How LPS Behavioral Health Built Trust Through Affordable Care

We sit down with Dr. Floyd Robison and Beth Robison of LPS Behavioral Health to trace how a small Martinsville practice became a trusted mental health resource across central Indiana. We talk about making care more accessible, how assessments and TMS can help, and what to expect when you reach out for support. 
• why LPS began in 1989 and what Morgan County mental health resources looked like then 
• designing counseling to be financially and emotionally accessible 
• serving families across generations by understanding local culture 
• how Bloomington and Greenwood offices grew through real-world opportunity 
• shifting stigma and the role of social media in people seeking help 
• therapy services and psychological assessments for kids and adults 
• ADHD testing and adult autism assessments as a specialized offering 
• what TMS is, what a session feels like, and common goals like depression relief and less brain fog 
• cost, duration of benefits, and why a screening interview comes first 

If you enjoy this conversation, do me a favor and share it with somebody. Put it out on your Facebook, let them know. 
To nominate your favorite local businesses to be featured on the show. Go to gmpmorgancounty.com. That's gmpmorgancounty.com or call 317 743 2050. 

Transcript

Welcome To Good Neighbors

SPEAKER_01 0:00

This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place where local businesses and neighbors come together. Here's your host, Tim Serber.

SPEAKER_02 0:10

Well, welcome back, everyone, to the Good Neighbors Podcast. Uh, this is the show where we like to sit down with business owners and leaders and storytellers who make Morgan County a great place to live and work. I'm your host, Tim Serber, and today we've got two guests who've spent more than three decades quietly making this community a healthier place, one conversation, one assessment, one family at a time. So let me introduce Dr. Floyd Robinson and Beth Robinson. How are you guys doing? Hi, real well. You guys are the husband and wife team behind LPS Behavior Uh Health right here in Martinsville. And you have additional offices, if I remember right, in Bloomington and Green Greenwood, right?

SPEAKER_03 0:55

Greenwood, yeah.

Why LPS Started In 1989

SPEAKER_02 0:56

Yeah. Okay. Now, Floyd, you founded the practice back in 1989 as Liberty's uh Psychological Services. Yeah, yeah. Um, and you built it into one of the most trusted uh facilities really here in central Indiana. So welcome to the show, guys. And we're gonna begin kind of uh where you know, back in the good old days of 1989. I mean, that's a long time ago. Things have changed. A lot of changes, yeah, lots. And and Floyd, you founded that uh back in '89, and the practice has now been serving Indiana for over 35 years. Yes. You know, take us back to the beginning. What made you start your own practice and what was the mental health care like for Morgan County at that time?

SPEAKER_03 1:41

Well, at the time, there were there were not many resources in Morgan County for for mental health. Uh, as I recall, when we first came to um when we first came to Martinsville in 1988, uh, there were only three private counselors over at the old Citizens Bank building. And there were, um, of course, there was a mental health center. It was there, uh, smaller, uh, probably a little smaller than it was now. We started, uh, I started the practice in the old Martinsville residents know it as the old dress shop. It's uh on the 39 Bypass, where CVS is now.

SPEAKER_02 2:21

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 2:22

And um we started it with the with the on the idea that that uh counseling services, at least as we'd experienced them to that point, weren't particularly accessible, not only in Morgan County, but in southern, not real accessible in southern Indiana. They weren't emotionally accessible and they certainly weren't financially accessible. So that's what we tried to do with uh Liberty Psychological Services and later LPS Behavioral Health. We tried to, we tried to create a uh a clinic where people, first of all, could afford to come. Uh our fees were somewhat lower than than the prevailing rate at the time. Uh we also wanted it to be, I'll call it emotionally accessible, where people felt welcome and they felt safe and they felt like they were they were being taken care of uh and not being talked down to.

SPEAKER_02 3:21

And that and and you get actually, you know, you get very entwined with everybody, I would assume, in in your practice.

SPEAKER_00 3:29

Well, we've we've seen a couple generations now of topics. Yeah.

Making Care Affordable And Welcoming

SPEAKER_03 3:34

Yeah. We uh our early ads, uh we pushed, we we promoted the we promoted the the theme, I guess you'd say, or the the motto of professional understanding care. So we really went out of our way to understand our our clients, understand their, you know, the the the local world in which they operated in Morgan County. Because Morgan County presents a number of differences in in that uh really from Monroe and Johnson County. Um we're we're you know, they they call us, they call us uh what do they call it? Martin Tucky. Uh there's a lot of heavily Appalachian influence. And uh uh I happen to come from Appalachia uh on both sides of the family, and so kind of understand the mindset of people with roots in Kentucky and West Virginia and Virginia. And so the motto of professional understanding care means meet people where they are in the milieu that they're in, uh meet them kind of in the in the community they live, understand, understand the forces in the community that they that they deal with. And we insist, uh, as we've gotten larger and our we've we've taken on more counselors and and related mental health professionals, we try to push that idea to them too. To uh don't be a stuff shirt, um understand the community and the people in that community with whom you're working.

SPEAKER_02 4:58

Yeah, yeah, and I think that's important is is the connection, right? Um, you you're in uh as we said earlier, Martinsville, Bloomington, and Greenwood. Yeah, um, you've built a team of of clinicians and and fire uh psych uh psychologists. Yes, thank you.

SPEAKER_03 5:22

Uh you throw a psychiatric nurse in there too.

SPEAKER_02 5:24

Yeah, we'll throw that in there too. Uh, you know, what has guided your decisions of when and where to grow?

Growing Into Bloomington And Greenwood

SPEAKER_03 5:33

Tim, I wish I could say that we put a lot of forethought and planning into our into our expansion and the selection of locations where we've where we've grown into, but I'd be lying to you. Um we we didn't we didn't do that. Um I'll tell you how we got, I'll tell you quickly how we got to uh Bloomington and um uh Greenwood. We um uh I worked for many years. In fact, I just retired about three weeks ago from uh uh doing uh examinations for Social Security for their disability determination bureau. I did that for oh close to 30 years. Well, um in uh back in 2010, uh my consultant with Social Security said, we really are short-staffed in Bloomington. We we need somebody to do these exams in Bloomington. So how many people do you have? I mean, I uh office space isn't cheap. And she she gave me a figure and it did justify additional uh renting an office down in the Graham building down in down in Bloomington. Uh and since then that office took off not only with Social Security, but with with private patients as well. In Greenwood, uh we had an intern, and after the intern uh was got her license and was able to go into private practice, she said, would you like to would you like to join me up at the um uh I think it's it's called what's it called? Library park at the corner of uh US 135 and uh Smith Valley Road. I said, Well, sure, why not? You know, I already work 40 hours plus a week. So let's let's try something.

SPEAKER_01 7:08

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 7:09

So we moved up, took one office in her suite. Eventually, additional people wanted to come see us. So I added some people and we didn't have enough room, so we ended up getting our own suite in the same in the same complex. So we basically grew as opportunities dropped into our lap.

SPEAKER_02 7:29

Well, and you know, that's kind of interesting. You were led by people who did services to help them do their jobs too. That's an interesting way to grow. Uh at least you know you should have a uh clientele there to work with.

SPEAKER_03 7:43

Yeah, it's probably not the most financially sound way to grow, but it was we again the idea was we could meet a need. Uh we could meet a need, particularly with people who didn't necessarily have the resources to go other places. And so we've again we use the same philosophy in Greenwood and Bloomington that we did in Martinsville. And it's worked out very well.

SPEAKER_02 8:08

It's worked as it's uh there seems to be a uh a growth of that industry in the Martinsville area now.

SPEAKER_03 8:19

Yes, yes, it uh it I notice there are more there are more providers. Um uh I notice we have uh we have a drug and alcohol treatment center in town we have uh that's doing very well and with with which we work quite a bit. Uh there are some other individual providers, particularly over at the hospital, that we're getting to know. And uh there's uh been a much a much greater receptiveness towards seeking mental health services that when we first started in Morgan County, there wasn't.

SPEAKER_00 8:50

No, it took yeah, there wasn't.

SPEAKER_03 8:52

We had to sell ourselves pretty hard to the community, and I I don't blame them again. Um, I think the the I'll call it the mountain background of many of our people, and for those who aren't from the mountains, the the the rather rural background that has characterized Morgan County for years, yeah, um, makes made people a little bit suspicious of mental health services. And uh that's that was understandable and we expected it, and it took a few years to really break into the community.

SPEAKER_02 9:23

Yeah. Uh well I'm glad you guys had the uh audacity just to keep moving and keep doing it and being out there for people because you know, I think mental health has a stigma on it that a lot of people based from really you got to give TV the credit for that of really making that messed up. But you know, I think it's very important that there's a piece there that you provide that we definitely need to address with our population. Absolutely.

Stigma Shifts And Social Media

SPEAKER_03 9:51

I'll tell you what what uh one thing that that really drove not only our clinic but other clinics in the area, really put us into prominence was uh to be quite candid, uh X and Instagram. Uh people talk about mental health on those social platforms uh extensively. Yeah, yes. Many people say, for example, and and uh we hopefully we'll get to this in the next couple of minutes, but our assessment service, uh we have a number of people who seek assessments for uh, well, primarily developmental problems. And they say, Well, I never thought about that. I might have an attention disorder. I never thought I might have autism, or that my children might one of my children might have autism until I saw something on Instagram. And so it really uh sometimes I think maybe it's pushed it a little too hard sometimes, but I mean the exposure to those types of problems and the permission to uh people I think get permission from social media to seek help if they think they need it.

Therapy And Assessment Services

SPEAKER_02 10:53

Yeah. And uh as I told you guys, I don't think we're gonna get through all the questions just because you have a lot to talk about and bring to us. Yeah, why don't you go over uh Beth? Why don't you guys go over your your services that you have and then talk about the new service that you uh you guys are really excited to bring to the community?

TMS For Depression And Brain Fog

SPEAKER_03 11:13

Oh yes. Oh, okay, I will. Um well let's see, we're we're uh I get I get you can tell, you can tell I've got the wiggly tongue, so I I get up doing a lot of the talking. Yeah. We do um we have um uh to keep it short, because I know I'm windy, um we have um uh our practice has we have uh seven therapists uh who provide a wide range of services from a wide range of uh counseling perspectives. We have uh an active assessment service. Uh we provide uh psychological assessments for pretty much just about any need. Um our specialties are assessing for attention deficit disorders and autism spectrum disorders. And these uh these assessment services are for both children and adults. I will say that we're one of, I've learned that we're one of the few clinics in central Indiana and just about the only clinic in southern Indiana that performs ADHD and autism spectrum assessments for adults. And uh we uh we do a large number of those every every month. And uh in addition, we do a number of assessments for everything from fitness for duty to uh assisting physicians in managing a patient's medication. Uh we work with uh counselors throughout the area to um make the their diagnoses more specific and help help their counselors develop treatment plans. And as you just mentioned, we have just begun to offer transcranial uh magnetic stimulation, which is more commonly known as TMS, which is in a in a work in a nutshell, a non-invasive approach to uh dealing with common psychological problems such as depression, anxiety, sleep problems. But it also, our particular form of TMS, which uses the eczamine procedure, we also can work with people who don't necessarily have a formal uh psychiatric diagnosis, for example, to improve uh mental alertness, uh reduce appetite, reduce food cravings, uh uh improve attention span, and basically just reduce brain fog. Uh folks who perhaps, you know, after COVID, a number of people complained that a lingering symptom was brain fog. And this this particular form of TMS is excellent at reducing brain fog.

SPEAKER_02 13:52

And TMS it's it's not it's how how does that work?

SPEAKER_03 14:00

Okay, okay. Our particular version of TMS, uh, it it it is not like your your your dad's TMS where you had to wear the helmet and go to treatment for 30 days in a row and pay twelve to fifteen thousand dollars. This particular TMS is um uh an individual comes in, they uh we have them recline on a um, what would you call it, a spa couch, uh what you'd do if you were at the spa getting a massage. We have an applicator, uh a magnetic applicator that basically I can tell you it's it's on an arm and it's we just place it about here on the client's head, and for 25 for 24 and a half minutes, it delivers magnetic pulses to an area at the front of the brain. Uh I won't say what that area is because it's a real long name, but it's it's it's basically at the back of your left frontal lobe. It uh the the sensation is just like if I were tapping on your forehead and it doesn't hurt. Uh, there should be no pain. Uh, if someone does experience discomfort, the technician, that is us, can we can we can uh either reduce or modify the the pulse that you're receiving so that it it doesn't hurt. Uh after the 24 and a half minutes, you can get up and go about your business. Um the typical treatment is two sessions a week for three weeks. Although we can make it three sessions a week for two weeks, one session a week for six weeks, or we can even do uh uh double sessions for uh one to two weeks. In fact, we have a new protocol that's working very well, I'll mention, where a person can sort of they can sort of try before they commit and have two back-to-back sessions of 56 minutes. And or I may have the number of minutes wrong. I think it's uh no, it's 48 minutes. And uh a number of people who have tried this with us have said that they really don't need any more sessions.

SPEAKER_02 16:10

And it and it lasts for a very long time.

SPEAKER_03 16:13

It can last um for uh about half the patients who do this uh six session protocol. Some may need more if they are they we can offer up to 12 sessions or six sessions with tune-ups throughout the year of one session. Uh, there are different ways you can you can receive the treatment. And for about half of the people that we serve, we would expect them to go for more than a year without needing any further treatment. For the other half, uh, a number of them will go at least six months. Some will go three to six months and perhaps need one or two backup, uh, what do they call them, uh follow-up sessions during the coming year, during the following year.

SPEAKER_02 16:58

Wow, and but you know that that has to be such a relief if it lasts three months, six months a year.

SPEAKER_03 17:03

I mean, that's yeah, that's really when you consider the possible side effects of certain medications, certain antidepressants and anti-anxiety medications, in contrast with this treatment, which can give you a year or more of relief, very possibly without medication. Uh, some people do continue to take medication, but say the medication works better. But they or they don't have to take as much medication. Uh, and we consider this this this procedure does not have side effects, uh it's it's worth the effort. And uh I I will say it there is some expense, of course. And I wish I could tell you that it's uh covered by insurance, but it rarely is. But that's the case with all forms of TMS.

SPEAKER_02 17:50

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 17:51

Um, it is about a third, a quarter to a third of what traditional TMS costs.

SPEAKER_02 17:58

Wow.

SPEAKER_03 17:58

You mentioned$12,000 to$15,000, divide that by four. Pro uh our our standard treatment is three is$2,900.

SPEAKER_02 18:06

Yeah. And that's all the treatments, the six treatments.

SPEAKER_03 18:09

That's the six treatments, plus a psychological assessment to ensure that you are a viable candidate for the service. Interesting. We don't just stick the magnet on you.

Cost Candidacy And How To Reach Them

SPEAKER_02 18:21

Well, you guys, we definitely have uh a lot more to talk about. Unfortunately, we're out of time right now. But you know, before we wrap this up, uh for the person that's listening right now who's been thinking maybe it's time or who's worried about a child, a parent, or a spouse, you know, what's the easiest way for them to reach LPS and what should they expect when they make the first call? Okay.

SPEAKER_00 18:45

Yeah, uh basically they call us at 765-318-1225, and uh they will um speak with our daughter, uh Melissa. She's our practice manager, and then she will do all the intake of getting getting all the demographic information, getting it all set up. So it's very easy for people to be able to get an appointment. Um, and they we also text, they also can text in on that number, and we can um you know handle it by text as well as as far as setting up the appointment. Um, but it's very easy to be able to get an appointment and and we very little time and effort for people.

SPEAKER_03 19:25

And if a if a per if a prospective client has uh questions that uh that Melissa or Natalie uh think maybe require a more professional response, uh they will direct them directly to uh Beth's telephone number. And Beth can provide any additional information. At the first meeting, uh a client should expect to talk to me. Uh I'll give them a uh a brief psychological interview. And my purpose in doing that is to make sure that the um uh that this person uh does not have any medical or psychological issues that we should know about before we um before we basically agree to provide the treatment, that they're a good candidate and don't have any contraindicating factors. There are a few medical factors and a few psychological factors that that may lead us to say this may not be the best for you.

SPEAKER_02 20:23

Yeah. Well, I tell you, uh Floyd, Beth, thank you both uh for the work that you do, for sharing it with us today. I think that uh was really great information. Just been you know, 35 years of caring for our neighbors, mental health is no small thing, and it's clear why so many families across central Indiana trust LPS. So thank you again.

SPEAKER_03 20:48

Thank you for having us. We we we love to talk about what we do.

Share The Show And Nominate

SPEAKER_02 20:54

No doubt. Well, that's gonna do it for this episode of Good Neighbors Podcast. If you enjoy this conversation, do me a favor and share it with somebody. Put it out on your Facebook, let them know. Until we get back together, be a good neighbor, Morgan County. We'll see you soon.

unknown 21:11

Bye-bye.

SPEAKER_01 21:13

Thank you for listening to the Good Neighbor Podcast. To nominate your favorite local businesses to be featured on the show. Go to gmpmorgancounty.com. That's gmpmorgancounty.com or call 317 743 2050.