20+ Years with Necco
In 2020 Kim DeMattie is celebrating her twentieth year with Necco. Over those 20 years, her steady rise combined with her relaxed demeanor led CEO Beau Necco to describe Kim as “Calm, qualified, consistent and helpful. That’s Kim. She has definitely seen it all and put our kids first since day one. A thousand thank yous are not enough.”
Kim has earned numerous promotions and degrees, but she has also been a trailblazer. Kim recently became the first certified Advanced Practice Registered Nurse with the company. She achieved that feat on May 6th, which happened to coincide with National Nurses Week.
5 Degrees Earned
In 1994 Kim graduated college for the first time. Since then she has graduated 4 more times. That’s a lot of caps and gowns. But the most important numbers that have come from Kim’s continued pursuit of education and self-improvement are those that would be impossible to measure. The number of children she has helped and lives she has changed through the years are countless. Here's a list of degrees Kim has acquired through the years as well as her Social Work License.
• 1994 Bachelor’s in Social Work from Marshall University
• 2000 Ohio Social Work License (LSW)
• 2004 Master’s in Counseling from Marshall University
• 2017 Associate’s in Nursing (ADN) Ohio University Southern
• 2018 Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) at Ohio University
• 2020 Master of Science in Nursing (MSN) at Northern Kentucky University
She graduated in May 2020 as a Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner (PMHNP). Each degree she obtained on her educational journey was attached to a specific goal and came with a subsequent promotion or new job title.
7 Different Job Titles
Kim began her career with Necco on Jan. 20th 2000 as a Case Manager in the Ashland, KY office. Kim says she knew immediately that she was with a company she would be loyal to for years to come. At the time, Necco’s Ohio Foster Care program was operating out of the Ashland office and Kim worked to obtain her Ohio Social Work License so she could make the jump when the opportunity arose. In June of 2000 when Necco opened the doors of the South Point, OH office, Kim became its Home Resource Assessor.
In February of 2003 Kim was promoted to Ohio Team Leader/Case Manager. However, just a few months later in May, Kim moved up again and became the Program Director for the South Point Foster Care Team. She stayed in that role for 3 years until 2006 when a new opportunity presented itself. Kim, always one to push her limits and reach for new heights, accepted a position with Necco’s Performance Team as the Ohio Performance Specialist.
The new role appealed to Kim in several ways. As a self-professed “rules geek” she enjoyed interpreting Ohio Revised Code (ORC) and Council on Accreditation (COA) standards. She also loved working within the rules to help create policies and guidelines to uplift Necco in any way possible. Unfortunately, the one way this role didn’t appeal to Kim was the most important one. She missed working directly with children and families.
Kim spent over 9 years in her Performance Team role while mulling over her next career step that would lead her back to the personal connections with clients that she craved. Her mother, a lifelong nurse, encouraged Kim to become a nurse herself. Kim had considered nursing in the past, but in 2013, before her mother passed away, Kim told her mom she had made up her mind and would apply for nursing school. Kim honored both her commitment, and her mother, when in 2017 she became a Nursing Care Coordinator with the Family Counseling and Community Services Team in South Point.
The new position allowed Kim to provide psychiatric nursing duties, as well as mental health therapy services, utilizing both her RN and LSW credentials. It also gave Kim the opportunity to work with someone she once had a hand in hiring, Vice President of Independent Living, Greg Thompson. Greg says “Getting to play a small role in helping Kim become Necco’s first full-time APRN by supporting and believing in her dream has been beyond special to me, as 15 years ago, she believed enough in me to hire me for my first job at this company. I’m absolutely thrilled for her, and that we’ve come full circle with Necco together.”
While Kim loved her new role, she couldn’t help but dream bigger. One of the things she recognized as a Nursing Care Coordinator was the massive need for psychiatric providers in Lawrence County, OH that wasn’t being met. Wait lists for the few qualified local providers were growing rapidly, and it broke her heart that there were young children and adolescents that couldn’t get the help they so desperately needed.
In May of 2020 Kim took on a new role as Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner (PMHNP) and became licensed to help the children in need that she just couldn’t stop thinking about. The Ohio Mental Health Operations Director, Elizabeth Cremeans, says “Kim’s new role will support our counseling teams’ goal to expand our services in order to serve more families in Ohio.” Meanwhile, Kim says this is the role she “plans to retire from 20+ years from now”, but after all the challenges she has taken on, promotions she has earned and awards won, does anyone really believe she will stop here?
1 Inspirational Person
One of the biggest non-believers that this is the summit of Kim’s career, is Chief People Officer, Rob Goodwin. Rob knows the limitless potential Kim has due to her ever present drive to learn and reach new heights. Rob says “Kim embodies our Corporate Culture Principle of Self-Actualization better than anyone I’ve ever met. Her whole career she has never stopped learning and never stopped evolving.” Rob also said that, while he has had the privilege to work alongside Kim for nearly 20 years, “She still makes me feel like I matter. Every time I’m in a room with her she listens and has an uncanny ability to make me feel like what I’m saying really matters to her.”
While Kim has been a consistent inspiration to Rob, she has also inspired countless children over her career just by being herself. If you or a family member would like to make an appointment with Kim, call 740-451-0741 in the South Point, OH area. If you’d rather not come to an office right now, Necco offers telehealth for all our mental health services. If you don’t want to call, you can begin the process of making an appointment by filling out our form and you will hear from us within 24 hours, or to learn more about all things Necco, visit Necco.org.