After 22 month search, Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen tabs new behavioral health director
Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen picked a new director Tuesday to lead the Behavioral Health division within the state's Department of Health and Human Services, filling a vacancy that had been open since Pillen took office nearly two years ago.
Pillen tabbed Dr. Thomas Janousek — who has been the deputy director of clinical excellence within HHS's Behavioral Health division since October 2022 — to lead the division, the governor's office announced Tuesday.
Janousek, a former neuropsychologist at Madonna Rehabilitation Hospital in Lincoln who previously served as the vice president of quality and compliance at Burrell Behavioral Health in Missouri, will take over the division Monday. His annual salary will be $175,000.
Janousek earned his doctorate in psychology from the Forest Institute of Professional Psychology, which closed its campuses in Springfield and St. Louis, Missouri, amid financial difficulties in 2015, the year Janousek earned his doctorate.
He earned a bachelor's degree in psychology from Nebraska Wesleyan in 2009, according to his LinkedIn profile.
In a statement Tuesday, Janousek said he is committed to expanding behavioral health care access points in Nebraska without diminishing quality of care.
"We need more crisis and community-based service options across our state, and we need to address those barriers which make it difficult for individuals to engage with the public behavioral health system," he said.
His appointment comes 22 months after Pillen, then the governor-elect, announced that he would conduct national searches to find directors for the Behavioral Health and Children and Family Services divisions of HHS. At the end of former Gov. Pete Ricketts' term, those divisions were led by Sheri Dawson and Stephanie Beasley, respectively.
Pillen appointed Alyssa Bish to replace Beasley atop the Children and Family Services division in October 2023. A spokeswoman for Pillen's office did not respond to emailed questions Tuesday over why the search for Dawson's replacement lasted nearly two years.
In a news release announcing the move, Pillen said he was excited about having Janousek take on the role and commended the work of Tony Green, who had been serving as interim director for the Behavioral Health division while the state searched for a permanent director.
Green remains the director of the Division of Developmental Disabilities. He had also served as the interim director of Children and Family Services until Bish's appointment last October, at one point leading three of the state health department's five divisions at once.
"He has been a steady presence in the agency, and I deeply appreciate his commitment to state public service," Pillen said in Tuesday's news release.
