Her Story
About Rachael
Rachael Mcmullen serves as Personal Care Home Administrator at Holcomb Behavioral Health in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She entered the human service field in 2006 and has extensive experience in personal care home administration and IDD support. Mcmullen holds a Personal Care Home Administrator Certification, which she obtained after completing 100 hours of training and passing a rigorous state exam, along with CPR and Narcan certifications. She previously served as a Certified Medication Trainer from 2017 to 2020. She earned an Associate's degree in Human Service and draws on early volunteer experiences at Rosie's Place in Boston and the Women's Center of Montgomery County, where she completed a 40-hour training on domestic abuse support. Mcmullen is a member of the Philadelphia Tennis Club. She attributes her success to grit, a strong work ethic modeled by her father, and the discipline gained from scoring over a thousand high school basketball points. In her role, she focuses on reestablishing systems, creating healthy workplaces, and ensuring ethical, compassionate care while navigating challenges such as staffing and regulatory compliance.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Rachael
01What do you attribute your success to?
I attribute my success to having grit and trying to be better every day than I was yesterday. I watched my father go to work every day even when he had cancer. Growing up in the 80s, I know I gotta make a living. I played basketball from age 9 to 19 and scored over a thousand high school points, which taught me discipline. When I come into a new place, I reestablish things and always look to improve systems and create healthy workplaces.
02What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
You gotta pace yourself. You can't take everything personally. When you're fair and honest, they will know you're fair and honest and trying your best to make sure they're safe and have their best interests at heart. A lot of young people think they're gonna save the world, which is great, but sometimes people are homeless with mental illness because that's what the voices are telling them or that's all they know.
03What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
The individuals don't receive a lot of money for having psychosis diagnosis, so we gotta come up with creative things to do with them like taking them to the beach for free. Staffing is always an issue. Sometimes they don't pay top dollar, and if you want to hire somebody with a degree, you've really got to offer more money to get better staff. You gotta walk a fine line showing you care without being too pushy.
04What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
You gotta be very ethical. You have to make sure you're kind to people at the same time that you're being firm when you're in charge. Definitely have integrity and be ethical. You really gotta do what's right when no one's looking. You really have to stick by that.
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