Meet Rick Karges, LISW-S, ACSW

Owner and CEO

Richard R. Karges, has more than 30 years of leadership experience in the behavioral healthcare field. He the Owner and CEO of Leadership Management Associates, LLC, an organization dedicated to identifying, developing, and enhancing professional leadership skills and expertise in the helping professions as well as improving the organization, mission and functions of both non-profit and for-profit entities.

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For the past 10 years he served as the Executive Director & CEO of Hopewell: a therapeutic farm community serving adults with serious mental illness. Prior to this he was the Executive Director /CEO at Crisis and Counseling Centers based in Augusta, Maine.  

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Rick was recognized for his outstanding work in the mental health field when he was named the 2007 Professional of the Year by the Maine Chapter of the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI). He also has served as Chair of the (Maine) Governors Substance Abuse Services Commission. He has been an adjunct Social Work instructor at Ohio State University and Case Western Reserve University. He also served as a member of the American Residential Treatment Association and has volunteered for the Cleveland area MedWorks program.

Rick has been published and interviewed in Behavioral Healthcare Magazine and has contributed to several other professional journals and academic manuscripts addressing mental health issues and practice areas.

In the mid 1980’s to 1990’s, Rick was Executive Director of the Lake County Mental Health Center and prior to that held a leadership position at University Hospitals of Cleveland’s Psychiatry Management Center.  

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He received both his BS and MSW degrees from The Ohio State University and completed training at the US Army Academy of Health Sciences.  He is a member of NASW and the Academy of Certified Social Workers.