The silent weight of addiction can be a heavy burden to carry alone. A revered Army leader in Iraq and Afghanistan, Sophros Recovery founder and CEO Nick Padlo knew this all too well. After struggles with addiction and relapse, he re-committed to his sobriety and is now the happiest he’s ever been. To help others regain their lives and find that same peace, he started Sophros Recovery in his hometown of Jacksonville, Florida.
At Sophros, Padlo and his small but mighty team of therapists, counselors, and medical professionals offer outpatient treatment for those struggling with substance use disorders and any co-occurring mental health issues, like depression, anxiety, and trauma. “As a rapidly growing treatment center, seamless collaboration is paramount to keeping our clients safe,” said Padlo. But email and text chains would quickly get flooded with messages, and the ability to maintain visibility on clients was nearly impossible.
“Email inboxes got crowded so we missed a lot, and it was challenging to find older communications,” said Padlo. “Text messages were okay, but it was difficult to keep work streams consistent and maintain work-life balance with constant notifications.” Sophros needed a conversation-first solution that could support its mission to deliver high-quality care and help clients on their journey toward healing.
Since integrating Slack, Sophros Recovery has experienced significant improvements, including increased productivity, enhanced patient satisfaction, faster care times, and scalability.
“We adopted Slack so that we could better manage our business,” said Padlo. “It allows us to include the right people in the right conversations, maintain a history of work, and become more efficient as a business.” In fact, real-time collaboration has reduced Sophros’s average response time to patient inquiries and internal requests by 40%. “Slack has helped us connect about client needs and coordinate treatment in a very dynamic environment.”
As we expand our services and reach more individuals in need, Slack is a powerful partner that will help us bring our mission to life.
Bringing together the right people to deliver the best care
Slack channels are now a cornerstone of Sophros’s new and improved communication strategy by taking conversations out of siloed email inboxes and text chains. Within channels, everyone on the clinical team can quickly consult with one another, share insights, and coordinate care plans. And when clients are in crisis, they can mobilize the entire team almost instantly.
This real-time collaboration enhances the care they provide, leading to better client outcomes. After implementing Slack, patient feedback noted the improvement in the quality and timeliness of care, with a near-perfect Net Promoter Score.
Organizing channels and maintaining a certain etiquette when it comes to the information shared is critical to Sophros’s success. For example, there are two separate channels for the center’s DUI program. One is primarily for support from a clinical standpoint, and the other is for scheduling patient evaluations. “If we didn’t have the ability to separate programs into Slack channels and they just existed in one space, it would be incredibly difficult to manage,” said clinical director Linsey Mizic.
Real-time access to organized information and relevant context ensures everyone is always on the same page — without adding extra meetings. “Instead of trying to carve out time that doesn’t always exist, we can create a Slack channel and say, ‘Here are all the things we need to do. How do we organize?’ ” said Mizic. As new clients come in, for example, the clinical team can communicate the first-day needs very quickly with relevant team members, making clients feel welcome.
And when Sophros set out to open a second location in Tampa, it simply re-created the channels that worked in Jacksonville. “Given that we had already designed our Slack channels in such an efficient way, it was very easy to replicate the same structure,” said Padlo. “We also created additional channels that tie the two locations together across functions, creating better flow at a unit level and at a company level.”
We don’t get excess information that isn’t relevant to us. When communication is clear and streamlined, it prevents duplicate and repetitive conversations.
Unlocking new levels of efficiency frees up more time for clients
By leveraging Slack’s real-time messaging capabilities, Sophros has created a centralized hub for collaboration. It leans on some of Slack’s 2,600 integrations to bring its favorite tools right into the flow of work, removing the burden of constantly switching contexts. “We frequently use Google Drive and share Google Docs in Slack,” said Mizic. “We also use Greetly with new admissions and assessments coming in the door: It connects directly to Slack, which is super convenient.” Outlook keeps the team on top of meetings, and an absence management app makes it easy to track and approve employee time off.
Sophros’s important administrative processes, which historically were time-consuming tasks that require careful attention to detail, have become more efficient in Slack. During intake and admission, for example, there are several key steps to ensure that clients have a smooth start and meet all compliance requirements, from consent forms to assessments with various team members. Powered by meticulous communication and supported by the ability to sync in Slack, the team has seen a major increase in productivity.
When team members need to quickly touch base, they turn to Slack huddles, which allow them to instantly connect over audio or video. “We upgraded to a paid Slack account, primarily for the long-term maintenance of threads and multi-person huddles, and we hope to become more active users of all the additional features over time,” said Padlo.
Mizic explained that many of her colleagues have multiple screens in their office and are constantly connected in Slack. “We can pop in a huddle, drag that screen over, and keep it open as we chat through things,” she said. “It creates a beneficial environment for our nurses, doctors, and clinical team. Everyone uses them.”
Slack is part of our daily work lives. It’s how we communicate, keep track of and share files, attach apps, and huddle. It would be very difficult to function as a business without it.
Moving forward and using Slack to scale a safe place to heal
As Sophros expands its services to reach more individuals in need, it’ll rely on Slack to continue its mission. “We certainly want to help our clients get sober and stay sober, and we also want to empower them on their journey to healing,” said Mizic.
To do this, Slack provides a scalable solution that will ensure consistent, efficient operations by:
- Facilitating remote work: With the flexibility of Slack, the team can work effectively from anywhere, supporting remote work and telehealth initiatives.
- Supporting innovation: The integration of new tools and features allows Sophros to stay on the cutting edge of addiction treatment.
- Driving growth: As Sophros scales, the efficiencies gained from Slack will enable the treatment facility to allocate more resources toward patient care and program development.
“Slack is by far the best available software for company collaboration, and a dynamic way to run a business,” said Padlo. Helping clients achieve sustainable, long-term recovery, Padlo and his team will continue to use their unique combination of technology and a human touch to change lives for the better. “At Sophros, we’re committed to leveraging the power of technology to provide the best possible care, and Slack has been a critical component of that journey,” said Mizic.
