A New Chapter for LynLake
By Dr. Lori Quist, CEO, LynLake Centers for WellBeing
For more than a decade, LynLake Centers for WellBeing has been grounded in a simple belief: people deserve access to mental healthcare that sees and supports the whole person.
That belief is reflected in the way we approach care. Mental health does not exist in isolation, which is why LynLake brings together psychotherapy, psychiatry and medication management, nutrition services, and other approaches to holistic wellness.
As I begin my role as CEO, I do so at an important moment for our organization.
LynLake has grown significantly from the two small shared therapy offices where our story began at the Lyn-Lake Building in Minneapolis. Today, we serve individuals, couples, and families throughout the Twin Cities and through telehealth, supported by more than 200 professionals across a range of clinical disciplines.
We have also experienced meaningful change. LynLake joined the ARC Health network in 2023, and more recently, our clinicians chose to unionize.
I understand why both developments generate questions. Healthcare is personal. Mental healthcare may be even more so. People should care deeply about who provides that care, how clinicians are supported, and whether decisions made by healthcare organizations ultimately serve the people who depend on them.
For me, that is where the conversation should begin: with our patients.
Minnesota Needs More Access to Mental Healthcare
The need for mental healthcare in Minnesota continues to exceed the system’s ability to provide it.
In 2024, psychiatrist positions in Minnesota had a vacancy rate of 38%, according to the state’s Job Vacancy Survey, and employers reported more than 1,100 openings for mental health counselors and for substance abuse and behavioral disorder counselors.
Of approximately 800,000 Minnesota adults living with mental illness, about 200,000 did not receive needed mental healthcare, according to NAMI Minnesota.
Nine of Minnesota’s 11 geographic regions have been designated mental-health shortage areas, according to NAMI Minnesota.
Those numbers represent people trying to find care, families trying to help someone they love, and clinicians working in a system where demand continues to outpace capacity.
Our first responsibility is to the people who need us. We want to make it easier for someone who is ready to ask for help to actually receive it.
But expanding access is impossible without taking care of the clinicians providing that care.
Taking Care of Patients Means Taking Care of Clinicians
Our clinicians dedicate their careers to caring for other people. LynLake has a responsibility to build an environment where they can do that work sustainably and build meaningful careers.
That responsibility shows up in a few concrete ways:
Compensation. LynLake offers competitive pay for all providers, along with a benefits package that includes a 401(k) and healthcare coverage for eligible W-2 employees.
Investment in growth. W-2 clinicians receive funding for continuing education, because we believe clinical expertise deserves ongoing investment, not a one-time credential.
Autonomy. Many of our clinicians build and run their own caseloads as independent (1099) providers. We want clinicians who want ownership over how they practice — supported by LynLake’s infrastructure, not managed by it.
Practical support that lets clinicians focus on clinical work. A dedicated business development representative builds referral relationships in the community on LynLake’s behalf. Our marketing team helps clinicians get discovered by the patients who need them. Our billing team and ARC’s payer negotiations work to secure stronger reimbursement rates, so clinicians are paid fairly for the work they do.
Space that reflects the work. Our offices in central Minneapolis are fully furnished, professional spaces — not an afterthought.
Community and clinical development. Modality-specific consultation groups give clinicians a place to learn alongside peers who share their approach.
A full career pathway. Many clinicians start with LynLake as paid interns and grow with us all the way through licensure — building their clinical expertise inside a practice that’s invested in their development from day one.
Those investments matter. Recruiting talented clinicians is difficult in today’s environment; retaining them is even more important.
Our goal is not simply to employ more clinicians. It is to create a practice where talented mental-health professionals want to stay, grow and do exceptional work.
That goal is also an important part of why LynLake partnered with ARC Health.
Why LynLake Partnered With ARC
LynLake joined ARC Health in 2023. ARC is a national network of behavioral-health practices and a portfolio company of Thurston Group, a healthcare-focused private equity firm.
I don’t believe we should be uncomfortable acknowledging that relationship. The more important question is what the relationship allows LynLake to do.
Running a large mental-health practice requires an enormous amount of work that patients rarely see. Every time one of our clinicians sees an insured patient, someone has to make sure that clinician is appropriately credentialed, that the insurance company is billed correctly, that claims are processed and followed up on, that reimbursement is collected, and that contracts with insurance companies are negotiated and maintained.
This work is commonly called revenue-cycle management. It is complicated, specialized and expensive to do well.
ARC provides LynLake with infrastructure and expertise in areas including revenue-cycle management, payer contracting and negotiation, credentialing, technology, human resources, marketing and other administrative functions.
There is an important economic reason for that. When LynLake can perform those functions more efficiently, we can direct more of our resources toward the people providing care. When we negotiate with insurers as part of a larger behavioral-health network rather than entirely on our own, we have greater scale behind those conversations — which is part of how we’re able to work toward stronger reimbursement rates for our clinicians. And when administrative specialists handle work such as billing and credentialing, our clinicians and local teams can spend less time building that infrastructure themselves.
The purpose of that scale should be straightforward: support clinicians better, make the organization stronger, and make high-quality care available to more people.
That is how I evaluate our relationship with ARC, and it is how I believe any outside investment in healthcare should be evaluated. The structure itself should never become the mission. The mission is taking care of people.
Listening to Our Clinicians
That same principle informs how I view the recent decision by our clinicians to organize.
I want to congratulate my colleagues on completing the unionization process. I respect their decision to organize, and I look forward to working collaboratively with our clinicians and their representatives.
Our clinicians dedicate their careers to listening to others. Leadership owes them that same willingness to listen.
I don’t expect every person within an organization of our size to have the same experience or perspective. What I do expect is that those perspectives are taken seriously.
Questions about compensation, benefits, workload, autonomy and what it takes to build a sustainable career in mental healthcare deserve thoughtful engagement.
My vision for LynLake is simple: I want this to be an exceptional place to receive mental healthcare and an exceptional place to provide it. Those two goals are inseparable.
Growth Has to Mean Greater Access
Asking for help can already be difficult. Finding the right mental-health professional should not become another barrier someone has to overcome.
We want to reduce the time between reaching out and receiving care. We want to offer in-person and telehealth options that meet people where they are. We want to continue addressing insurance and financial barriers. And we want to bring exceptional clinicians into our communities and give them reasons to build their careers here.
Growth is useful only if it helps us do those things better.
LynLake was born in Minneapolis, at the corner of Lyndale and Lake, and our connection to this community remains central to who we are.
Joining a national organization has not changed where our responsibility begins. It begins with the patient sitting across from one of our clinicians. It extends to the clinician who needs the support, compensation and infrastructure to make that work sustainable. And it requires LynLake’s leadership to make decisions about growth, investment and operations based on whether they strengthen our ability to serve both.
In the months ahead, I will continue spending a great deal of time listening — to clinicians, staff, clients and community partners. That means building a productive relationship with our newly organized colleagues. It means continuing to evaluate how we compensate, support and retain exceptional clinicians. It means being willing to identify where we can do better. And it means using the resources available to LynLake to bring exceptional mental healthcare within reach of more Minnesotans.
LynLake’s story has never belonged to one person or one organization. It belongs to the clinicians who sit with people during some of the most difficult moments of their lives. It belongs to the staff members working behind the scenes to make that care possible. It belongs to the clients who have trusted us with their stories. And it belongs to the communities that have supported LynLake for more than a decade.
As we begin this next chapter, success will not be measured simply by how large LynLake becomes. It will be measured by whether more people can get the help they need, whether our clinicians can build sustainable careers doing work they believe in, and whether the quality and humanity of the care we provide continue to deserve the trust of our community.
That is the LynLake I am committed to building.
— Dr. Lori Quist, Chief Executive Officer, LynLake Centers for WellBeing