story.”
Galvanized by this experience, Lisa decided she wanted her next life chapter to focus on mindfulness and helping people through difficult situations. She first completed a certification in Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction at the University of Massachusetts and began facilitating programs for veterans. While she loved the work, she realized she needed additional credentials if she wanted to pursue her interest in counseling. Lisa went back to school at Antioch University and got her Master’s Degree in Clinical Mental Health Counseling. After graduating, Lisa found herself drawn towards Community Health Centers because of their emphasis on social justice.
Today, you can find Lisa at HealthPoint Kent where she works with patients on many issues including anxiety, depression, stress, PTSD, trauma, and the grief and loss that often accompany displacement from a home country. One of the things Lisa likes the most about working at HealthPoint is our integrated care model. “It’s so effective because a patient will come in to see their doctor because maybe they’re feeling fatigued or have a headache—something with seemingly little connection to mental health. But then, based on their depression screening score, their doctor will have me talk with them. Being able to talk with someone right then and there without having to reschedule or call, that’s the beauty of this model. Having that instant face-to-face connection allows people to more easily get help and services that they need, but might otherwise have never gotten.”
When she’s not at the clinic, Lisa loves to spend time with her twin nine-year-olds and go hiking, biking, and dancing. She also loves to travel, but isn’t finding much time for that these days. However, as Lisa points out, one of the many perks of her job is the incredible diversity of HealthPoint patients and the broader Kent community. “Every week I’m speaking to people through interpreters in multiple languages, learning about different cultures—who knew that if you can’t travel, the world will come to you in Kent, Washington? It’s amazing!”
Are you interested in meeting with a Care Coordinator or another member of HealthPoint’s Behavioral Health Team? Talk to your provider at your next appointment or call your clinic to request an appointment.
*Care Coordinators differ from HealthPoint Behavioral Health Consultants in that their positions are funded through the Washington States Mental Health Integration Program or MHIP; a partnership between the Aims Center of UW, Seattle and King County Public Health and Community Health Plan of Washington (CHPW).
