As I get older, I find my bio getting shorter and shorter and focused on what I now find important, like I am a proud husband, father and friend, but there has been a lot of interesting stuff happen in the past thirty years. I started my career in Residential Care in rural Kentucky from there I went to work for the "State" eventually in both Mental Health and Child Welfare. From there I worked for both Eastern Kentucky University and University of Kentucky on faculty in the social work department and College. Proceeding my tenure at the University of Kentucky I entered the private sector where I worked administratively in a mental health practice and then began my own non-profit consulting firm which continues today in Lexington, Kentucky. Seven years ago I was given the opportunity to work for an international Child Welfare Organization that was opening in the United States as its 11th country. During the past seven years I had the great privilege to build an incredible team to provide an integrated behavioral health with out of home care service for young people with severe developmental disabilities. This was the hardest work I have ever undertaken and to this day, creating a community based system of care for individuals for whom it never existed is one of my proudest achievements and doing it alongside the team made it even more rewarding. Now? I just want to share what I have learned. I think social workers and human service providers need to understand funding and how they are paid; I think agencies need to be bold and measure themselves against the highest markers; I think CEOs need to find new and different funding sources and articulately tell their stories in such a way that new funders engage with them and share in the outcomes. These experiences have taught me about clearly understanding the "business" of human services while not forgetting "why" we do what we do. Its important to not forget what its like to have many deadlines and obligations all while telling a family they will have to be separated because of abuse or neglect and then quickly figuring out how to engage them in putting their family back together. These skills are hard taught and important to remember no matter what seat you occupy.

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Groeber Consulting,LLC doing business as Gro and Co is borne out of thirty years of working in human services in both the public and private sectors.  Its DNA comes from important concepts like Social Entrepreneurship, Building Social Capital, Collective Impact and Values based Practice models.  The quote “if you do what you’ve always done you’ll get what you’ve always gotten,” resonates so true in our current models of caring for vulnerable populations.  Budgets continue to shrink, while the actual work with those in need becomes much more complex.  Society expects the provider networks to continue to hold society together, while the scourges of opioids, human trafficking and trauma tear at our collective societal fabric.   Gro and Co believes we must think about things differently, try new approaches and do it all from a clearly defined set of values.  We must innovate and clearly articulate our value to new funders and stakeholders; we must hold ourselves accountable and measure our success clearly. Whether it’s facilitation of Boards, mission/vision re-creation, program development, staff and stakeholder training or just brainstorming, Gro and Co stands ready to think differently with you.  Whether you are a large State system or a small human service agency, Gro and Co will tailor the work to your specific organizational needs.  Gro and Co quite simply seeks “to help those that help others” and maximize the collective potential.